Yuma Territorial Prison

Ben's endorser was in town for a day and requested an afternoon with us.  Ben should really type this part out, since I am the opposite of a military wife, but he's kind of like his boss, but I would think of him more as a PCA Chaplain that chaplains him.  His wife called me (no one calls anymore, so I was impressed) before deployment to ask if I had anything I wanted to talk through and to tell me that she would be praying for me while Ben was gone.  This particular afternoon, they talked with us about deployment and how working at the command was going and if we had any questions about future things.

They asked to do an activity with us, so we took them to Yuma Territorial Prison. 

I was very impressed with the museum and we all really enjoyed it.

This was the cell block that would go in the "dark room" for the most severe punishment.

I always thought that just being in prison on the surface of the sun would be punishment enough, but it turns out that the prison had finer amenities, like air conditioning and a big library, than some houses in town.  When it closed down, the high school met there for 3 years while a new school was being built and the mascot is still the "prisoners". 

I always appreciate a museum that makes information kid AND adult friendly.  I think the kids learned a lot and had fun.

After the museum, we played at the park by the river for a few minutes and then went to Prison Hill Brewery for dinner.

I mean this with all politeness to our parents, but our boys saw this couple as grandparent material and pretty much instantly treated them like they were part of our family.  Colin talked sweet Alice's ear off the entire evening.  Eli mentioned that his birthday was the week before, so they had a special dessert brought to our table and sang to him.

Colin was certainly sad when we didn't get to see them the next day.  I love how welcoming our kids are; I just hope it doesn't freak some people out.