The Great Lakes

In June we flew out to New York so see Grammy and Grandad.  First we went to Niagara Falls.  These falls are majestic.  The power in the river just before the water goes over the falls is so impressive to me.  

 We rode on Maid of the Mist.  It is a boat that takes you right up into the falls.  It is pretty impressive and we all giggled the whole time.  It was so crazy to see this water coming full force right at you.  We were very thankful for the rain slickers. 

 That is a whole lot of water.

 look at my cute little people. 

 The girls and I and Dad went on a zip line by the falls.  It would have been awesome except they were not super organized and we had to wait forever for gear.  It took us a couple of hours to do what should have taken 30 minutes.  Oh well...traveling is an adventure.

 It was super amazing that we were able to see this waterfall with a rainbow in it. 

 Cameron always finds golf courses.  This is Glenn Abbey.

 We left Niagara and drove to Toronto, Canada.  The kids were excited because this was their first time out of the country.

 We took a stroll down graffiti alley.  The art work here is amazing 

 We walked through Toronto towards the waterfront and came upon the Blue Jays stadium.

 The city wasn't giving us the feels this day so we got on a ferry and went out to Toronto island.  We rented bikes and rode all over the place.  This was definitely more our speed.  I just kept thinking how much fun it is to be at this stage of life when we can do adventurous things like this with our kids. 

 We found this cool lighthouse. Apparently it is haunted.  The red door was awesome. 

 The Toronto skyline is impressive from the island. 

 My cute little bikers. 

 We came upon this beautiful secluded little spot that had a great view of the city. 

 after we traded in the bikes we went and swam in Lake Ontario.  It's not every day that you get to swim in one of the great lakes. 

 who knows?  Just a couple of ladies chillin in some cool chairs. 

 And...you guessed it another golf course.  This is royal woodbine.  We drove late to get to Grammy and Grandad's house in Palmyra.  We have missed them. 

 Our first stop in Palmyra was the Hill Cumorah.  There were a lot of tour groups but we were lucky and we were able to avoid the crowds everywhere we went.  We purposely avoided the Hill Cumorah Pageant so we wouldn't have to fight crowds.  We also knew that Grammy and Grandad would be really busy during pageant time. 

 In case you are wondering...Yes the kids rolled down that hill.

 We were able to visit a lot of really cool places.  This is the Whitney farm house.  .  This is where the church was organized in 1830

 The upstairs. 

 It is amazing to see this tiny little cabin and know that this powerful and world wide Gospel was restored there beginning with just 6 members. 

 I thought the church there was pretty.

 next we headed to the Grandin Printing press.  This is where the first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed.  Some of the instruments here are original and were actually used to print it. 

 We were glad that Dave was still with us for this part of the trip. 

 Palmyra is a unique and quaint little town.  This house was used during the underground railroad. 

 On Sunday after church we headed to the Sacred Grove.  The spirit is powerful in this beautiful grove of trees. 

 As soon as you enter you can feel that something sacred took place in these wood. 

 Clara carried her violin all the way from Vegas.  She played Oh How Lovely Was the Morning.  As soon as her bow touched the strings I felt the spirit confirm to me once again that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he indeed saw God and Jesus Christ in this Sacred place.  It was an incredible experience for our family and especially for Clara. 

 I was so thankful to share my testimony with my children in the grove.  I hope that they will always understand that all that I do and all the decisions I make are because I know a young boy prayed and was visited by God and Jesus Christ.  It doesn't matter that you go here.  What matters is that you know it happened and you know it's true.  You can feel that without ever visiting the grove. 

 This is the Smith house.

 The Palmyra temple is beautiful. 

As soon as you walk in the lobby you can see straight through the temple all the way to the sacred grove.  This was a request from President Hinckley.  It was definitely inspired. 
Cameron was able to do baptisms and Grandad was able to baptize him. 
 This was a special experience for both of them.  Grandad had never baptized any of his granchildren before. 

