Mormon Battalion

Josh wearing his pajamas because we had just come from the beach and they were the only dry clean clothes left.

Jay, Britton, Emma, and Megan panning for fool's gold. That's Nathan in the background.

The Mormon Battalion in San Diego, California.

Nikki learning how fortunate she is to have a washing machine instead of a scrubbing board for laundry.

Jay had stroller duty pushing Darren.

Jay got to dress up.


After playing at the beach for a few hours, we ate lunch at McDonalds then went to the Mormon Battalion Memorial. It has changed so much since our last visit. It was a very cool experience for the kids. The tour starts in a room full of old fashioned sepia photos hanging on the wall. As the missionary is speaking, the people in the photos start to move and act restless until they finally interrupt and take over the tour. You realize then that they are actually digital screens. As you move from room to room, each room is a diorama full of interesting things to look at while you listen to the tour. One room depicted the inside of the General Store at Fort Leavenworth where they explained what uniform they would have worn and supplies they carried. Jay was chosen to dress up and wear the backpack full of supplies as the missionary explained. It was hard for him (or any of us) to imagine marching 2000 miles with that weight on his back.

The whole experience was interesting to the kids and "hands on". They were able to pan for gold, wash cloth on a scrubbing board, pump water by hand from a spigot, and have their own pioneer picture taken.

After the Mormon Battalion memorial, we walked around "Old Town San Diego" for a little while. Sara's family and mine hugged and parted ways after that. We then found a Mexican Food Restaurant to rest and eat chips and salsa. I thought it went well considering I was the only adult with 6 kids under the age of 9 at a restaurant. It helped that we were seated outside and they were sufficiently tired and hungry to do anything but sit and stuff ourselves with good food. We drove home after that with full stomachs and fond memories.