Art, History and a Stage Tour

We've had all sorts of fun over the past couple of days and today was no different. We let the boys sleep in a little so that they would have plenty of energy for all of the day's activities. After a quick breakfast we put some lunches together and then we headed out to begin our adventures.

Our first stop was at the St George Art Museum. We choose this stop because we hadn't been to any art museums and Michael needed to visit an art museum for one of his scout requirements. We drove past the art museum the first time because the address was wrong on the internet. Lucky for us we happened to notice the sign as we drove by it the first time.

Then we made an amazing discovery! The Jones Home had been preserved and was moved to this location, just outside the museum, for everyone to enjoy! 

As we looked at this simple pioneer home we gained an even greater appreciation for what these early saints had to go through. (We're trying to make things work with 6 boys in one bedroom at home but we have our own room and the rest of the house, these pioneers only had a 1 room home! I couldn't imagine raising 6 boys in a small home like this one.) So we know that the calling those early pioneers "saints" was really an earned title.

We couldn't take pictures of the exhibits in the art museum but we did capture a few kiddy candids when the boys were doing their own art projects. Who knows, we may have the next Michael-angelo.

 (A hands-on puzzle)

(Kiddy creation time for Donovan, Michael, Aleky & Quinten)

(Aleky)

(Quinten)

(Donovan & Michael) 

 After the art museum we headed to the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, between St George and Cedar City. This was an interesting visit because we had to try and explain the massacre to the boys so they would understand. But it's really hard to explain something you don't fully understand yourself. We were able to convey the known facts of the event but we were at a loss to explain why the event occurred. Afterall, it's one of those black marks in the Church's history that we don't like to talk about very much.

(Memorial Overlook Plaque)

(Site Map)

(Trail Explanation)

(Explanation of sites identified through view finders located on site)

There were 3 different memorials for the 120 or so victims of this unfortunate massacre. It was not a happy visit as we thought about the tragedy caused by the early Mormon settlers. And in our peaceful times it is hard to fathom what would have prompted such a gruesome act.

(Wagon site burial memorial where the initial attack probably occurred)

I'm sure the boys didn't really understand the significance of these sites but they thought it was cool to put a rock on the top of the memorials to show their respect for the victims buried there.

(Additional explanation...)

(A second grave site memorial marker where many victims were buried) Incase you are wondering, David is pretending to be a soldier with his imaginary gun. 

(A third grave site memorial marker, where many surrender prisoners were probably shot on the trail back to Cedar City)

The next stop was at Tuacahn. Before I met Michelle she had spent a summer working at Tuacahn as a seamstress. We thought it would be fun to stop and take a look at the theater where she had worked. We called ahead to see if we could get a tour but they wanted to charge us for the backstage pass. We decided that it would be just fine to wander around and see what we could see for free.

(A quick pic at the photo booth in the theater lobby; Donovan & Michael)

(David, Donovan, Michael, Aleky & Quinten at the photo booth)

This year Tuacahn is celebrating 20 years of performances and productions. Michelle was able to be a part of this amazing legacy.

(Michelle helped to sew the costumes for these productions, Oklahoma & The Sound of Music)

(Tuacahn stage and seating)

(A view from stage)

(Quinten & Gidean)

Even though we had stood in snow earlier today the boys have looked forward to going swimming. In fact (according to the boys), going swimming is a defining point of any family vacation. However, with the temperature in St George only in the 50's, Michelle and I were hesitant about taking the plunge. Fortunately the resort rules require the children to have adult supervision while in the pool so at least one of us had to go with the boys. So we all decided to head down to the pool together. Michelle and I figured that we could always find asylum in the hot tub.

(David is the first in the pool)

 (The younger boys opt for the hot tub first)

Although these pools are outdoors at least they are heated. The water in the swimming pool felt like a cool bath so it wasn't too bad once you got in. The cool breeze still felt cold, especially when you got out of the pool for any reason.

So the boys spent most of their swimming time in the hot tub. David was the bravest of us all and he spent his time swimming in the pool.

Michelle thought it would be great to do a "polar bear plunge" by jumping into the swimming pool after having been in the hot tub. So we rallied the troop and we all jumped into the swimming pool for a quick swim. Since the pool was heated the initial shock of jumping in wore off quickly and we swam around and played as a family for awhile before retreating back to the hot tub.

I tried to capture the plunge on camera but the phones don't take great action pictures and Michelle had suggested that I take a video, after we were back in the hot tub. So the boys encourage Michelle to jump again so that we could take a video this time. Michelle was persuaded but Donovan couldn't be convinced so the second plunge didn't have everyone. But we did capture the video!



After we were done swimming we went back up to the condo to shower and have dinner.  The we had grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies (corn and brussel sprouts). The dinner turned out very well. After dinner the kids got to have "kid night" at the condo while Michelle and I went to the temple.

For kids night the boys got to have an hour of time playing on the computer and then they watched a movie ("Tangled") and ate popcorn. They had to be quiet (to respect the other resort guests), cooperate, and the go to bed immediately after the movie and brushing their teeth. The boys were happy to agree to these terms.

This freed Michelle and I up to go to the temple. Neither one of us has been through the St George temple before and we had wanted to visit the oldest active temple in the Church. We made it in time for the last session of the night. It was a small session and we were privileged to be the witness couple. It was great to see this temple and I was checking out the artwork and architecture throughout the night.

We made it back to the condo around 10:15 pm. We were excited to have been through the temple and to have felt the Spirit there but we were disappointed to find the boys awake and quite disagreeable. They went right to sleep once we were home but we had higher expectations for them and their kids night. Hopefully they will be rested enough in the morning so that we'll be ready for THE HIKE TO ANGEL'S LANDING!

