Springfield

This week has been spring break for us and we decided to head down to Springfield to check out some Abraham Lincoln history. We started out at Oak Ridge Cemetery where the Lincoln's are all buried (except for his oldest son).

The structure over their burial site is beautiful and stunning. It pays homage to the man who helped end slavery in America. We were able to go inside and see where the family was buried and to remember the wonderful things that he did.

Right outside the tomb is this sculpture. Legend has it that if you rub his nose, you will have good luck. Our wonderful tour guide told us that he had failed to rub the nose as a youth and then he took off his hat and showed us his bald head. He strongly encouraged us to rub the nose. :)

We all complied.

Next we went over to the Lincoln Museum. Unfortunately, you can't take a lot of pictures within the museum, but it is EXTREMELY well done. Very informative, but also very easy to enjoy. I will say that about 3/4 of the way through, Andrew said, "is this whole place about Lincoln? I'm getting a little tired of learning about him." It was pretty funny.

Right outside of the "White House" exhibit, there are statues of the First Family. Of course, there is always a line to have your picture taken. When we came out of the exhibit, it was open and we ran over, soon to be followed by a horde of people. I quickly tried to line up the family, and you can see how unproductive that was. My favorite part is that it looks like Grant is trying to bite off Chris' wrist.

Inside of the museum is "Grandma's attic" where the kids can play some period games. Hailey dressed up in some costumes and declared that she looked weird. She's never really gotten into the dress up thing.

Grant trying to get the little ball into the cup.

Andrew figured out the spinning thing pretty quickly and did it for a long time.

Carter liked the Lincoln logs and tried to build the tallest house he could. He's always going for the best...Mr. Competitive.

Alyssa is learning a few of her letters and wanted to sit down and write them. She likes being big.

This is the house that the Lincoln's lived in while they were in Springfield. Not sure what Grant is doing at this point.

Here is the old state capital where Lincoln would have been involved in politics. The famous "a house divided against itself shall not stand" speech was given inside and we got to see the room. Grant was losing it at this point. He was so done, until....

We saw a Cold Stone right across the street from the Old State House. Boy, did that change his spirits fast! Thank goodness for ice cream. :)