family reunion next summer?

There have been some conversations lately - I don't know how many, but I've talked to Mom and Tawnia - about the possibility of a Palmer reunion in Nauvoo next summer. I think it would be AWESOME! We were actually planning to get up to that part of the country next summer anyway and it would be great to do it all as a reunion for the first time since 2006 - it will be 5 years. About time we had one!

It would be really fun to meet up in Nauvoo for the pageant and other things going on - from what I can tell, it seems like you need 3 or 4 days to really see and experience everything. It would be great to go to the temple all together, but based on the number of small children we have right now, it would probably be better if we went in 2 groups (I'd say Mom and Dad go with both groups, so they can be in the temple with ALL their kids, even if it is split up) just so there are enough adults with the kids.

And if people can stay out in that part of the country for an entire week, we could also go together to Independence Missouri and see the Church history sites over there, as well as anything else in the region. I have a list, if anyone is curious. For example, Hannibal MO, where Mark Twain is from and there are all kinds of "Tom Sawyer sites," is only 75 miles from Nauvoo.

Mom found a lodging location that has cabins for groups - we could all fit in two of them, and that would take care of bathrooms/showers, kitchens so we don't have to eat out, and air conditioning so we sleep comfortably. If we want the, especially the large ones, we should probably make the reservations within the next couple of months. Lodging in Nauvoo during July for the pageant is darn near full in February, as I found out this last year when I was trying to sort out reservations for our family to attend our stake's youth conference (we ended up not going at all).

Our vote is to go the last week of July, because then Tawnia should be done with her summer classes and not have started back at the school district for her school year yet. And we could still see the big pageant - it does seem a little silly to go to Nauvoo and NOT go to the big pageant, especially since it's the first time of going to Nauvoo at all for a lot of us.

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts later, but this is to get us started. Please respond in a post and NOT in a comment, because those get buried too fast. I can't ever keep track of comments. Thanks!