Back to Your Poorly Scheduled Programming

I hope you enjoyed how I left you all hanging there. The Cincinnati Summer of Silence. Well, prepare your eardrums (or eyedrums, I guess), for the explosion of sound. In pictures. That fell apart quickly, didn't it?

First, how we got to Ohio: in a sexy new minivan. I'll have to take a picture later, but I really like our van. It's got tons of bells and whistles, and features that I honestly don't know how to use yet. P&G gave us a nice chunk of money to relocate with, and we opted to spend it on the van for various reasons. It was pretty tough to cram everything we thought we'd need into the back (even with the nifty fold-into-the-floor seats), but we managed it for the most part. Choosing to drive instead of fly also allowed us to make it into a vacation roadtrip. We stopped first in Denver to visit my brother and his family, which is always a treat. Glenn and Julie really know how to make you feel welcome, and the girls love spending time with their cousins. (These Denver pictures are from the trip back, but since it was mostly a monotonous charge back to Utah, I don't plan to post about it.)

 Julie decided two birthday celebrations weren't enough for Abby, so she got a third in Denver.

 Evie and Adam had a great time drinking the leftover syrup they'd dumped on their pancakes.

What cuties!

After Denver came Kansas City, Missouri. Driving through the Midwest may not be the most thrilling adventure ever, but the scenery was very pretty. We had a fun time in Kansas City, with our first summer dose of fountains:

We also toured the Hallmark visitor's center and participated in an art session at Kaleidoscope, which I highly recommend if you're ever in the area. Lots of fun for us all, and free.

We were also able to walk around the brand new Kansas City temple, but were unfortunately one day too early to attend the dedication.

From Kansas City we went to Independence, MO, to visit the our church's temple lot, visitor's center, and the Liberty Jail, where the prophet Joseph Smith was imprisoned in terrible conditions. I'm not sure how much the girls understood, but it was a neat experience. I made a massive church history tour the summer before I started college, so most of the sites weren't new to me. It's different seeing them with kids, though, and Regis has wanted to see them for a long time.

Our tour of Nauvoo, Illinois, however, probably dampened his interest. It started well enough. We had a nice place to stay, and there is a lot to see and do in Nauvoo. We were a little early in the season for some of the entertainments, but we liked seeing the temple, taking a wagon ride, and walking through all the historic buildings and listening to the tour guides.

 The trouble really started at the Pioneer Pastimes pavilion, when Regis got competitive. First he tried to show me up on stilts, then the hoop roll, then graces.

 He really got his comeuppance in the stick pull, though. This ill-fated picture was taken just before we started, when Regis instantly collapsed backwards, writhing in the bark. Clearly he is no match for my muscular prowess. Unfortunately, he had tweaked his back so badly that he was unable to move without pain, and therefore spent the rest of our time in Nauvoo full of ibuprofen and sitting in the van.

His injury was especially inconvenient the next day, when he was still too sore to carry things up to our apartment in Cincinnati--on the third floor. Guess who got to unpack the car?