The Beginning of our New York Vacation

This is the first picture I took of our trip. We took the red eye into JFK and then had a two hour layover until our flight into Syracuse. Nathan slept on the plane thankfully but was wide awake at the airport. To pass the time I let him watch Alvin and the Chipmunks on my ipod. He was totally engrossed. We were luckily able to check into our hotel early (10:00 AM) so we could get some needed sleep. We awoke and went to lunch and then came back to the hotel to swim. Ryan doesn't get to swim very often with Nathan so this trip was nice for that chance.



Ryan picked his parents up at the airport and we stayed in Syracuse that night. The next morning we drove to Palmyra, NY. One of our first stops was to the sacred grove where we saw the log cabin Joseph lived in when he saw the first vision. Doesn't Nathan look happy?

The Palmyra temple is just across the highway and from the inside you can look out a clear window and see the sacred grove.
Here we are in the sacred grove trying to get Nathan to look at the camera.

This is one of many pictures I took in the sacred grove. It is really just like I expected it to look.



After checking into the Palmyra Inn and taking a nap we ventured to the Hill Cumorah. This is in the visitor center. I do have to say that if you are ever in Palmyra you should get ice cream at the Chill 'N Grill. Also the Secret Garden Cafe was quite fun and had delicious food.



Here is Nathan literally running up the Hill Cumorah. For those who haven't been it is really steep and we were constantly asking him to wait for us.

Nathan resting on the top of the hill at the monument. This is where the plates were buried and where Joseph visited each year before being able to take them and translate them.



Since we were so close to Niagara Falls we decided to make the drive one and a half hours to see them. We brought our pass ports to venture into Canada and see the falls from that side which I've been told is the better of the two. It really was amazing.


This is the view we had as we ate lunch at a fun restaurant.
This is the front of the restaurant Edgewaters Grill and Tap.

We don't think it actually rained although there were plenty of clouds, but the mist from the falls was pretty heavy and Nathan will use any excuse possible to use his umbrella.

Nathan got tired of riding in his stroller and insisted on pulling it.

Nathan loved the Palmyra Inn because he had his own twin bed and night stand. He put all his prized possessions in here. You can see his night time books, flip flops, Reese's, bedtime treat, and his brand new Niagara Falls mug.

I didn't get any pictures of the printing press but we were able to go there as well and we went on a tour with Elder Pinegar. He gave Nathan a crisp one dollar bill to start his mission fund. Then later we got large sheets of printed pages from the book of Mormon that he showed us how to fold to get the first 8 pages or so of the Book of Mormon. While we were all folding our pages Nathan was following instructions using his dollar. It is folded nice and small.