Nauvoo, In Reflection

Just for those who are keeping score, I was RIGHT about my children and Nauvoo. And while I do love being right, this is one of those cases where it would have been a lot more pleasant for everyone if I had been wrong.


I plan to get in to all the juicy "he hit me on the head with my recorder" travel details in a later post. For now, let me share with you that we didn't hate Nauvoo (well, maybe Sid hated it, but he's 14 and so hating is his thing right now). Everyone had at least one part of Nauvoo that was their favorite. Of course Pie and I enjoyed it the most--Sid barely tolerated it--and then came the rest of the children in descending order of ages. Tommy had the hardest time and this is why:


Nauvoo's target audience is not kids, at least not my kids.


I think I knew this before we went, but being there really reinforced this for me. And it is something that I wish people would have made a point of telling me in our planning stages for our trip. Here's why: Every place you can go in Nauvoo (except for maybe the Family Living Center which I will talk about in a minute) is set up like a museum. You enter the houses and stand in cordoned off corners of rooms. The rooms are set with pieces accurate for the time, which is interesting, but you can't touch anything. I know why the things can't be touched, but 4 year olds (and even 9 year olds) really REALLY want to touch things. Remember when your baby wanted to pick everything up and put it directly in her mouth? Well, small children are programmed to learn through touch, I have found. And even though mine don't want to put things in their mouths anymore, they do want to walk around and handle everything. Polite little ropes are no match for my inquisitive children. Each house had an inviting corner with stairs leading upwards.....and each time the adorable guide had to tell my children not to go up the stairs.

The Family Living Center was much more hands on, which the kids appreciated. They were able to make candles (they didn't) and help make a sisal rope (which they did, and they haven't stopped arguing over it since). They were also able to learn how barrels and rag rugs were made. Like everywhere else in Old Nauvoo, the guides are lovable old people dressed in period attire.

So what did our kids love the most? The gunsmith, blacksmith and brickyard were rather popular. Josie in particular loved two old log cabins and we had to visit them at least 3 times during our two days in Nauvoo. The boot shop was also quite engaging. We liked the wagon and carriage rides. Except for Sid. We remembered during the first ride that he is allergic to horses. He looked like he had been in a fight by the time he got off. I have a true testimony of Benedryl.

Altogether, I think the kids would have been happy with just one morning spent in Nauvoo. It was overkill for them, and at each step along the way I felt like I was dragging them along--even to the things they ended up liking! Would you believe the thing they enjoyed the most was our lame hotel pool? Kids. They're the worst.