Croft Family Visit!

     The Crofts visited during the second week of the Palmer Break.  We were so excited to show them around and spend time with family.   I'm going to break the visit up into activities.  Our first tourist stop was Davenport. 


Davenport:   

Palmer was the first stop on the Davenport tourist list. 

 
Marlee had more fun climbing stairs and walking on benches than touring Palmer.  

 We were able to tour the B.J. Palmer Mansion.  The founder of Chiropractics is D.D. Palmer and his son B.J. is know for getting Chiropractics and the school going.   B.J. traveled a lot and apparently had a thing for Asian art.

 After touring around Palmer, we went to the sky bridge that overlooks the Mississippi.  It was raining pretty hard when we got there so Andy and Sam decided to go play out in the storm.  

 After watching her Dad and Uncle Andy, Marlee decided she needed to play in the rain as well.  

We went home shortly after this picture was taken.  It turned out to be a good thing because that afternoon we received a Tornado warning.  The trees whipped around and the rain pelted our windows.  It was a little scary, but no tornado touched down near us. We didn't even lose power.  I don't think it helped Grandma be excited about where we live though. 


Botanical Gardens:

Our next stop was the Botanical Gardens across the river in Rock Island, Illinois.  The gardens were very pretty but they weren't labeled very well.  We were in luck though because we had Andy with us!  He didn't know that he would be getting a plant quiz but quiz him we did.  I think he got a little tired of us saying, "Hey Andy, what's this plant?" over and over again.  Even though we asked a bunch, Andy knew what all the plants were.  Pretty amazing, huh!

The Botanical Gardens had a Hawaiian garden area.  It was my favorite.  I've never been to Hawaii, but it came pretty close to how I pictured it with the waterfall and vines.  

Marlee found all the kid actvities that were scattered throughout the garden.  Here there were kid chairs painted with different insects.  She liked the dragonfly chair the best.  I love her scrunchy nose :) 

This activity center had fun books.  I especially like this picture because it shows Sam being the awesome dad that he is! Marlee loved spending time with him during his break.

This is what everyone else was doing while we were reading books and trying out chairs with Marlee.

 

Nauvoo:

Our Next stop was Church History site, Nauvoo, Ill.  We walked up and down the restored historical Main Street.  A few places we stopped included the gun smith, bakery (for the free cookie, Marlee ate mine too!), tin shop, Brigham Young home and the John Taylor home.   

 If we had been wealthy enough to afford horses, this is the type of wagon a family like ours would have taken across the plains.  It makes the moving truck we just used to move here look ginormous! 

 Marlee didn't really like to ride in the stroller.  More often she was running off into the grass that was taller than her.  I like that she is turning back in this picture.  To me it's like she's saying, "Watch what I can do" as she ventures off.  

The next three pictures are from the...yep that's right... the Brigham Young Home.  How did you guess.  

The Fam outside the cellar.  It really was cooler inside there. 

Marlee went round and round this well for a good ten minutes.  She'd squeeze through this little opening and then run round and do it again.  I guess that is the second use of the well.  One to get water, two to be a playground toy. 



















While we waited for Dada and Grandpa to get the cars, Andy rested on a bench in the shade.  Marlee, on the other hand, sat down in the dirt and played.  I really think this was her favorite part of Nauvoo!


























We had so much fun having family visiting.  Not pictured are the many games we played (I won Ticket to Ride!) and the time we just relaxed and enjoyed one anothers company.