We returned to Georgia without any difficulties and rested for a few days before our next summer adventure. We all piled into the van and drove to Nauvoo, IL for a family reunion. Members of the LDS Church founded and built the city of Nauvoo, it became the largest city in Illinois before the Church members were driven out by mobs. We spent a couple of days visiting historic sites in Nauvoo and learning about life in the 1840s for those settlers. We then drove to Cedar Rapids, IA and stayed at my older brother’s house for the remainder of the reunion. We had picnics, played at the park, engaged in all sorts of silliness, even wore matching T-shirts for a day and ate lots of good food. One of the highlights of the reunion was watching my wife beat two of my brothers and me in a game of Risk! By Sunday, everyone was worn out, especially all the kids who had been going non-stop playing with their cousins. The adults all enjoyed watching the kids fall off to sleep at church on Sunday.
Upon returning to Georgia, we began settling back in and getting ready for school. Our oldest daughter started 1st grade last week. We attended an open house at the school and she got to meet her teacher and see her classroom. I started classes at the university today and we are settling back into a regular school routine. The kids are happy to be back in their home with their familiar surroundings and toys.
We have had a couple of wildlife encounters since we returned that are certainly noteworthy. The morning after we returned from the family reunion, we were slowly getting moving when I heard the toilet lid slam down hard. Since two of our children have been potty-training over the summer I thought nothing out of the ordinary but decided to go make sure everything was in order. I found my son talking with his older sister, he had a very serious and forlorn look on his face. I asked him what was the matter and he calmly told me that there was a frog in the toilet. Knowing the kids have a couple of toy frogs, I assumed my youngest child had thrown one of them in the toilet and it gave my son a scare. So I walked over to the toilet and lifted the lid. To my surprise, there was a real, live medium-sized frog. I went and got something to scoop it out with, but when it saw me coming for it is quickly dove down the pipe. After flushing the toilet and reassuring my son the frog would not come back, I decided we had better clean the toilets. The frog has not returned.
Just a couple days ago, the kids headed out to the park early with my wife while I went for a run. Upon returning, we found an eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina) walking in front of our house. The kids were excited and I decided to bring him into the house for a day. We placed him in a box and tried to offer it lettuce and peas but he wasn’t too interested. The kids kept checking on the turtle throughout the day and enjoyed watching him from time to time as he moved about trying to figure out his new surroundings. Later in the evening, we let him go back where we had found him and watched him wander off into the nearest bush. The kids definitely showed a cautious interest in the critter.
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| All four couples at the Nauvoo Temple. |
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| All the grandkids lining up for a picture in their matching T-shirts and pioneer hats and bonnets at Nauvoo. |
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| At some point, someone decided all the kids needed to attack me. I held my own until my brothers intervened. |
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| All the cousins getting ready for ice cream and cake. |
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| Pushing the kids in the swing at the park. |
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| My mother and father doing karaoke? |
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| Our oldest (far right) doing karaoke with her cousins. |
