Day Three-Sunday evening

I forgot to mention that we had a lot of trouble finding Andy and Amy's church.  We missed S.S., but they found us and we were able to follow them for main service.  There was also a very kind lady at our motel that gave the kids granola bars, goldfish and some shells that she picked up on her travels in Florida. It was an encouragement to think of that through the rest of a very long day.  We arrived in Hannibal, Missouri on Sunday night.  Hometown of Mark Twain.  The kids favorite part of that stop was the park.  We picked up groceries and had a late picnic supper.  After a good night's sleep we loaded up and headed out to explore.  First stop: oil change?  Yes, and one of the best experiences along the way.  We pulled up, drove in and talked to one of the guys while they were doing it.  It was a good experience for the kids and they enjoyed seeing the mechanic's head pop up from under the floor:).  We then proceeded to the Mark Twain Historical district.  It was a gorgeous day to be outside and I took full advantage of it by wearing flip flops.  As I sit writing this, I'm covered in a blanket and my fingers are ice cold, in spite of the fact that I'm typing rather quickly! We climbed 4 flights of steps to get to the lighthouse.  The view of the Mississippi and trains below was very enjoyable.  Definitely a better option than paying to get into the museum.(free too:).  We walked around town and we were hoping to get an ice cream cone at Becky Thatcher's Ice Cream Parlour, but it didn't seem to be opening at 10, like we'd been told, so we headed out of town, on our way to St. Joseph Missouri. Home of the Pony Express Museum.We took turns taking the kids in.  Less crazy that way.  I was amazed by the variety of things there were to look at and do.There was a movie first, then a cabin set up like the olden days.  Then we proceeded to a special area where the kids could dress up in pioneer clothes.  There were rocking horses, crayons and special molds to make the pictures, etc...
  After leaving St. Joseph, we drove 5 minutes across the border into Kansas.  We bought gas, a magnet and a postcard, took a few pics and headed back into Missouri:).  Call us crazy, but we were trying to set foot in as many states as possible without going out of our way too much.  This one was an easy one.  Here are just a few of the MANY pics I took for this day.\:

She loved it when Scott bounced her on this thing.

Is it just me, or is this kid growing again?

Loving the play time!

My crazy climber Caleb!

She walked away with two new friends and a new favorite park, that takes a couple days to drive to.

The statue of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.

Part of the steps we climbed to get to the lighthouse.

Well worth it!

The view of the Mississippi.

Caleb closed Garrison in and pinched his finger, of course.

The Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri.  Well, worth stopping for!

She LOVED this one!

Elyssia liked the log cabin.

Writing her name on the blackboard.

Very well set up for young children.

We should have stopped her last. She was so excited to see what else there was that she just tried the skirt on, then wanted to move on.

One tired little girl.  Click on the pic to see the ladybug near the bottom of her pants:).