Some church history sites

Naturally, when you go to upstate NY in July, one of the main reasons to go is to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant! This is one of my favorite things of all about upstate NY, and one of the main reasons I went on a mission (for those that don't know, I was in the pageant 3 times between HS and my mission--it made a big impact on my life). Also, knowing me, feel free to laugh that despite all the millions of pictures I took of everything else on my trip, I forgot my camera when we saw the pageant :(. The kids had a great day, playing hard all morning and sleeping all afternoon (at least enough!) to be happy to stay up late, and happy to go to sleep when we got back to Grampas. Also, thanks to Aunt Tracy that came with us and helped Malachi (and Afton), when I had to run Rayna to the bathroom in the middle of the show--for those that remember the destruction scene--with all the fireworks and earthquakes and such... The show is a bit smaller than I remember, in terms of audience, though the cast was bigger, so it was a little weird for me, but it was still a great show, and Afton's been quoting it during our family scripture study lately--it helps that we are reading about Nephi's boat :)

Anyways, the kids loved it, and I had a great time seeing it again, it's been too long! and it was a warm night, so I think we were all mostly comfortable. I'll get some pictures eventually from Tracy too, so I'll pass them on if anyone's interested.

The next day we went to see the sites. These are out of order, but I don't think it really matters:

Angel Moroni Statue at the top of the hill, the kids practically raced up there, and then immediately back down. it was pretty hot up there, so I didn't really mind coming right back down either, though I got a few looks for running up the hill 7+ months pregnant :)

in the visitor's center. We went to all the outside stuff first, except the hill, so this was a nice cool break for us. The kids had a great conversation with one of the Sister missionaries there too.

Afton particularly liked the BM's in foreign languages, and most particularly the ones with different alphabets, there were some really pretty books there.

If I remember this correctly, this was in the JS frame house, the pantry. Mostly, I think the kids wanted a picture.

and upstairs at the log house

We did get a few other pictures of the houses and the cooper-shop, and we looked at everything else, wells, barns, beehives, gardens, etc... but mostly we were just hot... it was a nearly-record setting summer there, more like TX than NY, go figure...

the kids also really liked walking through the sacred grove, though we didn't spend too much time because it was nearly lunch time. Both girls commented about how peaceful it was there, though in their own words.

It was really nice for me to be able to share this experience with my kids, I hope they're old enough to remember and appreciate some of it!