Vicksburg visit

Dinoguy wants to stop at Vicksburg now every time we drive by. So on the way home we stopped in Vicksburg for the night and visited the park the next morning. It turned out to be national parks week and free admission which was awesome except there were more people in the park than usual.

I do like this park. Its beautiful and peaceful and a lovely reminder of the price of liberty. Plus now I am more familiar with its layout, its not quite as overwhelming. We visited the visitor's center watching the videos and presentations on the siege. Then we drove along the union siege lines and then along the confederate lines. The kids worked on the packet of questions for the junior ranger thing again. Though its different this year because of the 150th anniversary since the Civil War started. We're going to visit some other Civil War National Parks later this summer and by visiting 3 they will get memorial patches.

Over 150 cannons in the park

Kids like to play with cannons

White house remodeling project still in progress

Big Greek style memorial for Iowa

Running thru a tunnel dug during the siege

The USS Cairo

Yeah for Texas!

How cool is this statue?

It was set a ways back off the road. But this statue honors in part my GGG Grandpa's service. Had to get a picture!

The Florida memorial in a roundabout in the city of Vicksburg

Since our last visit, I have researched and found that my great great great grandfather was part of the confederate army that surrendered at Vicksburg. He was part of the Georgia Infantry. So I made special effort to see the Georgia memorial. The small loop had been closed last time we visited so it was neat to see the memorials on that loop that included Texas and Georgia. Then I looked for Florida's memorial and discovered its outside of the park in the city of Vicksburg. Apparently the park had to sell some of its land at some point and a bunch of the smaller memorials aren't inside it anymore. But we went and saw those memorials too this time. Here is the note of surrender from my ancestor. Note that it says "his mark" above and below where his name is signed around a small x. That's part of why his name is mispelt.

As far as fun, I think the most excitement on the trip was when we arrived at the USS Cairo (the ironclad ship) exhibit and taking Baby out of the car I realized he'd had a huge poop explosion. Went to the bathroom to clean him up and discovered that basically NONE of the poop was in the diaper. It was all in the onesie and on him. Of course the park had no paper towels so it was me and a ton of diaper wipes and trying to rinse out the onesie in the auto flow sinks. It took a while and I thought I had it all cleaned up but several hours later found dried poop smears on the side of my upper arm.

Hiking Stone Mountain

Princess in her chariot being carried over some big rocks

Princess swinging with grandparents

Me carrying Baby up the mountain

My brothers and my big boys

My parents resting as they climb while holding the "iron rod".

Rest break near the top

Princess resting from all her riding

Boys are not at edge of cliff despite appearances

On top of the mountain

A shallow rain pond on the top

We made it! Now just to make it down...

We didn't take enough water thinking the water station half way up would be working. It was off. Luckily the building at the top was still open and we got plenty of water and a refill. It's just a mile hike but its steep! Princess rode part of the way in her stroller, and on the shoulders of her uncles and grandpa. It is a fun hike.

Meeting great grandparents

 Baby met two of his living great grandmas and his only living great grandpa. He still has one great grandma to meet as well as his grandparents on Fixitman's side who were literally snowed in this past winter and couldn't come visit when they planned.

 

Baby is pretty easy going with meeting new people, unlike a certain sister who screamed at everyone besides Mom and Dad for the first 1.5 years of her life.

 

Playing violin music for great grandma

Atlanta Temple open house

 We were lucky enough to get to travel to Atlanta for the open house before the temple was re-dedicated in April. This is the temple where Fixitman & I were married, so it is special to me. My grandma gave a family tour with 35 people from the extended family present. The inside is completely redone and absolutely beautiful. The boys really enjoyed seeing the temple and I believe it was a special experience for them. Princess was very tired and clingy and I ended up carrying her the whole time. She sure enjoyed the cookies afterward though! Here are some pictures.

Trainboy, Grandpa, Dinoguy & Princess at the back of the temple after the tour.

All 4 kids at the front of the temple

Best picture of the bunch

Playing their violins for Grandma's birthday afterward at the park.

Afterward we went to the park behind my grandparents chapel and had lunch and cake to celebrate Grandma's birthday. The boys played their violins, and Princess played her box violin.

Wolf badge

Dinoguy earned his wolf badge at pack meeting in April. He also received a gold arrow point. The cubmaster had a cute way to teach the kids about building a fire with marshmallows, pretzels, coconut and candy corn. Each scout and sibling built their own little fire before eating it. Princess actually tried to make it some before devouring the treats. So we've been enjoying scouts, and Dinoguy is very happy to have earned his wolf badge. He has his eyes set on a few more arrow points and some other badges already. What can I say, he knows how to set goals.

Trainboy ditches the training wheels

 Trainboy is now able to ride a two wheeled bike without training wheels. Sniff. He's so big!

Princess on her trike. She takes off after her brothers, trying to keep up if she can.

 Dinoguy loves bike races.

 

Baby playing on the grass before he got bitten by fire ants.

Dinner together

Went out to eat as a family before Fixitman went on a trip. Yummy food and hopefully good memories for all. The boys can really eat a lot now. Dinoguy orders adult size portions and can eat it all. Trainboy sometimes can, depending on how much he's had recently. Princess not so much. But she will steal your milkshake and drink it for you. (Sorry hon.)

Baby browsing for a book

Princess' dress

I crocheted Princess a dress.She then was not happy about wearing it. She absolutely did not want her picture taken in it. Then the dress turned out too big despite my measurements and trying it on her while making it - the neckline was still just a bit too wide. So she wore it once to church and now I'm waiting until she's a bit bigger. Maybe my mistake was making it purple. She prefers pink.