Casey has been working out of town this summer - over and over he's driven to Illinois and Missouri to help with the offices he and Paul have set up. For the fourth of July we decided to drop the kids off at my/his sisters (two days at MyKels, two and Mindee's and the last at Mistee's.. man it's good to have family who loves us) and take a road trip together.
We started at 10pm and drove 20 hours straight.. stopping to sleep on the side of the road or get pulled over by suspecting cops - got to IL that night and slept off our long drive. We spent one of the days in St. Louis - doing the same tourist-y stuff that I did with my companions on my mission.
We visited the science museum, Casey's face is so funny in this picture! There is an enormous bridge to walk over the freeway, with cut outs in the floor where you can look down and see the freeway and cars passing underneath you - it's a wild feeling, and one that Casey is not entirely comfortable with.
We saw the Arch, we sat at the river front and watched an amazing display of fireworks that night.
But our favorite day was the one we spent in Nauvoo. The finished temple is so beautiful and seems to set the atmosphere of the entire place. We walked the grounds and ate lunch at a little tourist shop with a man and his fiance that were fascinated with us "Mormons" and asked all sorts of questions about the temple and how we felt about the reorganized church that they had just visited. It was very reminiscent of my mission and makes me think of how it might be when we serve together later.
We walked the trail of hope and stood next to these giant Oxen - while Casey held its horn so it wouldn't impel him.. we are not feeling as calm as we look. We went on two different wagon rides, Casey learned about how they built their cabins, and made friends with several of the Elders that offered the tours. So much so that we had to stay (and loved it) to watch them in their nightly performance with the songs and dances.
We gathered our prairie rings and our homemade bricks, and were excited to catch the end of the Nauvoo Pageant dress-rehearsal that they would be putting on just days after we were gone. I loved this trip. I'd forgotten how much fun he is.
Craig and Sharlene got a new boat this summer! I'm so worried about taking my camera on the water that it wasn't until Sharlene's friend Shannon came with us this trip that we even got a few shots of how much the kids love it. Max's favorite thing is to just float in his jacket, but Lucy prefers the tube (as she usually doesn't even get wet!) As for Sam, he'll only go where his mom drags him, he'll learn how much fun you can have on UT lake when he gets a little older. 
