Glen Ellis pictures of Palmyra

Their first Christmas in Palmyra

 

New York Day #3

Our next day was dedicated to Palmyra.  It was rainy and wet, but not miserable. We wandered the Sacred Grove and talked about searching for the Holy Ghost.  We talked about Joseph Smith, his family and God and Jesus Christ.  We sang quietly together in the grove and while Ada and Jer stayed longer, the younger kids and I went back to the Alvin Smith home to talk about my own family history. My Grandpa Ellis grew up in that home before it was a history attraction. I brought pictures and we found where some of them were taken.  I loved reading through his book that he wrote and picturing him as a boy 9-18 farming, horses, cattle... He also lived at the Sampson Farm with his Uncle for a little while. The only downside of the day was that there was a bunch of mosquitoes that enjoyed where we stopped to sing and talk. 

I think the song that I liked singing here the most was "Gethsemane".

The last time I came was when I was between these kids' ages.  I came with my family and my Ellis grandparents.  What a great experience that was.  We linked hands and measured some of the trees in the grove by hugging them.  We bore testimonies.  We talked about the anti man standing across the street yelling as we went in. We also talked about the door with writing on it by my grandpa or a sibling in the Alvin home and Grandpa showed me a patch that he put into a tree that was still there 50 years later.  The kids were tired, so I left them on a bench and found the patched tree.  I think I got the right one.  The patch is 30 years taller than it was when I was little, but it's still there.

patched tree

We also went to see the printing press where the first Book of Mormon was printed.  That was so neat.  They've done a great job at explaining it and showing it with equipment and examples.

They had the original painting too.  That was neat to see.

This was at the Hill Cumorah.  I'm not seeing all our pictures.... I'm probably going to be finding some more to add.

New York Day #2

We started off with Niagara Falls from the Canada side.  Our lunch was super pricey, so we just got a couple of meals to share and ate granola bars.  The chicken nuggets were good though.  Crossing the border wasn't too bad going over... a little harder on the way back with more traffic.  Ada saved us at a toll booth.  Neither Jer nor I had cash, but Ada did.  It was so nice.

We tried Ketchup Pringles while we were in Canada.  They do actually taste like ketchup.

It was a beautiful and very hot day.  There were so many rainbows!  We went down to a tunnel down under the waterfall, did a zipline next to the waterfall and took the ferry that goes down into the base of the waterfall.

waiting in line for the zipline, it started pouring rain.  We all got thoroughly soaked.

Ada Kissing the Canadian flag.

Cutie pies

The ferry was so cool and we got very wet.

Seth was so tired after all the traveling.