2011 Summer Fun!

Since this is our last summer before Ammon gets a "real job" aka career, and only has a certain amount of vacation days, we thought we'd go for an extended vacation this year. We drove to Illinois to see Ammon's parents and sister's family. We told them we would be getting there on Tuesday night, but surprised them after church on Sunday, arriving 2 1/2 days before they expected! We spent that week with the family, enjoying the time we had to grow closer and become reacquainted with each other.

As Ammon and my extended family is growing, we've decided the best way to celebrate our niece's and nephew's birthdays is to take them out to dinner when we see them on summer trips. We took Avri, Talmage and Sadie out to dinner then to the park where we sang happy birthday and ate cup cakes. We were planning on playing at the park with them, but then we found out the county fair was in town. So we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Dietz and had a lot of fun there too!



At the county fair we got to feed goats, camels, and other animals. Then the little kids got to ride on a camel. It was funny, because Mark asked Avri if she wanted to ride it, and she said no. Then Mark asked Talmage, and he said, "Have Sadie ride the camel." I wanted to laugh, it reminded me of those cereal commercials... "Mikey will do it!" Anyways, Sadie rode the camel, which gave Talmage the courage to ride it. After that Sadie and Talmage were going to ride the camel together, when Avri decided that she wanted to ride it too. So the last ride was all three of them on the camel together. Then Carrie, the kids and I rode the carousal. Carrie, Talmage and Sadie on the Farriswheel and Avri rode a motorcycle-go-round. As we were leaving the county fair, we saw a robot. We talked with him, he was pretty cool!


We went on a trip farther east with Kendall and Melissa's family. Our first day we drove to a campground by Kirtland, OH. We spent the night there, then the next morning we woke up and went to Kirtland.


In Kirtland we went to the visitors center where we went on a tour of the LDS church sites, including the Newel K Whitney Store, Saw Mill, and the brick making factory. Then we ate lunch in the shade because it was a wickedly hot day. Last, we went to the Kirtland Temple that the LDS church doesn't own anymore.


On our way back to our campground after being at Kirtland, Ammon had the idea of going swimming in the Lake Erie. So we asked the campground owner for directions to Lake Erie, and he said it was really close. So we bought some dinner and took it to a park by Lake Erie where we ate it before going swimming. It was a spontaneous thing, but a very memorable one!


The next morning we drove to Niagara Falls. We went on the Maid of the Mist. Most everyone really enjoyed it! The falls were beautiful! We also walked a path that took us up by the falls, it felt like a monsoon! After Niagara Falls we drove to our next stop, Palmyra, NY.


We spent the next day in Palmyra. First we went to a printing press that printed the Book of Mormon. Next we went and looked at the 4 corners of churches.


After that we went to the Hill Cumorah to save our seats for the pageant that night, to hike the hill and to go to the Visitor's Center. After that we ate lunch, then Kendall and Melissa took their kids back to our campsite to give their kids a nap, and Ammon and I went to the Palmyra Temple to do initatories.


Next we went to Joseph Smith's home and walked through the Sacred Grove.


We went to dinner to a really good burger place that we found the night before, then went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Everyone really enjoyed it. Kendall brought a hot plate and his whirly pop popcorn popper, and we enjoyed very yummy popcorn during the Pageant! Sadie sat on my lap for a little while, and she was so cute. Every time there was a war in the Pageant, she'd look up at me and say, "Somebody is going to die!"


The campsite that we stayed in in Palmyra was almost laughable. When I researched places for us to camp in Palmyra, this one was at the top the list. It was the Wayne County Fairground, and that they opened up for campers during the 2 weeks of the Hill Cumorah Pageant. They said to guarantee a campsite, you needed to mail in a deposit. So I figured that this was a popular place to camp. It was very close to Palmyra sites, and to the Hill Cumorah. So I mailed in the deposit. When we got there, it wasn't much of a campsite. There was nobody there when we finally found it to direct us where to camp, no campsites were marked off, the shower was so small you could barely turn around in it. The bathrooms were old, but clean. It was just interesting. It made us miss our first campsite!

The next day we drove to an Amish community in Wimot, OH. We stayed at a cute Amish Bed and Breakfast. The owners were Amish, but the managers weren't. There were animals in the back yard, chickens and goats that the Amish took care of, except for on Sundays when the manager's family took care of them. That night we ate at an Amish restaurant, then went swimming at the pool.

The next morning, after breakfast, we got to go in the backyard and look at the animals. We had so much fun doing it! After checking out, we went to a cheese factory, then a couple of Amish stores. Then we drove back to Peoria.


A few days after returning to Peoria, we went to Nauvoo for a day trip. Ammon and I went to the Nauvoo Temple with Mark and Carrie to do an endowment session. Then Kendall and Melissa joined us to do some sealings with family names. Next we went out to lunch, and then to the Family Living Center. We got to play and do a bunch of Pioneer activities before we watched the Nauvoo Pageant then drove home to Peoria.


We went on another day trip with Mark and Carrie to Chicago. A friend who went on a mission to Chicago suggested a couple of restaurants to us last year. So we tried one of the restaurants, Giordao's. They have Chicago style, and it was VERY yummy!


We ended up staying in Peoria for about 2 extra weeks to work on a project. Mark and Carrie offered to let us stay in their extra house while we live there. We're 99% sure that is where we'll be living next year, so we started "fixing up" the kitchen. Mark said not to show my parents the pictures of what it looks like now, so that my mom doesn't get nervous about me living there. So I'm not posting those pictures yet. I told my mom what we were doing, and she said that all young married couples live in places that aren't the Hilton. I'm excited to live there, it will be a nice place by the time we move in!

We had a wonderful time on our trip and we are glad that we were able to spend time with family!