If You Build It, They Will Come . . .

So my family came in June, and it rocked my socks. My mom's side of the extended family (the Briscoes) were having a family reunion in Nauvoo starting on Wednesday, June 21, so my family came a few days early.

It was SO SO SO SO SO MUCH FUN to have them here. They were here for Father's Day (we kinged my dad and darik for the day).



We also took them to the Amanas for the day
(the only picture we have from there is Ellie trying to steal a HUGE fluffy fuzzy green stuffed rabbit from when we were in the big toystore). I must say I was a bit disappointed in the Amanas. To get tours of anything you had to pay an arm and a leg, and the rest of stuff to see is either just looking out the window of the car at the farm/stuff or all the stores that also charge an arm and a leg for their stuff. We turned around after about an hour and came back home.


The second funnest thing we did with them here was go to the Science Station/Center here in Cedar Rapids. Mom got some cool pictures there with her disposable camera (one with her hair sticking straight up everywhere) and I wish I could post it here, so these will have to do. It is really fun there. The little kids had a room downstairs that had water games and bubble games and a puppet show that ellie loved. The astronaut and robot stuff was pretty cool. Then the next room had a bunch of stuff about electricity and earthquakes and pulleys. The room upstairs was pretty fun. Who would have thought that to entertain the Miller family for the rest of eternity all you need is a set of circus mirrors. I cannot believe how long and hard we were laughing. As is tradition in my family, my brothers always make me laugh so hard I had to go scurrying to the bathroom in order to avoid and embarrassing accident. Also upstairs was all of the weather stuff. That was cool. We were there for almost two hours and it was time to get Ellie home.











We also had a lot of fun just hanging out with each other and watching movies and going on walks.



The best part of the few days before going to Nauvoo was going to the Field of Dreams.

We were all ready to go and had to pick up some video camera tapes for my parents at Walmart on the way out of town. So when we get to the walmart parking lot we turn into the biggest dorks because there is some crazy jacked up clouds that looks like a funnel cloud is going to jump out at us any second. So we all jump out of the cars so we can stand in the parking lot and stare at the clouds. Oh, and we took pictures too! My family comes to Iowa and what do I do?? take them to the local walmart to stand in the parking lot and stare at the clouds!



Anyway, so we're in the car on the way there and it's just raining pretty hard. And with how bad I think the Amana's bombed I just really wanted it to be a good day and the rain to clear up by the time we got there. Thankfully the car trip wasn't too long . . . about an hour, which gave James and Ellie a chance to get acquainted -- I love this 'Stink Eye' picture. And she was able to grab a nap on the way there, too.



So we get there and it's still freaking raining, and we all run under the shelter of the gift shop. There were about 10 other cars there and everyone was hiding out in their cars or under shelter-no one is out on the field. So I figure this is the only time I am going to have my family at the field of dreams and I'm not freaking going to let this rain stop us from having a good time. So I just run out there onto the field and start running the bases. Then I go get some balls to throw around. Everybody starts catching on and pretty soon Darik busts out his bat and gloves and the Miller family is out there now in form. It seems like we can't do anything and have it be a memorable miller vacation without us doing something the whole rest of the world thinks is crazy. So we start playing ball. We made sure everybody got a chance to bat and run the bases. We spent some time in the bleachers and up by the old white house and out in the outfield by the knee-high corn (I know, it's just not quite the same effect). Ellie did great out there in the rain, enjoying it as much as us. But after a while and I had done everything and took all the pictures that I could I took Ellie in the car to get her diaper changed and to warm up and dry off. We were done. While we hung out my dad took my brothers one by one and went and had a "catch."











When we got home that afternoon we all dried off, ate homemade pizza, and watched the movie, "The Field of Dreams." That was fun too. The saga of Miller family vacation will continue in the next blog about the Nauvoo Reunion.