Grandma and Grandpa Come to Minnesota

It's been a long time since Grandma and Grandpa Sweat have visited us in Minnesota during a season that's actually amenable to venturing outdoors. Even though it's been great to have them at Thanksgiving, there's nothing like a Minnesota summer. I'm so glad they were able to come and share part of one with us.

Here's a few highlights of the week.

On the first full day of their visit, we headed to St. Paul to enjoy the Minnesota Science Museum and its new Maya exhibit. A few caveats: I used my cell phone camera for most of the trip, so the picture quality isn't so great, and Ethan was involved in all of these activities but I didn't take many photos of him, mainly because I'm sensitive to his photo-phobia. I'm working on the whole restraint thing.

The following is a picture of a giant rubber ball similar to the type the ancient Maya would use to play a game called "hip ball." As you would guess, it's played by bouncing the ball off your hip. Sounds kind of fun, except for the thing where they kill the people who lose. Those crazy Maya.

A lot of interesting things to learn about Mayan culture and history; I still can't help assuming that some Lamanites were mingled in there among the Mayan masses. Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice lunch at a favorite casual St. Paul restaurant, Cossetta's. We got some gelato to go after lunch, and the chocolate that the boys shared was, in Grandpa's words, "really rich." :-)

The next day Forrest and Ethan went to work, so the rest of us headed to the Mall of America for a little Grandma-style school shopping. Some stylin' duds were found (I'm sure that's the terminology Elise and her friends use when referring to clothes they like), and when the kids got to choose anywhere in the MoA food court to eat lunch they chose (drumroll please!) . . . McDonald's!

That night we went to a gorgeous, and empty, county park just of the St. Croix river. So many gorgeous parks to go to in Minnesota in the summer that half of them are empty on your average Tuesday night. We had KFC, played a little frisbee, and spent some time down by the water. Back in our boat-having days, this would have been the time to go out on the water. But at least we were able to dip our toes in! It was also Grandma and Grandpa's 42nd wedding anniversary. (It's always easy for me to remember which anniversary they're celebrating: just add 11 months to my birthday.)

We took a few selfies:

But this one is my favorite. Three generations AND Grandma is making a kissy face.

And isn't this the best?

The next day we headed off on our big adventure: a road trip to Nauvoo. Even though we've lived in Minnesota for a total of 10 years now, we've never made the 6 1/2 hour trip south. This is something of a travesty in local Mormon circles, so we figured it was time to get ourselves in gear and take Grandma and Grandpa with us. To be honest, I think our kids got a lot out of it at their ages. I'm sure Wyatt (and even Jonas) will visit again before they're old enough to leave home, but both Ethan and Elise were old enough to appreciate it on a more mature level. I think they did.

But before we made it to lovely Keokuk, Iowa (home of the world-famous Keokuk Hampton in and a rough-looking assortment of strip mall restaurants), we stopped at Mystery Caves in southern Minnesota. We were given a guided tour by one of the best middle-aged female spelunker/tour guides any group could ask for. It was really cool, both literally and figuratively.

The lovely landscape outside the cave:

Is it just me, or does this look like the Garden of Eden? This photo has not been altered or filtered in any way, btw. It was really that green.

Inside the cave. Blurry, but inside.

Some stalactites and stalagmites. The wonderful tour guide told us the best way to remember the difference: stalactites hold TIGHT to the ceiling. See? Now you'll never forget. (Although I forgot for just a sec and had to ask Forrest.)

Beware what you might uncover in the depths of Mystery Cave!

That night we got settled in Keokuk and enjoyed a pretty good meal in a pretty sketchy looking strip mall. The first thing we did the next morning was visit the Nauvoo temple. All the kids but Wyatt are able to do baptisms, so I stayed out with him while Grandma watched the first few baptisms, then we switched places and I got to watch the rest. Grandpa got the chance to baptize Ethan, and Grandma says watching that was the highlight of her trip. So glad we got the opportunity to go inside as a family. And it's such a beautiful temple!

Here's Wyatt, patiently waiting. Far in the distance, you can just make out the Mississippi river.