 
Playing chicken foot with grammy and grandad

 Next we headed to the priesthood restoration site.   On the way there we stopped at Syracuse University.  This wasn't my favorite campus.  It is in a beautiful area but I felt that the campus was a little run down.  Maybe we just didn't visit the right part. 

 We did see the statue of Jim Brown.  That was pretty cool.  He was an amazing football player.

The day we visited the Priesthood restoration site was the hottest most humid day of our entire trip.  No joke it was 95 degrees and 90% humidity.  We were all miserable and a little grumpy.  This kind of made this part of the church history a little difficult and I don't think the kids enjoyed it or got as much out of it as I hoped they would.  

 

 The banks of the Susquehannah river.  This is where Oliver and Joseph baptized each other. 

 What a beautiful setting.  It was truly peaceful here. 

 On the way back home we visited Cornell University.  I thought it was a beautiful campus. 

 I think I judge all universities by their football field.  Blame my Dad.  This field was awesome.  I loved that it was open so the kids got to go run around on the field. 

 I have no idea what golf course this is.  I think it might be the Cornell University course. 

The kids had fun catching frogs and ...

fireflies.  My kids had never seen fireflies so this was super exciting for them. 

One night we walked to the sacred grove.  How cool would it be to go on your evening stroll to the sacred grove.  I hope my parents take advantage of this from time to time. 

 The next day we went to Watkins Glen.  This place was unbelievable.  It was a river running through a canyon.  There was waterfall after waterfall and the trail wound all around these beautiful waterfalls.  We loved this visit. 

 We were clearly in Amish country.  We saw several horse pulled carriages.  They just ride right on the road and follow all the same traffic laws we do. 

 

 Because there is a dairy on every piece of land there are also ice cream shops on every corner.  They are amazing.  We ate more ice cream while we were in New York than I have eaten in the last year. 

 This is Martin Harris' home.  It is made up of cobblestones that were brought in from Lake Ontario.  I thought it was really interesting. 

It is a private residence so you can't tour it. 

We were so happy to spend time with Grammy and Grandad. We are so proud of the service they are giving.  We miss them and we will really miss them now that football is starting but we are so thankful that they are willing to serve our Heavenly Father.  

 

On our way out we ate at the muddy river cafe.  It sits along the Erie Canal. 

 I was touched that my kids wanted to visit the sacred grove one more time before we left.  I asked them why and they each said because they liked the way they felt there.  I am so grateful they recognize the spirit in their lives. 

 We left Palmyra and headed to Kirtland, Ohio. We got there late so we went to the visitors center and watched the film and then went to bed. 

 The next day we visited the Newel K whitney store and the mill and the other church history sites in Kirtland. 

it was interesting to visit the Kirtland temple and listen to the tour given by someone outside of the church.  They had a lot of information and the tour was interesting but there was something missing.  

 When we came out of the tour Clara said, "Well, that was a nice documentary."  That was it.  It was great information but there was no testimony.  When we testify it invites the spirit.  The sister missionaries testified of the restoration and of Jesus Christ.  That is why you can feel the spirit when you take a tour from a missionary.

 Our flight out of Cleveland got delayed because of storms in Chicago so we took advantage of the extra time and went to the Johnson farm.
  
This is where Joseph Smith was tarred and feathered. 

 We stopped to pick some strawberries...

 and some cherries...

Cameron was thrilled that because of the delay we were able to visit Firestone.  This course is in Akron, Ohio and Cameron had been wanting to go here.  He was thrilled with delay. 

 Cameron is a fun guy to travel with .  He is a great navigator.  He loves seeing new things and marks everywhere we go on his map.  He is up for anything.

 We had to get up at 3:30 to catch our flight.  We were all exhausted. 

 

We flew through storms to get home.  I am not a fan of this but I was happy to be headed to my own bed.  

Once again these three were the best travel companions.  We were so glad Dave was with us for the first half of the trip.  So often he has to stay home and work.  We did learn that we travel much different without dad.  (:  He takes forever getting out the door and the rest of the day is lightning speed.  We couldn't keep up.