7/4/17 Biggest 4th of July Fireworks Show in the World

      We woke up this morning at the KOA in Memphis Arkansas.

We crossed into Tennessee.

Passed the nations largest Bass Pro Shop.

The van crossed 100,000 miles.

Heavenly Father arranged a break in the rain and a friendly Tech Specialist to take our picture in front of the Memphis Tennessee Temple.

In Nashville there were activities for families to celebrate the fourth. The kids did bouncy huts. According to security diapers and wipes in a backpack equals dangerous. Diapers and wipes in a large cloth Walmart back equals safe. Luckily we had some two handled bags in the van. I swapped bags while the kids played. After that we had no trouble with security.

A local church gave out Frisbees. We had fun playing in the park while we waited for fireworks. 

Both the fireworks and the sound reflected off the downtown buildings.

Peter was not the only one worn out by the end.

7/3/17 McKinney to Memphis, Arkansas

This morning we finally got around to taking a group picture with the Curtis family. L-R Heidi, Peter, TJ, Joseph, Ganon, Rebecca, Sarah, David, Ben, Olivia, Kat, Adam, Jeremy.

Peter got Joseph involved in his game of "ring around the house".

Heavy rain caught up with us but we felt impressed that it would be OK.

The rain cleared up as we got on the road.

We stopped near a McDonald's in Little Rock Arkansas and let the kids stretch their legs. We even gave them an ice cream.

In Memphis, Arkansas we stayed at a KOA.

It heats water just great. We ate pasta for dinner. Heidi also found that he rice cooker can be relied on for pasta as well.

There were plenty of fun things for the kids to do. For Family Home Evening we played giant chess. A couple of the pieces looked so nice, we decided to keep them 😉

7/2/17 Sunday With The Curtis Family

The Curtis children kindly gave up their own beds so that we would have a place to sleep. The kids all shared Ben and Adam's room. Heidi and I shared Olivia's room.

Before church the kids had time to play with their new friends. Here Olivia and Sarah are getting to know one of the two black cats. Is this Ninja or Shadow? I can't tell but the Curtis kids know quite well.

TJ, Joseph and Peter found some cool rocket toys to play with. This one comes complete with two landing vessels. This was a hit.

We went to church with the Curtis Family. Their ward gets high marks for being welcoming. Several people came up and introduced themselves. They all said what great people the Curtis family are. We agree.

After we got home these two strangers showed up. We decided to welcome them in.

Later in the day Peter discovered the side yard. Once he learned that, with a buddy, he could circumnavigate the house it was all he wanted to do. Happily Rebecca was willing to trade turns with me. I got a couple of miles in today.
We also let the kids try out our new travel games. Ben gave us a private concert on his violin. In exchange we taught him a few cords on the ukulele. Ben took to it quite well.

7/1/17 Colorado City to the Curtis' House

This morning we awoke at the La Quinta Inn in Colorado City Texas. The wind still blowing and the water outside confirmed our decision to sleep indoors was a good one. We felt it was a prompting from Heavenly Father. The weather app we use showed had showed only a 40% chance of rain.

Breakfast was included in our stay. We thought the Texas shaped waffles were great. It says a lot about how much Texans love their state.

The store across the street had both the US and Texas flags painted on the roof.

As we drove we passed miles of wind farms.
Dallas was filled with what we call spagetti bowls. Giant sections of intersecting roads piled high into the sky. Heidi closely watched the GPS to keep us from making a wrong turn.

At last we made it to the Dallas Temple.

It was a lovely 75 degrees so we took a walk around the grounds.

It felt good to stretch our legs after so many hours in the van.

We next followed the GPS directions to the Curtis' house. We laughed when the street just before theirs is called Memory Lane. Kat and Jeremy Curtis were 2 of our first neighbors when we got married. Their oldest was born just a month after David. We haven't seen them in at least ten years. Travel down Memory Lane is exactly what we are here to do.

After sharing a meal with us we let the kids swim while the grown ups visited. Jeremy is part of the Stake Young Men's presidency and works as a lawyer. Kat is working as a retirement planner for New York Life. Ben is 12 and is into reading and technology. He and David had no trouble resuming the friendship of their infancy. Adam is 10 and into sports. Olivia is the youngest and has a ready smile. She seemed to enjoy playing with our two girls. We let the kids stay up a little late as we visited. The Curtis' children very kindly gave up their rooms for the night for us to sleep in. Our plan is to be here two nights and depart on Monday morning.