Early August- New York & Boston

On Ethan's third day of school we flew out to Newark, NJ with the whole Smith clan for a family vacation back east. 

Chanda, Barrett, (and their spouses), and Nate flew out from Salt Lake to meet us there but the rest of the family all flew out together from here in Phoenix. It was fun to have 11 of us all on the same flight and it was SO nice to have help with the kids. 

It was a straight flight which is kind of a long time to a 5, 2  and a 2.5 month old but they did awesome. Ellie played on her new "laptop", Ethan watched movies and played games on his uncles ipod and Mason slept and smiled the whole time. 

 I love that we can strap kids in on the airplane! Ingenious. It makes it SO much easier!

Once we all met up together, we put our luggage in the Uhaul trailer and packed 16 people in a 15 passenger van (shhh.. don't tell!)

We traveled to Harmony, PA where our first stop on the church history tour was. Ethan was quite a good travel guide...just like his daddy.

In Harmony, we stopped on the banks of the Susquehanna River at the homesite of Joseph and Emma. With our huge van and trailer we weren't able to drive down to the banks of the river (where the Priesthood was restored) but we saw it from a distance.

Nearby was the graveyard where Emma's parents and an infant child of theirs is buried. 

Davin used his super awesome new camera to capture some cute pictures of our kiddos while we were there. I stole a lot of the pictures in this post from him, I'm sure you can tell which ones are his :)

Mason definitely still had the newborn, old man look to him. 

Sweet Ellie and Aunt Chanda

After that we went to Afton, PA where Joseph and Emma were married and then headed over to Fayette, NY to the Peter Whitmer home where the church was organized.

Right by the home, they have a beautiful Visitor's Center there. Ellie decided that she wanted to give us a special musical number while we waited for the tour.

Not only was the church organized here but in this room is where some of the translation work of the Book of Mormon took place. It was really cool to be in places where such important events in our religion took place.

After that we drove to the Grandin Press in Palmyra, NY. This is where the Book of Mormon was published.

Mason was such a trooper for our car rides from place to place!

This place was really cool! It was neat to see original ink stains and equipment that were used. The senior missionaries were awesome. They were very knowlegeable and gave great tours. They made me excited to serve as a senior couple when our time comes.

The book of Mormon is printed in over 100 languages! I don't remember exactly how many but it's a lot!

Ellie got a hold of my mascara when we were getting ready for church. Her eyes are small so it's hard to tell but she has long eyelashes that will someday look even more beautiful with mascara, but not quite yet little one!

We also stopped by the home of Martin Harris near Palmyra.

Our next stop was the Sacred Grove area. This is where Joseph Smith's first vision happened. You can read about it here :) This is the small house that they lived in when the first vision took place.

Below is the room where the angel, Moroni, appeared to Joseph 3 times in one night.

The Smith's eventually moved into a bigger house right down the road but they lost it and eventually moved back to the smaller house.

The land here is so beautiful...

The Sacred Grove was where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph as a 14 year old boy. If you want to read more about it, see the link above. This was such a beautiful area. If there is anything to ruin the special spirit of the Sacred Grove though, it would be a super grumpy 5 yr old and an overly tired 2 year old :) 

The Palmyra Temple isn't too far away from the Smith Homestead. It is such a beautiful temple with a window that looks right onto the Sacred Grove. 

We also went to the Hill Cumorah, where Joseph Smith received the plates to translate into the Book of Mormon.

The next day we went to Niagara Falls!

Niagara Falls was super impressive! We went on the Maid of the Mist and got a close up view of the falls. The boat ride is a little pricey but it was so much fun and totally worth it!

Aren't they adorable in their little ponchos?!

Aunt Caren

Grandma and Grandpa

View from the boat. Impressive, right?

After, we played at the nearby park. Ellie does this hilarious little move where she spreads her feet out wide and then hops around with her feet still apart. It's hard to explain but it's so funny to watch her do it!

The next day headed over to Boston and visited Lexington and Concord where the  "shot heard from around the world" happened. It was the start of the Revolutionary War.

I just love the east coast with it's green, lush beauty!

Ellie was beyond tired.

Many meltdowns happened in this trip but overall, our kids did awesome!

I think Ethan thought he was a minute man and this stick was his gun. He kept himself entertained for quite a while fighting his own battles :)

He thought he was even cooler with the hat and a real gun!

We also stopped by Walden Pond where Henry David Thorough lived as a hermit for 2 years. This isn't his actual house but is a replica.

The pond was actually quite beautiful and was a fun little swimming hole for the kids.

Ethan made a friend with a caterpillar and loved teasing a scared Ellie with it. Of course, what are big brothers for?!

We stopped by the beautiful Boston Temple...

The grounds at this temple are so pretty. 

The next day we stopped by Plymouth Rock

Mason's binky fell in the water but my super hunk husband climbed over some boats and hung onto the bridge to retrieve the binky. Daddy definitely saved the day!

We just told him to say cheese and he then proceeded to make the "Indian noise" very loudly. We told him that he couldn't do that and that it could hurt someone's feelings but inside we were just trying to do the best we could to contain our laughter. Where do kids come up with this stuff?!

Ellie with Aunt Caryn

We stopped by the Old North Church where the famous lanterns were hung warn the people that the British were coming. Those lanterns were associated with paul Revere's ride. One lantern if by land 2 if by sea. It was the tallest building around so that's why it was used in the warning system. 

On our way to New York, New York, we stopped by the Breakers Mansion in Rhode Island. My sis-in-law, Chanda, knows all about old architecture and has studied it for forever and going to his place was high on her list of things to do!

Even though Ellie had a complete breakdown which led to her and I getting kicked out and then Justin got chewed out by some old couple who apparently didn't remember what it was like to have kids, I'm glad everyone else got to enjoy the beauty of the mansion :) I'm so glad Justin was the one to take the heat from the old couple. He is so good at handling those types of situations. I probably would have busted out in tears and said some not very nice things. That's why we are so good for each other.

Did I mention how good this little 2.5 month old did through all this?! Oh he is just so incredibly sweet!

We ended our awesome vacation in New York, New York!

We took the ferry to Staten Island and back,

went to Time Square, let the kids buy some candy at Toys R Us, 911 memorial, and saw the Lion King. We liked the Lion King but in our opinion, compared to Les Mis, Phantom, and Wicked- it doesn't quite compete. I'm still glad we got to see it though. 

I think I have pictures of all those activities somewhere and maybe I'll add them to here someday. Someday. 

I'm so glad that Caryn graduated high school, and Davin and Chanda graduated college so we could go on a celebration trip! Huge thank you to Mom and Dad Smith for inviting us along and for everyone putting up with the craziness we bring! Oh and I just know y'all loved hearing Ethan sing "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" on our long car rides. You know you miss us :)