Experiencing Nauvoo

On our last day in Nauvoo, we visited the Joseph Smith Historic Site which is owned by the Community of Christ. We enjoyed the tour of the Homestead,

the Mansion House,

and the Red Brick Store.

We climbed the stairs to visit the upper room where many important civic and church meetings were held.

Including the organization of the Relief Society!

Everyone had a great time browsing the store downstairs.

They had so many neat period souvenirs. We bought Isaac an adorable pioneer boy hat.

We also walked to the Smith Family Cemetery and pondered the lives of this great family.

We realized as we read the grave markers that it was the anniversary of Emma's birth on the day we visited.

After we left the cemetery, we split up. I took Jacob and Isaac to play at the Pioneer Pastimes area, and everyone else visited the Post Office,

the Print Shop and the John Taylor home,

and watched the young performing missionaries do a "Youth of Zion" vignette, complete with stories, songs, fiddling, and dancing. Awesome! Spencer and Noah particularly liked the "Rainbows" songs.

Meanwhile, at Pioneer Pastimes...

Jacob and Isaac checked out the Climbing Bears (Isaac ended up loving it so much we bought one at a gift shop to bring home!),

Fox and Geese,

Bean Bag Double Can,

Stilts, and lots of other fun pioneer games! They wanted to stay forever.

When the others joined us, they enjoyed themselves just as much as Jacob and Isaac.

Noah helped Isaac with the Hoop Roll.

Spencer even rode the Stick Horse!

Then they all faced each other on the Stick Pull. They are all pretty strong!

As the day started winding down, we made our way to the amazing Frontier Country Fair, staffed by pageant performers and senior missionaries.

Jacob and Isaac were excited to feel what it was like to pull handcarts. I was happy to ride in one! That was something I would never have been able to do on Trek.

Again, the kids could have stayed and played forever. There was just so much to choose from!

Another big draw was the tug-of-war. I can't tell you how many times they chose sides and pulled their hearts out!

Later, they teamed up to compete in log-sawing. Now that was fun!

Once they had sawed a piece off the end, they took it to be branded.

And finally, we watched while they learned the game of stickball, with rules just different enough from baseball to make it interesting.

We ate hotdogs and nachos from the concessions area and just sat and enjoyed the beauty and the spirit all around us.

Our very, very last activity in Nauvoo was frog hunting. Jacob had begged for days, and even made a little habitat to keep one if he found one.

We searched and searched along the banks of the Mississippi but didn't have any luck. But the joy was in the hunt (and check out that sunset!). A lovely end to our last day in this lovely place.