Adventures with the Agates

What a fun weekend we had here in the Land of Lincoln! Sarah, Joel, and Eliza were on the Midwestern leg of their coast-to-coast journey back to South Carolina, and on Saturday they stopped in Nauvoo. So Greg and I went over there to meet them, and we had such a wonderful day. (Thank you Sarah for taking such great pictures! I remembered to bring my camera--but forgot the battery which I had charged the night before.) We began by going to the Joseph Smith Mansion House. Eliza was so cute and kept talking about "Joseph Smith House." We also got some delicious root beer at the Red Brick Store. Later in the day when we asked Eliza what her favorite thing about Nauvoo was, she said "woot beer."

We had a delicious lunch at the Zion Mercantile, and then later in the day we went to the Family Living Center (where Eliza had fun running around, riding fake sheep, and playing with pioneer dolls), and then we took some pictures at the temple. (I'll attribute my silly face to the bright sunlight.) :-) Then we drove to Beardstown, Illinois where we had a delicious Pizza Hut dinner before heading on to Springfield where the Agates spent the night at the Fairfield Inn.

Then on Sunday morning, the Agates came to the Lincoln Home (Greg came too). Eliza was the cutest of all the rangers!! She even helped me give a tour of the house. After the tour we had a picnic in the "Ranger Room," and then Greg and the Agates walked around the neighborhood while I went back to work. I was sad that the Agates had to leave that afternoon, but it's good they left when they did--because the weather in Springfield was not good later in the day. We're so glad that the Agates have since made it home safely and that we could have such a fun couple of days with them! The rangers at the Lincoln Home are still talking about how cute Ranger Eliza was.

The weather was not good yesterday either. We got slammed with a nasty thunderstorm in the afternoon and even had to close down the park because of lightning. I had to close last night and was very relieved when the storm blew over just before 7:00.