Thursday, September 01, 2016 – Nathan & Valerie arrive for 4 day visit.

This morning before the visitor’s center opened a group of bicyclers pulled into the parking lot. They are just a group of friends that like to cycle and most of them are from the greater Chicago area. Every year they do a cross country cycle tour from the Nauvoo Temple to the Chicago Temple. The Carthage Visitor’s Center is their breakfast stop. They’ve already gotten separated; one of the bikes had a flat tire so the last two didn’t arrive with the main group. They were a great group of men, it looked like they were having a good time.

Today’s big event was the arrival of our son Nathan and his wife Valerie. But it came with a big surprise. We’ve been expecting them but they brought their oldest daughter Samantha with them! Sis. Johnson was standing on our porch when they opened the car door. When Samantha got out you should have heard the squeeeel of glee from grandma, I mean Sis. Johnson!

Their trip to visit us was a last minute decision made possible by a long Labor Day Holiday. They get to stay with us for four nights & three days. We look forward to showing them around Carthage and Nauvoo and a trip to the Nauvoo Temple.  We are delighted they came and especially delighted they brought Samantha with them.

 

This afternoon we all went over to the Visitor’s Center and took the Carthage Jail tour. This is the first time our daughter-in-law, Valerie has been here. It has been twenty years since our son, Nathan, was here as a teenager. To tour the Carthage Jail is always a special and moving experience, it was especially so for Nathan, Valerie and Samantha.