4th of July

I've been meaning to do this post for a while.


Nathan had his master's test to study for, so I took the kids to Utah to visit with Kerstin over the 4th of July weekend.


Robert unfortunately cried almost the whole time he was in the car which made the trip seem very long. The first thing we did with Kerstin was eat at Taco Bell. Then we went to visit Grandma Zielke in the nursing home. She was happy to see us but was also very tired.


After that, we went to the Hoogle Zoo. I love going to zoos. Hailey was very scared of the big orangutan. Robert loves looking at the animals and running around. We were all pretty worn out being in the hot sun.


We went to McDonald's after the zoo. Then we played with fireworks in Kerstin's driveway.

Here's a video of the kid's playing with the poppers.
Hailey enjoyed dancing around with the sparklers. It was very cute to watch. Kerstin also lit some flowers and fountains. The kids reacted really well to this. Besides, Hailey covering her ears, they enjoyed watching them go off.

Since Robert was getting a bit cranky, we left around 6:00pm. Robert only napped for an hour in the car. By the night we arrived at home, it was getting dark. So we decided to join our neighbors and watch the fireworks from Bartz field. The kids liked the fireworks. Since we were far away from the source of the fireworks, we didn't get all the noise that I thought would bug the kids. Hailey is very sensitive to loud noises. We really had a great view of it all. By 11:00pm our kids had had it and were ready for bed.

It was a great 4th of July weekend. I'm glad we were able to do it all.

Around the House

Just because we didn't take a far trip every day, we still stayed busy. In no particular order, these are the things we have done near home.



Gramma and Hailey had a fun afternoon together, while everyone else was napping. First, they went to Build-a-Bear. Hailey was able to stuff, dress, and personalize her Big Lambie or Sheep as she sometimes calls her. Hailey also got three outfits for Lambie; PJs, a pink dress, and a purple outfit. Hailey loves her Lambie.



Also, Hailey was able to go shopping with Gramma all by herself.



GRamma and Grampa recently got new chairs. Gramma saved these over sized boxes so they kids could paint on them. Hailey and Robert loved it and really got into it. Robert got a little crazy and got paint on him and Hailey, the boxes and driveway.

Also we pulled the pool out. Robert is definitely a water baby.

Robert helped Gramma water the grass.

And water the trees.

He wanted to do it all by himself and grunted at Gramma when she tried to help.

In addition, we also spent time at a neat playground. It had one playground for small children, one for bigger kids, and swings close by.

Robert loved the swings the best.

When all else failed we played with bubbles or pulled out the bikes.

We will definitely miss it here.

Missouri Trip

To end our church history tour, we spent one day and went to the Missouri sites.

First, we went to Adam-ondi-Ahman.

We walked down this trail to see the valley. Hailey and I have a very similar picture of walking together here almost two years ago.

We are glad that Nathan and Robert (and baby 3) are here with us this time as well.

Then we had a little picnic by our car. Our shoes got better muddy so Hailey is taking her shoes to the tree to scrape off the mud.

After Adam-ondi-Ahman, we went to Far West to the temple site and then on to Liberty Jail.

We ended with the visitor's center in Independence. As you walk into the building, we first see a huge statue of Jesus Christ. Hailey was so excited about this and talk a lot about him. Previously, with other statues, I tried to point out what they are doing so that Hailey can figure out what the statue is trying to portray. One statue we talked a lot about her hand and arm position. So when she saw Jesus with His arms out, she immediately started talking about how He wants to give her a hug and how she loves Him so much. It was very special. The sister missionary turned on the recording of Jesus talking, which forth excited her.

I'm so thankful for the wonderful children that I have and the sweet spirits that they are.

Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha

On Friday, we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. We saw tons of animals as we walked around the outside boarder of the zoo. We saw elephants, hippos, sea loins, gazelle, and a bongo.

We also saw baby peacocks walking around the park following their mommy. Hailey and Robert rode on the carousel.

Hailey wanted to ride on the real giraffes like she rode on the camel at the other zoo. So, she settled for the statue.

Need the end of our time at the zoo, we went in the Lied Jungle Building.
These huge buildings make it seem like your more like a visitor in the animal's environment instead of the other way around. This is a rope bridge that Hailey bravely crossed next to a 16 foot waterfall.

Here's Grampa and Robert playing by the trees.

The last building we went into was the Aquarium. Hailey is the size of a King penguin, while Robert is standing by an Emperor penguin.

As we are leaving the zoo, Hailey wanted a picture of her in the butterfly chair.

Robert was worn out by the end and fell asleep before the left the parking lot.

