Oh, how lovely was the morning....

Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to visit Palmyra, New York. I wanted to see the places where the Restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints all began. When we received orders to Maryland, I knew that a trip north was just a matter of time. Last summer Beau was in school, and a trip was out of the question. This year, thankfully our baby isn't due until August, so we were able to go. I was ecstatic!

We set out for our trip early on a Monday morning and hit the road at 7am. Traffic was smooth sailing, and we only had to make a few potty stops. Not bad considering we were traveling with a 3 year-old, a 5 year-old and a 34 week pregnant woman, all of which have a bladder the size of a walnut. We made it to our hotel, checked in, and hit the pool to enjoy the sunshine. I wanted the kids to be nice and tired, so they would be willing to go to bed early and we could get up early and begin seeing the sights. Everyone complied with my wishes.

We were able to play with toys in the pool, which was a nice change (Our community pool down the street doesn't allow toys). Abi and Beau enjoyed diving for rings, while Zachary and Eliza relaxed in the floaties. Everett loved throwing the water balls at everyone, but didn't like it when they were thrown back at him. He was also, of course, afraid at first of getting in the water, but after we showed him that he could safely reach the bottom without drowning, he realized he could have fun jumping in over and over and over again.

Tuesday morning we were all up early, dressed and ready to go by 8:30 which was exactly what I had hoped for! We made a quick stop at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center for a map. The kids wanted to walk around a bit to see what might be different from the other Visitor's Centers we've been to. A few exhibits discussing the trials of Joseph Smith while he was translating the plates was about the only difference.

Everett couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch his favorite video clip of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors. The story of the Army of Helaman is his favorite Book of Mormon story. I think it has something to do with the fighting and weapons. Such a boy! We made a quick stop at the Palmyra Temple, since it's just up the road from the Joseph Smith Farm. It's kind of hard to see, but the windows behind the children are stained glass, and have trees. I think they are a representation of the Sacred Grove. They were on every window, and very beautiful. I just couldn't get enough of them!

All around the small grounds, were gorgeous displays of flowers. I loved the different colors, and varieties of flowers. They also made a nice background for my sillies.
After walking the Temple grounds, we loaded back into the van and headed down the road to the Smith Family Farm. It was amazing to see just how small the house was, both on the outside and the inside. Although, I was surprised at how spacious the upstairs loft was, where the children slept.

We received a lot of compliments from the missionaries guiding the tours on the way we were dressed. I wanted the kids to understand that we were in a special place, and dressing in our Sunday clothes helps us to remember how to act, and to show respect. I think it helped, because they were on their best behavior.
The men of the Smith family later built a larger frame home for the family. I'm sure moving into that home was an exciting time for them, because it was much more spacious than their previous living quarters! I especially liked their dining room table. It was solid wood, and could fit several people. The hearth pictured here was one of the spots that Joseph Smith hid the plates when the mobs came knocking. Also, the box on the dresser was another location of refuge. Although at the time it was placed in the barn.

After touring the barn, we headed on the path that wound through the Sacred Grove. The exact date and location of Joseph Smith's First Vision is unknown, so there is no sign saying "Here it is! This is the spot where it happened!" I like that. The entire area definitely has a sacred feeling about it. You can just feel that something miraculous happened in the vicinity. I hope the kids felt it, because I sure did.
After eating lunch, and changing clothes, we headed into downtown Palmyra. We stopped to tour the Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site: Grandin Building. This is where 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon were first published. By today's standards, 5,000 books might not seem like a lot. However in 1830, that is a huge order to fill. We got see all the tools needed to accomplish such a feat.
Each set of type had to be positioned by hand. Every book had to be sewn together by hand. Every binding had to be marked by hand. I don't recall exactly how many man hours went into making each book, but it was not a small number. The sister missionary guiding our tour shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon that she felt applied to this time consuming process. Alma 37:6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

A display showing the Bible printed in 1828 and the Book of Mormon printed in 1830. This is to illustrate that the Bible and the Book of Mormon together testify of Jesus Christ.

A copy of what the Book of Mormon Manuscript looked like. It was written on foolscap, and sewn together in groups of six sheets, called gatherings. The writing was very small, but extremely neat.

Outside the publication site, there were a couple of men standing with signs suggesting that the Church is a fraud. This man in particular was spouting all sorts of "facts" about the church and Joseph Smith. We sat at a table right next to them, and listened to his fountain of wisdom. The kids just stared at him, not knowing what to think. I was getting rather annoyed, and Beau thought it was great. He said it reminded him of his mission in Brazil. This situation proved to be a fantastic teaching moment. Abi had a look of pure disgust on her face, and Beau talked to her about what he was saying. I don't know everything that he talked to her about, but he said that he helped her to understand the difference between a person who points others to God for answers and one who points others in the direction they want them to go. This man wasn't asking anybody to pray about what he was saying. He just wanted them to take his word (or interpretation of the Bible) for it.

