Nauvoo Vacation 2024 - Colorado Springs

Wednesday

The next stage of the trip was to go from Kansas City to Colorado Springs to spend the 4th of July with Bruce. We made good time on Wednesday and were able to get to Bruce's house a decent time. We got Lucy and Caleb in bed and then played games with Bruce, Amy, Lydia and Austin. It was so nice for Bruce to let us stay at his house for a few days. 

Thursday (July 4th)

We got up early on the 4th of July so we could go to Garden of the Gods before it got too busy/too hot. We had so much fun. The kids loved climbing all over and around the rocks. 

After we drove up the Canyon for a short little hike to a waterfall. It was Helen Hunt Falls and it was such a neat little hike and waterfall. 

Then we went back to Bruce's house. We had planned to go to a firework show, but 3 things happened. 1) We found out our neighborhood fireworks were moved from the 4th to the 5th and we would be back to see them. 2) Our kids were pretty exhausted and the fireworks were late and 3) It ended up raining and we wondered if the fireworks would get cancelled (they were). So it worked out great. Instead, we had pizza for dinner, then roasted marshmallows in the back yard. The kids had a great time and it was perfect to celebrate and spend time with Bruce. We played games for a while with the kids. Then put them to bed and played games a while longer and had a really great time. 

We even caught just a few fireworks out Bruce's back window. 

Friday

Friday was a huge day for driving. We wanted to make it back in time for fireworks in our neighborhood and had a 8.5 hour drive. We ended up stopping for lunch and gas and that was our only stop. The kids did so awesome and we made it in 9 hours and with just the one stop. 

Overall - it was an incredible vacation and we had so much fun spending time together. I'm grateful to have such fun people to go on a vacation with!

Nauvoo Vacation 2024 - Missouri Sites and Kansas City

Next stage of our trip after Nauvoo was to go to visit the Missouri church history sites and Kansas City. 

Monday

After a week in Navuoo it was time to head out. Shantel and I both commented that we wish we had two more days to spend in Nauvoo!

We got one last picture by the house and then it was back over the Mississippi river. 

We drove to Adam-ondi-Ahman first and had lunch there. 

Then we went to the Far West Temple site, then Liberty Jail, and finished by stopping at the Independence Visitor Center. I really like the Independence Visitor Center. 

We had decided to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, which is a giant waterpark hotel. We originally had just booked one night there, but then I found an awesome deal and we were able to get our second night for the same price as another hotel, so Monday night after we saw the church sites we went to our hotel at the Great Wolf Lodge. I watched a big soccer match that was actually being played in Kansas City and the kids had a TV in their alcove with bunk beds so they got to watch a movie too and everyone loved it. The rest of our big group had to start the drive home the next day except Amy. So Amy stayed with us and did the rest of the trip just with us and her. 

Tuesday

Tuesday was waterpark day. We got there right as it opened. We had so, so much fun. There were multiple slides and things to do and the kids took off. Lucy and Caleb took turns playing with Shantel, Amy or myself. It was so great because I got to spend time with each one of the kids playing or going down slides. 

After a few hours we took a break and went to get some Kansas City BBQ. We ended up at a restaurant called Blind Box BBQ and it was really delicious. We ordered a couple of plates with a mixture of meats and then split/shared them all. The kids have since talked a lot about this restaurant and how good the food was. It was one of the things that was a priority to Shantel because Kansas City is famous for it's BBQ. 

Afterwards we went to a local Marble Shop/Toy store and got to watch a demo of how to make a marble. It was really cool to see him take the glass and make a marble. 

Before we went home we stopped by the Missouri River and did a little walk along the Riverside (very little walk)

Then, we headed back to Great Wolf Lodge and spent the rest of the night at the waterpark until closing time. It was so much fun and such a great thing to do after Nauvoo. 

Wednesday

Wednesday was a big driving day. We woke up and got packed. However, while Amy and I finished packing and picked up a few things from Wal-mart, Shantel and the kids went back down for one last hour at the waterpark. 

Shantel has always wanted to go to Kansas and this was her first time in the state. She was delighted all day, although a little disappointed not to get to visit Topeka. But we spent all day driving across Kansas and Lydia and Shantel got these fun hoodies.