Our BIG mid-west adventure!

Well, Tom had a week long seminar to attend in Omaha sooooooo...we decided to turn it into a really long geography/civics lesson!  The kids and I schooled in the hotel in Omaha for the first week and then, we took a week of vacation and traveled to Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas.  We visited all of the state capitols and two of the governor's  mansions.  The kids got their geography workbooks stamped at each capitol.  In Lincoln, they were actually stamped with the Nebraska Supreme Court Seal.  Anyway, here's the trip in pictures.....enjoy!



Nutrition is vital on a 12 hour road trip!



It was after five when we reached the Oklahoma capitol so,
we just got outdoor shots



 


Monday morning class in the hotel and, yes, they slept in their clothes!
We got to Omaha at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning and Tom had to be in class at 7.....poor Daddy!

  

Our trip to the Omaha Children's Museum

 

 

                   I love shopping!!!

I just wanna play and Mama's makin me pose! 





 
 

 

This is at the park across from the hotel



This is the state capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska

Tom was still in class, so the kids and I drove over to Lincoln to see this one.  Daddy made all the rest of them though.



This is the politics in me coming out.  I couldn't help but marvel at the different quotes in several of the capitols and stand in amazement as I read them and realized how far we've drifted away from them.



We took several shots of the the ceilings in each capitol.  The architecture and design alone is enough to visit some of these beautiful buildings.



About to enter the Governor's mansion in Lincoln.  Can we say, "Mama's making us smile"?



This is the doll collection inside the mansion.  There's a doll for each first lady of Nebraska.



 

These are just a few shots from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.  This was our second trip there and we highly recommend it.  Unfortunately my camera battery was low so, I only had enough for these shots in the gorilla exhibit.  Tom says it's a "she".  All I know is, she sure was flirting with him!  Sorry for the blur against the glass.

She was playing hard to get here!

Iowa





These are on the grounds of the Governor's mansion in Iowa.  We couldn't take pictures inside.



Iowa State Capitol







More ceiling shots







The House floor





No free government or the blessings of liberty can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.       Ummmm, ok?????



Yeah, well, I'm not sure I'm buying that Obamanation has courageous confidence in the community.  Heck, after interviewing several people from my mother's generation that strictly vote democrat (MY MOTHER EXCLUDED!!!!) no matter what, I'm not so sure I have confidence in the community.



That's a replica of the U.S.S. Iowa which is now housed in California
because there isn't a body of water anywhere near Iowa to hold it.

 

On the road again.

Illinois....or, as Joseph said...Illinoya!
(This is me dreaming Illinois was a "red" state..ha!)

Notice the hand stenciling you see on the walls and ceilings in all of these buildings.  It's beautiful.

All hand stenciled!

This museum was wonderful!

Just hangin with Abe and the family

Illinois State Capitol

Union Station

Guess who had the camera????

On the road again!!!

Missouri State Capital

The Earth is the Lords and the Fullness Thereof

Righteousness Exhaulteth a Nation

Party Honesty is Party Expediency

Lord God of Hosts Be With Us Yet - Lest We Forget

Property is the Fruit of Labor
Or, as the democrooks would say, "We need to redistribute that for you"

Did you know they have snowcones in Missouri??

Random shots as we traveled through the Ozarks from Missouri to Arkansas

Arkansas
Stop here for the best ham sandwiches ever!

Mattie is soooooooooooo happy!

On the road again....and again!

Not sure what they put in those ham sandwiches but, who cares!



Arkansas State Capitol



Hey...look at those two Supreme Court Justices!

Well, that's it.  We finished up in Arkansas and drove straight through to Midlothian.  We had an absolute blast but, we sure were glad to be home.  Not a shabby field trip for these "poor, unsocialized home school kids"....eh?