Petroglyphs, Tabernacle and Fun

Today has been another fantastic day full of adventures. This morning started out calm and quiet with family devotional and a nice cooked breakfast of eggs on toast. Then the boys had a blast playing pillow fight with the tootsie roll pillows that we have in the condo. The boys took some time to complete their education for the day and Michelle put together some lunches and then we were off to see the world.

We decided to first go and see some petroglyphs that were located just a few miles outside of St. George at the Black Mountain Petroglyph site. However, there was no "Google maps" directions to get there and the two different written directions I found were not the same.

 So...I missed the turn off of I-15 and we found ourselves in Arizona. Oops.

Actually, to be honest, the petroglyphs are located in Arizona, just across the state line. But the dirt road to the petroglyphs is not on my map but once I made the correct turn off the highway we were able to find the site fairly easily.

The site was out in the desert and we almost drove past it because it wasn't what I was expecting to see at a petroglyph site. In fact, the "mountain" looked more like a solitary butte and all of the petroglyphs were on big rocks that were no longer attached to it. There was no explanation but it seems that the petroglyphs may have been attached to the butte at one time and have broken off and fallen to their current locations. But however they got there, we thought they looked pretty cool.

It wasn't all just sight seeing. There were some cool looking rocks next to the trail and the boys just couldn't resist. And our boys are starting to get good at identifying some good picture opportunities.

More petroglyphs...

After walking around the Black Mountain Petroglyphs in the cold November breeze we jumped back in the suburban, ate our lunch and headed back to town. While we have been driving we have been listening to the audio book "Inkheart". David and the others have become deeply involved in the story and every time we've been in the suburban David has practically flown over the seat to turn the story back on, even if the drive is only 2 minutes down the street.

So with Inkheart playing over the speakers we headed back into St George for our next adventure stop. We were heading to the Children's Discovery Museum when we notice this historical site that advertised free tours, so we thought we'd stop in and check it out.

The St George tabernacle was just down the street from the museum and we thought it would be a fun and interesting visit.

There was a senior missionary, Elder Fuller? from Idaho, who was there to give us the tour and to tell us about this building and some of it's history. It was such a peaceful feeling and the architecture and decorations were really neat. It was all we could do to keep to boys from running through the place at full speed (but they did run a little...how else are you supposed to cover enough ground to see everything in such a short period of time!).

The all seeing Eye of the Lord. The three crowns underneath represent the three Godhead. The finger pointing up was to remind the saints to always remember Him. There are two hands clasping (kind of hard to see in the picture) that represent faith and union.

Elder Fuller thought it would be fun to have a private concert. He had just explained about John Schmidt, of the piano guys, who was one of many performers who had recently been in the tabernacle to perform. Elder Fuller turn the microphone on and the boys sang "Army of Helaman" from the pulpit!

 After the song Elder Fuller had to turn the microphone off because the boys were getting a little excited about all the sounds you can make in a microphone! We managed to slow the boys down for a few more pictures inside this historic tabernacle.

The balcony

 These chairs were actually quite comfortable

One of the coolest features of this historic building was the two spiral staircases at the front of the building. The boys made a few trips up and down these stairs.

We got to see some of the tools that were used (or tools like them) to make this historic building. We also discovered that Michelle's Great, Great, Great Grandfather David H. Cannon was the person in charge of bringing the glass for the windows for the tabernacle up from California when they arrived there after a boat trip around the tip of South America. The tabernacle still has much of this old glass in place.

After the tabernacle tour we headed down the street to the Children's Discovery Museum. But in the middle of the block there was a splash pad that was still running, much like a fountain with a changing spray display. The boys thought it was great and we paused to watch.

Then we noticed more of this city park's water features and the boys were off and running. After having to stay on the path at the petroglyphs and being "quiet" at the condo we had to let them just run and have fun.

The boys spent a few hours exploring the Children's Museum. It was not crowded, probably because all of the kids were in school. Lucky for us!

At the store

Milking Maggie

Gidean working in the farm kitchen

In the post office

Loading the plane

 Piloting the plane

 Creating bubbles

This was a fun game that was projected on the floor. We don't know what it is called, but there was soccer, football, pop the balloons, one like whack-a-mole only it was rats, and many other games. David is in the background trying out what it is like to be in a wheelchair. 

  

On this one you had to create the track (the black tubing) that went from the basket back to the bottom where you then turn a wheel which engaged the mechanism which brought the balls back up to the top like an elevator. 

Gidean is in the tree house and Aleky and Quinten are at the wishing well.

Here we have some boys working in the mines. It would have been perfect if we had all of our Halloween dwarf costumes for this room, HAHAHAH. 

Michelle really likes the paintings on the wall throughout the museum and in the castle room especially. She is getting the itchy painting fingers and thinking about painting some murals on our walls at home. 

Four handsome princes and two strong knights to protect them

"The dragon is coming who will save us?"

"Never fear SIR GIDEAN is here!"

 This young prince is cowering behind the mighty knight.

 

"So Prince David, what should we do now that the dragon has been defeated and all is well in the land?" "We should have a Victory Ball of course Prince Donovan, bring out the ladies!"

We had a fabulous time exploring and instead of having a ball we decided that dinner would suffice (no ladies, except mom of course). So a quick shopping spree at the store and we had our food for the rest of our stay in St George and we headed to the condo.

Michelle whipped up a quick dinner of tacos. Then we had a family movie night with brownies and ice cream for dessert. Finally, the boys were off to bed and it was only 10:00 pm!

We have the BEST FAMILY  E V E R!!!