11 babies unexpectedly

Life has been so busy lately!! We have been switching computers and I can't get to my pictures to update my blog. Soon I hope to update with pictures.

Matthew is working on his reptile study merit badge. He started out with a lizard that made it as far as Nauvoo on our trip. The lizard got left outside one night and a visitor in the night either had him for dinner or set him free. Now he has two snakes that he has to keep for a month. Last week one of the snakes unexpectedly (at least for us) had 11 babies. You should have seen the aquarium we are keeping them in just crawling with snakes!! It was pretty interesting. I was going to post a picture, but Matthew let the babies go out in the garden while I was gone to Nebraska. I only hope the garden is far enough from the house that they won't try and make their way back inside.

Missouri 2010, days 4-6 of our vacation

We went to church in Nebraska City and then started our drive to Missouri. We sat in the back in our own row since we didn't have water to shower that morning and we probably didn't smell the best. We loved seeing the church history sites in Missouri. We went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman first. It was beautiful!! It was very peaceful. We also went to the temple site at Far West, Liberty Jail, and the Visitors Center at Independance. They were each a neat experience. The children loved the Visitors Center and all the activities there were to do there. We enjoyed listening to the sister missionaries sing at the Christus statue. We camped not too far from Independance. We made a quick stop in Kansas just to say that Neil had been there.

Monday morning we started the drive to St. Louis. We had to get there on time because the girls had tickets to see Wicked that night. They were so excited!! We had an unexpected stop in Boonville when one of the tires on our trailer blew out. We changed it on the freeway shoulder and then stopped in Boonville to buy new tires. We played at a park for and hour or so. Four tires later we hit the road again. We made it to St. Louis in plenty of time for the show. We drove around for awhile to see the sites. We saw the Arch, the Cardinals stadium, the Ram's stadium, and lots of neat things. David kept asking us why they had peeled bananas on their street signs. It was funny to hear how he perceived it. The girls loved St. Louis!! I think they are planning to live there when they grow up. I am not sure that is a good thing. The girls loved Wicked. It was an amazing experience for them. We took the other children swimming at the RV park while they were gone to Wicked. It was interesting to camp in downtown St. Louis. The RV park was a huge parking lot. There wasn't any grass, but there was a swimming pool and nice showers.

Tuesday we spent site seeing in St. Louis. We really enjoyed Grant's Farm. It is the farm that Ulysses S. Grant and his wife farmed. It had a neat train that took you around to see the sites. It also had animal shows. Everything except parking was free so that was really nice for us. We also went to Forest Park. There is so much to do there. It was built for the World Fair in 1904. There are museums, a zoo, and a theater just to mention a few things. We went to the History Museum in the morning. There was so much to see and do there. We enjoyed learning about Charles Linbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis. Later on the older girls went to the Art Museum and we took the younger children to the St. Louis Science Center. It was a wonderful experience. That night we tried to get free tickets to Beauty and the Beast. Only some of us got in so we let Rebecca, Bethany, Julia and Emma stay. The rest of us went and fed the fish in the ponds. It was neat because there were turtles also. We saw a huge one that was probably as big as Matthew. We named him Goliath. We also took the children swimming again for a little while. The children couldn't get enough of swimming or eating at Hardee's. The boys looked for Hardee's every where we went. We also went to see the St. Louis temple. It is absolutely beautiful!! It was an amazing experience.

One of the things the children loved most about Missouri was the fireflies. It was the first time any of us had seen them. They were fascinating!! It was fun to watch them and to try and catch them. We had a wonderful time in Missouri, but I am not sure I want my children to live there when they grow up!!!