I spent so much time not blogging that I now feel far behind in writing about things that mattered to me and were important to our family. Here’s a first effort at rectifying that situation.
A week or so before we left Syracuse, Jeremy’s mom came to visit. Before she left, we decided to take a day trip to Palmyra. Jeremy and I had been there many times before, and even Clara came with us several times as a baby. But between the winter that would not end and the morning sickness that also would not end, we didn’t have a chance to go this time around until our eleventh hour in the ’Cuse. And since spring is an unpredictable season, we ended up going on a warm but misty day.
The first awesome thing about our trip was that Jeremy got to ride for an hour and ten minutes each way in between the kids’ car seats in the Golf. I wish I’d taken a picture, but the poor guy looked pretty cramped and pathetic (no offense, JB). When we arrived, he unfolded himself from the car and emerged in all of his glorious lankiness, and then we went to the Hill Cumorah visitors’ center. This picture is taken at the foot of the Christus statue, and I really appreciate that Jonathan is holding a paper towel tube, which he carried with him all the way from Syracuse. It’s those little details that make events like this more meaningful, don’t you agree?
After our visitors center tour, we drove to the top of the Hill Cumorah and enjoyed the rain and mist. Really, doesn’t it look like the ideal day to spend outdoors? Ah, New York…
It was at the top of the Hill Cumorah that we first tried to get Jonathan to have his picture taken with his arms away from his face. For some reason (I blame Clara), he thinks that he looks cuter when he puts his hands up to his mouth. I don’t know what he’s trying to do. But he also seems to have no idea how to respond when we ask him to put his hands down. He ends up looking pretty unnatural. That’s our boy!
We drove from the Hill Cumorah to the Joseph Smith Farm, where we toured the two farm houses and then walked through the Sacred Grove. Clara and the “Girl Missionary” (as Clara called her) who did our tour became fast friends, and eventually Clara became her little missionary companion, helping to ask questions, lead the group around, and lead everyone in a hymn (I should interject here that our group was quite small and comprised entirely of Mormons, which made for a different kind of tour than we’d been on in the past, when we’d been in larger groups with people of all faiths. They’re both great groups to be in, but I thought it was pretty neat to be in the small group on this trip. It was almost like being at church, but better since we were outside and seeing interesting things.)
By the time we walked through the Sacred Grove, the rain was coming down a bit harder, but we stayed pretty dry amidst the trees. It was a nice walk. The kids liked it, and we even tried to get a few more pictures of Jonathan. First we asked him to put his hands in his pockets, which he did not appreciate. You can see for yourself what happened next.
Silly boy.
Sorry for the travelogue-style post. I am not feeling very amusing or clever at present, but I figured I might as well start somewhere with my blogging. Also, if you are unfamiliar with Joseph Smith or the history of the LDS church in New York, I’d invite you to learn more at mormon.org.
