Tour of Kirtland, Ohio

Grandma Charlotte visited us a couple of weeks ago. What a fun time we all had, especially visiting early church history sites in Kirtland, Ohio, and the surrounding area.

We started with Lake Eerie.
The rain had stopped just that day, so we didn't stay very long due to the windy chill. It is strange seeing such a large body of water that is not an ocean. Maggie wanted to know where the sea shells were hiding. If it comes from a lake, is it still a sea shell?

Here are all the kids at the visitor's center in Kirtland. Love the beautiful mums! At first we had a little difficulty getting a spot for a tour. They didn't tell us then, but it turns out that President Monson was there the same day, and they were trying to arrange things around his visit. How cool is that? Perhaps not as cool as actually seeing him, but we'll take what we can get.

The Kirtland Temple. Unfortunately, our group was too big to go up the the 3rd floor, but we still enjoyed walking up the steps to the 2nd story.

Perhaps our favorite place was the John Johnson farm. It was just our family on this tour (and Paul was behaving--first time all day). This is all of us on the front steps where Joseph Smith preached the night after being tarred and feathered.

I'm grateful to have visited these places, especially with my family. I learned a lot, and being there sure makes church history come alive. Next summer we look forward to going to more sites--hopefully Palymra and Niagara Falls. We'd love for someone to come go with us!