Summer Vacation - Bean Family Car Trip

I've got so many other posts that should be done before this one, but this was such a wonderful vacation that I want to document it before the details are forgotten. 

This summer, David and I decided to kids were finally old enough to enjoy a church history trip. We left for a 10 day road trip through Ohio and Illinois.  What better way is there to initiate a brand new car than to take 4 kids on a 10 day road trip?! The girls were super excited about that fact that this car came with a tv and headphones. David and I were quick to initiate a one movie per day rule. (which we stuck to, until the last day)

 We had perfect weather the entire time, except for our first day of driving. There was a pretty intense thunder storm which included quite a bit of hail. But one of the most beautiful rainbows followed. It was one of the widest rainbows I've ever seen. I think each color appeared twice. I loved this picture I captured that happened to have the 3 crosses in front of the rainbow.

 After traveling for one full day, we spent a day at Idlewild park. It's voted the best kids amusement park in the world. I was pretty skeptical about that title. I mean I had never even heard of it before and seriously, what can beat Disney?! But we had a great time!!! It really was a lot of fun and even Dallin was able to ride most everything. There was also a huge water park inside. We probably only got to 1/3 of the park because the girls wanted to do every single ride. It's a great place to stop if you are nearby and have children under the age of 10.  The only downside - we got there at 10 and non of the rides opened until 11.... bummer for us!

The next day, Saturday, was spent in New Philadelphia, Ohio doing some Bean family history/reminiscing. Everyday for lunch we would stop at a rest stop or a random park and have a picnic lunch. It was a lot of work to do everyday, but it was also a really fun bonding time as a family. It also gave us a good chance to get out of the car and just run around, not to mention saved us a lot of money. We would play on the playgrounds or with our soccer ball we brought along. This particular park pictured here was behind the elementary school that David's Grandma Bair taught at.

 Above is the house David's mom grew up in and below is the where his dad lived. Below was a grocery store owned by his grandpa and above is where his dad's family lived.

 Because it was Saturday, no one was at the cemetery to help us locate family grave sites. We spent a good amount of time walking up and down the rows looking for the right ones. We found a lot of Bean and Bair grave sites. This town is where David's family originates from. It was a long day full of pretty boring things for the kids, but was it great to see part of the Bean family history!

On Sunday we attended church in Kirtland and then visited the historical church sites around the area. Here we are at the Newill K Whitney store.

 Inside the store... Upstairs is where the School of the Prophets was located. The kids were being really rowdy in there and David bore a beautiful testimony to us about how Heavenly Father loves and know each one of us. And how as women, each of them are beautiful and special in their own way. He also testified that the Savior is always there for us even though we cannot see Him. It was a tender family moment.

 We were able to see all 3 floors of the Kirtland Temple.

 Aliza really wanted to try this idea of her lying on the ground and us all leaning over looking in the camera. It turned out pretty cute, except for all of Charlotte's hair in her face.

 We never made it over the the Johnson Farm. Everyone was pretty hot and tired by after walking around Kirtland. We spent the rest of our Sunday afternoon in the hotel room.

After Kirtland we made the long drive across to Nauvoo, Illinois.... We made one stop at a hotel Monday night and arrived Tuesday afternoon in Nauvoo. To help pass the time in the car we ate a lot of Pirate's Booty.....

 Played a lot of games.....

 Read and listened to stories.....

 And listened to this song (Dallin's favorite) a lot of times.....

And as if I wasn't nervous enough already about the size of our new car, we decided to add four bikes onto the back it! We were impressed on all that we were able to fit in the back with room to spare. We had 5 suitcases, a large bag of beach towels, stroller, bike trailer, baby hiking carrier, Charlotte's bike, 3 containers of food, helmets, bike pump, soccer ball, and bags of dirty clothes as the trip went on. And we were able to fit our cooler between the middle seats.