Nauvoo

On Wednesday and Thursday, we went to Nauvoo. Before we really entered into the city we stopped by a little food stand that was also a miniature golf course. They had these fun little toys to play with right next to the State Penitentiary.
While the kids tried to have quiet time in the hotel with Gramma and Grampa, Nathan and I went to visit some of the buildings. Nathan enjoyed the 70's home, the Red Brick Store and the Masonic Lodge.

That night we went to the Pageant which had games in the field right before it started. Robert had a tough time until I took him to the back and he cried to sleep. Hailey, after standing on Gramma's lap to see better, simple sat back down and was asleep the next minute. It was a great pageant and a very long day for the kids.

Nathan and I woke up early the next morning to go to the 8:00am session in the Nauvoo Temple. I rarely have the opportunity to go to the temple in general which made it special for me. However, even more then that, I love the old temples and this one was reconstructed to be like the original pioneer one. It is a very beautiful temple. This was the best part of Nauvoo for me.
After an early lunch we went to Carthage Jail. Unfortunately, there were tons of people there so it was hard for me to get the time and space to soak in the power of the events that took place. This would be my second favorite place that we visited from this trip because it showed that God's hand is in everything. Even though Joseph and Hyrum Smith died, who were great man, it was their time and the Lord's plan and the other men survived to carry out their missions.Robert got carried around by Grampa in the backpack to help keep him contained and happy (grampa had snacks).

After Carthage Jail, we went back to Nauvoo where they kids to run and play pioneer games.
Hailey loved this game but didn't get the concept. She thought the goal was to stand up instead of being the person to stay on the ground.Hailey is cheering them on in the background. Here are the other fun activities that we enjoyed.

Uncle Kyle

This is Kyle, my younger brother.

In December, Kyle signed up to be in Iowa's National Guard, and since then has done Weekend Warrior once a month. He recently graduated from Job Corp and is ready to be dedicated to The Guard.

Hailey had the great opportunity to be reacquainted with him and got very attached. He likes her Uncle Kyle and loved to go downstairs to be with him.
Last Monday, Kyle was picked up and left to go to Basic Training. We were able to spend a little more time with him that day for dinner at Texas Roadhouse and games afterwards.

After a couple of uncertain days, Kyle ended up being at Fort Benning in Georgia (which was a last minute change, he was originally assigned to South Carolina.) I was thankful to have this special opportunity to see him being shipped out. Hailey still asks "Where's Uncle Kyle?"

The most recent update (as of today) is that the real training is starting tomorrow. He is going down field and has no more contact with the outside world for the next 3 weeks.

Winter Quarters and Kanesville

My parents living in Iowa (they moved after I went to college, I grew up in Texas) has giving us the unique opportunity to visit a lot of church history sites. About two years ago, Hailey and I visited most of the sites and are glad that Nathan and Robert has joined us this time. Nathan has never seen these sites and is fascinated by church history and anything educational.

The first place we went to was Winter Quarters. It has a very nice visitor's center that goes through the history surrounding the area. The tour starts with the Nauvoo Temple and ends with the Salt Lake Temple.

We had a sister missionary with us the whole time and was very patient with the kids and pointed out different things that they could play with. Hailey enjoyed dressing up as a pioneer.

Robert, however, was ready to just run around and didn't want to stay with the group. He was able to spend a lot of time with Grampa and became good friends.

After the visitor's center we went across the street to the cemetery, which is right next to the Temple.
After we were done with Winter Quarters, we visited Kanesville which is renamed Council Bluffs. We were planning to see the pageant there at 1:00pm to only find out it really starts at 4:00pm. So, we stayed for a little bit to hear the story of the place from the missionaries there.

They talked a lot about the 500 men who were requested to join the US army and go to California. Due to the sacrifice that they made by leaving their families, many great things were able to come about. It sounded like they were the first people to make a trail from California to Utah which was over very rough train. Also this is the time period that "Come, Come Ye Saints" was written. Another significant thing that happened was that Brigham Young came back to this place to be sustained and ordained as the President of the Church. A Tabernacle was build specifically for that purpose.

Instead of staying for the pageant, we visited the Children's Museum in Omaha. We were all able to get in for free because of the passes mom and dad have.
This was a very open play place, which is what the kids needed after a long time in the car.

Robert and Gramma went shopping.

Hailey played in the garden.

Robert is magnetically attracted to the water.After we were done with the downstairs which had more kid size real world, we went upstairs to play with balls and contraption.

Robert loved trying to jump on this button.

After Gramma and Grampa showed Hailey how, she pulled herself up and down in this chair.

Robert loved this air blower and giggled everything the ball was there.

We had a great day.