Families are fun

We’re having so much fun in Nauvoo. I need to write a few notes so I will remember, then later we can fill in the details of the story.

When we landed in St. Louis, 13 year old said, “How does the luggage get here so fast?” Um, it’s on the plane with us. We all had a good laugh about that one.

Traveling by car to Nauvoo from St. Louis, we stopped to eat at a Wendy’s around Hannibal. We got there JUST at the right time, when there was hardly anyone in the place. Just after we had ordered, though, in came a baseball team from the Kansas city (?) something with a P. While they were all trying to order, in came a women’s volleyball team from the Unviversity of Illinois. For the kids meal prizes, they had games. There were rockem sockem robots (for thumb wars) and flippin frogs. I said to the kids, “I hope we don’t get any of those flippin frogs.” They burst out laughing and we’ve been laughing about those flippin frogs all week.

Our motel in Nauvoo is really pretty roomy. I booked the suite at the Motel Nauvoo, and it’s got two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and small kitchen. For a family of 7, this is GREAT space. My parents are in the room next door, which is just a normal single room. Often when we are traveling, we put two kids up in my parent’s room, but at this one, we don’t have to. My complaint, though, is with the kitchen. They told me when I booked this place that they didn’t want us
cooking.
There is a microwave, fridge, stove and oven, but the Stove and oven aren’t to be used. I don’t even think they work. But it’s like they don’t want us eating here, either. There are a lot of cupboards in the kitchen. They contain….wait for it……four plates and three cups. Seriously. Not even a spoon or a knife or Not even a spoon or a knife or anything. We bought sandwich making stuff, cereal and milk, so that we could make our own breakfasts and maybe pack a lunch, since the eating places here are limited (more on that later), but we were perplexed when we tried to make sandwiches, and found we had no knife. Spreading peanut butter with a spoon is possible (I DID buy plastic bowls and spoons, luckily), but cutting cheese with no knife? Not so great. And it was Sunday and NOTHING is open in this tiny town. We had to cut our cheese with dental floss, and I do say it worked out quite well.

By Sunday evening, we were getting tired of eating our pitiful floss cut cheese sandwiches and cereal, so we went looking for eating establishments. The Hotel has a dining room, but it’s only open until 2 on Sunday. Every other place in town seemed to be closed. We were getting set to drive to the next town, (about 10 miles away), when my mom must have called someone or looked something up and discovered that the GAS STATION had a little grill in it, where they serve pizzas and burgers. So, we went up the street and into the gas station. A hamburger tasted pretty good, even if it didn’t have lettuce and tomato. But there was nowhere to eat there, so we carted it home and the nine of us ate around our tiny table. I jokingly said, “I hope you enjoy your Easter feast.” We all had a good laugh about that.