Monticello & Richmond Temple

Hooray, we got to go hang out with the Freemans today! Here's a picture of all of us at the Richmond Temple this evening. 

We had a full and busy day. It didn't take long to get the kids up and out the door - come on sleepy heads! We've got more things to see and stuff to do! (It's always a bit tragic to wake sleeping children). 

We drove out to Charlottesville to visit Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, and Nicole and her kids drove down from Maryland to meet us there!

Oh... and her mom! It was so great to see them!

Daniel in front of the cabinet, Jefferson's office - 

We did a pretty good job being quiet, but I had to nurse Katharine as we walked. Pretty tricky, but I tried to be subtle about it. 

Walking on the grounds outside - 

To the front of the house - 

Here's a cool link to stuff about the trees on the grounds.

I thought the design of the house was awesome. Nicole and I were having inspiration for how to design a home - with a whole underground area for the kids and the mess, and an organized presentable place for the grown ups above! The storage cellars and ice room and so many things were so cool.

After touring the home, we did a slavery tour. There was one funny moment when Wes was throwing rocks and being a bit immature, and at that same moment, Nicole's kids recognized a name of one of the slaves that was mentioned, cause they recognized it from their family history! That, my friends, is a contrast of something - possible education, maturity, or the difference between homeschooled kids and our public schooled children. I won't give up hope on my kids though!

During the tour of Mulberry Row, Nicole's kids paying attention again - 

While mine were combing through the grass... Eureka!

They found some four leaf clovers!

So it was nice, not too hot, and once again I loved imagining I was stepping back in time.

A quick group selfie on the steps - 

After Monticello, we loaded up and took a drive to Richmond for the Richmond Temple open house! We all changed clothes sometime during the trip, and we all arrived looking respectable! Katharine was still in pants, but the rest of us cleaned up nicely.

It was lovely. There were beautiful flowers on the temple grounds. And after the tour, outside, we got a group pic (at the top of this post) and one of the three of us!... (Baby K makes 4 - what a smile!)

and then we finally had some down time for the kids to run around an play and for adults to visit!

We decided on a place to go out to eat so we could visit some more. It took a big of back and forth but we finally decided on Franco's Italian Restaurant, cause they could do pizzas and they had room for a group of 20, yay! We were the only ones in the restaurant, and it was perfect. 

Nicole's mom was so nice, and she treated us all to dinner. The kids played games - 

And had thumb wars - 

The teenagers were having their own fun conversation at the south end of the table. 

We parents were at the north and it was so great to talk. We do plan on going to see them on Saturday and watching conference with them, but just in case we forget to take a selfie then, we got one tonight - It's great having a best girlfriend! 

(Cause Corey and Darrel are our best friends, but girls need girlfriends too. We just need to figure out how to live closer to each other.) Late drive getting back, tomorrow is a busy day at Busch Gardens again, gotta go go go. It was great to see the Freemans! They are our favorite! <3