To Nauvoo!

We just got back from a trip to visit Grandpa and Grandma Marshall in Nauvoo, Illinois. It was a lot of fun to see all six siblings, plus spouses, plus cousins!

The picture above is Jack at the Rochester Airport waiting for our flight to St. Louis, Missouri. He's practicing his flying skills in hopes that the pilot on our plane would be willing to let him take the wheel. Unfortunately, the pilot would only allow him steer while the auto-pilot was on.

When we arrived, we stayed at a beautiful cabin with the family. There were rabbits to pet and chickens to check out. We were hoping there would be a chicken-chopping demonstration while we were there, but apparently they're just for show.

Here's Jack sitting on a fake sheep. He doesn't look too excited, but he actually had a lot of fun at the park there. It was a park for families that displayed games that the people of old Nauvoo used to play.

We also got to see a cute play for children with singing and dancing. It was Jack's first experience with live theater. He seemed to really enjoy it. Here he is sitting with his Aunt Abbey, completely enthralled with the activity on the stage.

Jack loved the time he had with Grandma and Grandpa. Every morning he would wake up and ask for, "Mama, Papa." We're so glad we had to chance to see them!

This is the only picture we got of Callie. She slept a lot. But she had a good time, too! She won't remember this trip, but at least we can tell her she was there!

Back at the cabin, Jack enjoyed playing in the covered wagon bed. It was quite the authentic cabin atmosphere.

And here is Jack attacking an apple with a knife. You can see how "woodsy" the background is. It was very cool.

And what is a vacation without a little swimming? Jack loved playing with his cousins in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Now, there were other people around during this trip, but we didn't get the camera out enough to get pictures of everyone. There were many cameras there, though, so we'll have to collect pictures from those cameras, too!

All the grandkids but Callie are pictured here. Jack is the only boy out of the 7 present grandchildren, but Aunt Erin is having a boy in August and Aunt Lindsay has a 50% chance of having a boy in January!

Someday we'll get some proper pictures of our whole family, but for now, we can just show off Jack's cuteness. We are so glad we were able to get together with the Marshall family. We look forward to future family reunions!