Not too long after, the skies opened and rain began pouring down. Everyone was drenched in a matter of minutes. The kids and I headed into the church bookstore for cover, and to buy a Christmas ornament. Funny story: The men who were bashing the church headed under the canopy provided by a display for church movies to escape the rain. Ironic to say the least!

Since we were done for the day, we went back to our hotel room to relax. We listened to rain, thunder and lightning well into the night. It was a nice opportunity to just play together, and enjoy each other's company. It was like a real vacation!
Our hotel room had a separate bedroom for the kids to sleep in, which was nice. That way they had more space to spread out and play.

The kids and I went to bed sort of early, so that we could get on the road at a decent hour to drive the 2 hours to Niagara Falls. Beau chose to stay up late every night reading The Percy Jackson book series. He finished it after we got back, and said he rather enjoyed it.

On Wednesday morning, everyone complied with my wishes again and we arrived at Niagara Falls without incident by 10am. We had been told by several people that we should get passports and visit Niagara Falls from the Canadian side, because it's much nicer. We never got around to it, because we ran out of time, and it was very expensive. I'm glad that we didn't. The American side looked just fine to us. Plus, the American side offered an attraction called Cave of the Winds, which was just fabulous!! Beau and I were struck speechless with the majestic beauty and power of the water. Abi especially was scared. I was surprised that she was the one that was scared. I thought for sure it would have been Everett!

The weather was, once again, perfect for our outing. It was overcast, and warm. The water was so loud! Sheesh!
We took a boat ride on board The Maid of the Mist. I thought for sure that we would be dragging a kicking and screaming Everett on deck. Nope. He was the most excited of them all! Eliza didn't understand what was going on, so as long as Beau was holding her, she was fine. Zachary glued himself to my leg, and refused to budge. Abi enclosed herself in her poncho in an effort to hide herself. Thankfully she didn't suffocate. The boat took us for an up close and personal look. Zachary kept asking me when the boat was going to turn around. As the ride was coming to a close, Everett and Zachary exclaimed at almost the exact same time, "That was so much fun! I can't wait to tell the Sypherts and Maschgers about it!" Huh?!? Were these the same two boys that just spent the last half an hour whimpering about every little thing? (The Sypherts and Maschgers are near and dear friends of ours.)

We dined on a gourmet meal of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The meal may have been less than stellar, but our front row seat to the rapids more than made up for it.

Once lunch was over, we rode the trolley over to visit the Niagara Falls Aquarium. Once Abi hears that there is an aquarium in the area, she insists that we go. She adores sea life, and likes to see the creatures from the ocean depths over and over again. It was a very small aquarium, and took us less than an hour to see everything.

We even saw a short sea lion show. The kids loved it. If they loved that, I can't wait to see their faces when we move to Texas and take them to Sea World! I'll probably have the same look on my face.

Once we were finished at the aquarium, we rode the trolley again to The Cave of the Winds. We picked-up our ponchos and traded our street shoes for the cheap sandals they hand out to keep your regular shoes dry. By this time, Eliza had had enough. She fell asleep while we were waiting in line to descend the elevator to the base of the falls. She slept for about 15 minutes, until she was awoken by the thunder and water of the falls. She didn't cry, she just looked confused.

Zachary was terrified as we climbed the stairs. I can only imagine what it looked like from his point of view. I had to carry him for most of the way. Abi and Everett went willingly, and Beau carried the sleeping/awake Eliza. I would not want to be one of the workers that has to perform maintenance on that staircase! It is loud, wet, and slippery. At the very top of the climb is an area known as The Hurricane Deck. It is almost directly under the water. It is windy and LOUD!

Once we all made the pass by the Hurricane Deck, Abi worked up enough courage to go again. I took her, and we stood as close as we could to the water without being blown away. After that, Everett and Zachary decided they wanted to go too. So up went went again. The boys actually thought it was pretty great. Amazing.

I don't know why we even bothered wearing the rain ponchos. I do appreciate the thought, but it didn't do us much good. The afternoon had warmed up significantly, and the wet clothes helped to keep us cool. By the time we were done with the Cave of the Winds, we were ready to hit the road for our 2 hour drive back to our hotel. We were all grateful when we arrived, ordered pizza, and went to bed! It had been a very long day.