The kids, post baptism:

The view of the temple from our wagon ride around the city:

After being shown around the visitor's center by some darling Sister missionaries and enjoying our wagon ride, we headed out to see some of the sights ourselves. Our first stop was the monument erected in honor of the pioneers who left Navoo but didn't make it all the way to Salt Lake City. We had a few family names on that wall. Here, the kids are pointing to our ancestors John and Molly (or Polly, or Mary) Marston Sweat. Molly died soon after beginning the trek, then John died of cholera and was buried in a hollow tree. Luckily their son George made it to Utah, or else I wouldn't be here to blog about it, and those kids wouldn't be there to point out their great-great-great grandparents' names. 

This statue is a depiction of Joseph showing Brigham his vision of the Saints' westward migration to the Rocky Mountains. Brigham listened well.

Probably the most affecting moment of the whole trip for me was walking out to the spot where the Saints left Illinois--and everything they'd built--behind, crossing a miraculously frozen river in the dead of winter. Of all the places I visited--the temple, Carthage Jail--I felt the spirit strongest here. Such courage, suffering, faith and sacrifice. Here's the spot:

We also got a chance to go to the records office and get a BUNCH of information on a number of our ancestors who lived in Nauvoo. (It's all backed up on CD for any family members who might be interested.) We were able to find the exact block where many of our ancestors lived. Here we all are, standing on Shadrach Roundy's property. (Good ol' Shadrach: one of the prophet's body guards and among the first people to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley.)

Fun was had as well. Even Ethan admitted that the pioneer games were more entertaining than he expected:

We also toured some charming old houses. We were fortunate (?) to be there during a really slow time, so the tour guides had pleeeeeenty of time to regale us with all sorts of stories. (I didn't mind the stories all that much, but I think some of the kids were getting a little antsy.) Wyatt didn't mind learning about the Browning family and all their guns, though.

The next day we drove out to Carthage Jail. It's a very beautifully restored spot: the visitor's center was great, and they showed a good movie about Joseph Smith I'd never seen before. The tour itself was both fascinating and sad. I'm glad we got the chance to see this place with our own eyes.

The room where Joseph, Hyrum and John Taylor were held:

On our way home, we stopped in Iowa City. Grandma Sweat was particularly interested in visiting the town where she spent many summers as a kid while Grandpa Hiatt got his PhD in speech and theatre (I spelled it with an -re Grandpa!) at the University of Iowa. Just outside of Iowa City was a really cool fossil gorge uncovered by some recent flooding. We stopped for a bit and looked at all the trilobites and brachiopods.

If you enlarge, you can see the fossils even better:

And that's about it for today. I still need to blog about the fair and a few other Grandparent-related escapades. I also need to blog about Ethan's birthday/Eagle project and the triathlon that Forrest organized with all sorts of people in our ward. And back to school is coming! Ack! The backlog! I might be busy over the next few days to get all caught up before I start drowning in school-related business again. Pop in again soon: I promise the wait won't be too long. (I know you're holding your breath.)

I always think summer is going to go on forever

. . . and then it doesn't. When will I learn? This summer is just speeding by. In a few short weeks we'll be back to school. But there's still some fun to be had (e.g. Grandma and Grandpa Sweat / Nauvoo / Minnesota State Fair?). And there's been some good stuff going on since I last blogged as well.

The big news is that we've started on the basement project. Here is the basement before:

Actually, that's not REALLY before. I wish I would have taken a picture of what it looked like before we busted our humps hauling, sorting, junking, Craigslisting, etc. all the stuff that filled up this space. We've sold a nice selection of stuff on Craigslist, as a matter of fact. I've felt like a small businesswoman--and a fairly successful one at that. Who knew you could pull in this kinda dough selling the stuff you forgot you had and don't really want anyway?

I sent this photo to Forrest on a particularly successful afternoon. Tacky to put this on the blog? Hey, I don't see wads of cash much. Cut me some slack.

Apparently no one wants my holiday wreaths though. And I'm practically giving them away! It was worth a shot.

And here's the basement as it looks right now:

The room in the back is the bedroom, area to the left will be a bathroom (but not yet -- maybe another year) and the rest of the space is going to be a family room. I'll keep you updated on the progress. Our contractor Randy is doing a great job--he's a nice guy, always willing to chat and open to suggestions, and his 17-year-old helper Zach is a really nice kid too, even though I think the gauges in his ears were a big mistake he'll regret long term.  I'm still getting used to having people who are pretty much strangers tromping through my house all day, though. Luckily Randy comes recommended from a few friends, so I trust him.

Ethan's had a few life changes too. He's spent most of the summer until the end of last week working from 7 - 3 at the Origination warehouse. Hard work: dirty, stinky (fertilizer baby!), tiring, walking around with the sick dread in your stomach that you're going to tick off your angry middle aged boss no matter how hard you try. But he's stuck it out admirably and made a nice dent in his college/mission savings. That said, his experience at the warehouse got him thinking that there might be brighter rainbows to chase, so he applied at the McDonald's that just opened down the street. And bingo bango, he experiences his first career change! He had his first training day today and is planning to work at McD's part time throughout the school year. I wanted to take a picture of him in his uniform this morning, but he was already a little irritated at me for making him take off his pants so I could iron them and asking him if he needed me to pin on his name badge, so I decided not to push it. I did get a picture of him after a really hard day at Origination though. He was too tired to argue with me (plus I think he wanted evidence):

Elise's summer has been on an upswing this last week as well. She finished up Driver's Ed, passed her written test, and has spent the last couple of days tooling around the St. Ambrose Church parking lot with Mom and Dad. She's actually figuring out the feel of the car pretty well, but we haven't taken to the road yet! She also got a special straightening treatment--like an opposite perm--on her hair that has made her (and me) very, very happy. She has my unmanageable hair, so making the task of straightening and styling it every dang day a little less daunting is cause for celebration. Life is good when you're a fifteen year old girl with a Driver's permit, a little bit of babysitting money, and silky smooth hair.

And Jonas? He's been chillin. Like a villain. He informed me today that he has watched the entire last season of Dr. Who, as well as the entire ENTIRETY of both The Office and Malcolm in the Middle this summer, mostly via Netflix on his iPod Touch.  And yeah, he's been reading a lot, and playing soccer, and hanging out with his friends and lots of other good stuff too, and I realize that Jonas's admission should make me feel guilty about not doing crafts, or learning centers, or science projects, or whatever else the good moms do with their kids during summer break. But I absolutely, positively don't feel guilty. Jonas is a great kid, The Office and Malcolm are great shows, and you're only 12 with a loong summer on your hands once. Just ask Ethan.

Wyatt's been chillin too, but I've managed to take a few pictures of some of his activities. (By the time they're 12 they don't like the picture taking as much.) Here's the Bubba:

Wyatt Bowling. The whole family went bowling, but only Wyatt allowed me a commemorative photo.

Wyatt at flag football camp

Wyatt doing what 6-year-olds do

Wyatt at a jumping place. I forget the name.

And lastly, Forrest has had some big news as well. He got released as Young Men's president. It was kind of out of the blue, and his new calling still isn't official. He was quite surprised by the release and frankly the whole thing has been kind of weirdly managed. We were expecting he would be sustained in his new calling on Sunday but they didn't do it, so now people are speculating that it's some big deal kind of a calling (it's not) or that maybe there's "something more" behind the release since only Forrest was released and none of his counselors (there's not). So, anyway, it will be nice when his new good-calling-but-not-a-really-big-deal can be announced and we can all just move on and stop hedging when people ask us those "Soooo . . ." questions. Ah, lay clergy. So fun. Actually, although Forrest liked his calling and feels good about what he was able to do, it will be nice to have him a little less busy.

Aaaaand that's it from here. All I have to report is that I haven't exercised as much I thought I would this summer, or written much of anything, and I haven't even finished my syllabus yet, let alone started lesson planning. LAME! I know. Summer, folks. It sneaks on by.