Thursday was to be our final full day in the area. We visited the Peter Whitmer Farm. We arrived bright and early, and were fortunate to be the first visitors of the day, and had our own private tour. It began in the Visitor's Center which is also a chapel that is used on Sundays for worship services. This building was designed to mimic the design of the buildings during the 1800's. The walls were white, and the carpeting was red. The chapel had chandeliers, and wooden shutters for windows. I wish I could have taken pictures!

The Visitor's Center had beautiful paintings on the walls, and a few sculptures. I particularly liked this depiction of The Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Our sister missionary that was our tour guide was impressed with Abi and Everett. They could correctly answer every question that she asked them, and then some! Being their mother and teacher, I was very proud of them.

I was in such awe being in this little home that held the Prophet Joseph Smith and 50 others in the organization of the Church, that I completely forgot to take pictures inside. Upstairs was the room where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery worked on the translation of the Book of Mormon. They came to the Peter Whitmer farm to escape the persecution from the mobs. It's easy to see why no one came to bother them there.....it was literally in the middle of nowhere!

The Peter Whitmer Farm was the only sightseeing on our agenda for the day. We went back to our hotel room and played in the pool until we were all tired and ready for a nap! I wanted everyone to take a long nap, because we would be up late watching the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

The Pageant didn't start until 9:15pm, but we arrived at 6pm in order to get good seats. We sat in the hot sun for a while, until I was tired of baking.

The shade was much better, and the kids played Ring Around the Rosies to keep themselves entertained. While we were waiting for the sun to set, members of the cast were walking around in their costumes. Everett thought every warrior was Helaman, or Nephi. I don't know who these guys were, but it was fun to see all the different costumes.

We were so excited to see our good friends the Thelers. We left them in Hawaii 2 years ago, and by chance, they moved to New York state just a few days prior to the pageant. Jared is the one who convinced Beau to go the Physician Assistant route, and filled his head with dreams of working together in the future as ENT Doc and PA. Thanks, Jared! We got to meet their sweet daughter for the first time. She is just a few weeks older than Eliza.

The sun finally set, and the weather cooled down. The stage is set up right on the Hill Cumorah. I don't know what the kids thought of it, because they've heard of "The Hill Cumorah" for such a long time. I hope it was everything they thought it would be. They do know the history behind the hill both in the Book of Mormon, and in the Restoration of the Gospel. Maybe that helped.

I took a few pictures of the show, but they didn't come out very well. This one at least gives you the scope of the whole production. There were roughly 700 cast members. The show captivated our family, and everyone was mesmerized by the story, costumes, and special effects. The show told certain stories from the Book of Mormon. Everett kept asking when the Army of Helaman was going to come on. I kept telling him that it wasn't, but he wouldn't believe me. He was quite sad when it was all over that his favorite story was not portrayed. There was plenty of sword fighting from the other stories to make up for his loss. The show was 90 minutes long. It sure went by fast! Before we knew it, it was time to leave. We waited for traffic to clear, and chatted with the Thelers for a while. We didn't get back to our hotel until nearly midnight. We were all exhausted!

Friday morning Abi and Everett were the first to awake... of course! Since we were in no hurry to get on the road, we let the other two sleep until they were ready to get up. Before we left, I wanted to make one last stop at the Hill Cumorah, and climb to the top. Talk about a steep climb! It felt almost completely vertical. The weather was quite humid, so by the time we reached the top, I was drenched in sweat. Yuck! The view of the stage and seating was great. Everett wanted to know what would happen if someone rolled down the hill. I asked him to think about that, and he said that they would probably get hurt once they ran into the stage. Good call.
The Angel Moroni Monument has engravings on every side depicting a scene from the Restoration. One of Joseph receiveing the plates, The Eight witnesses, The Three Witnesses, and Moroni 10:4. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

On our way back home, we passed this sign for a city in New York. If a Marathon was only 1 mile, I would run one every weekend!

Speaking of road signs, I couldn't get over the fact that in New York and Pennsylvania, there was a mile marker for every single tenth of a mile our entire route! Can we say wasteful spending?? The drive from our home to Palmyra is roughly 8 hours, with stops. The drive home took over 10 hours due to construction and a traffic accident. Before our trip, I bought a DVD player with 2 screens to keep the kids occupied during the long hours. On the way to NY, the kids only watched 1 movie, and listened to books on CD, colored, and slept. The ride home was a different story. I am almost embarrassed to say, but they watched 5 movies. It's safe to say that they rotted their brains. Overall, our family vacation was a success!