Our Trip to Kirtland, Ohio

 This year in Sunday School, we've been studying the revelations received by Joseph Smith and about the history of the church.  I wanted the kids to see where these events occurred.  Since we live so close to these locations, I felt like we couldn't pass up the opportunity.  I found a hotel with a pool close to the area and figured we could make a fun overnight trip.  It was perfect.  We left right after breakfast on Tuesday, drove 3 hours and were there.  It felt like 20 minutes compared to driving to Utah!

Before we even checked into the hotel, I wanted to see some of the sites.  We toured the ashery where the saints made pot ash and pearl ash to generate revenue for church needs.

We toured the sawmill where they made the materials to construct the temple and their homes.

We toured the Newell K. Whitney store and home where the first bishop of the church lived and worked.

 

(His house is behind the tree.)

Then we went up the hill to the temple, but it was closed due to Covid.   I got to tour it the last time I was there and it made me sad the kids couldn't see inside, but we'll be sure to go again.

After that we got lunch and went to the hotel.  Everyone was excited to swim and relax.  

When we were done, I thought it would be nice to find a playground to let Peter play since he'd put up with all our historic home tours.  We randomly chose a park and discovered upon arrival that it was the site of a major festival.  Food trucks, live bands, and tons of people were all around.  It was so much fun!  We enjoyed great food, ok music, and a wonderful playground for Peter.  The other kids decided the crowds were too much for them and ate in the car, but Peter and I had fun outside for a while.

After a night in the hotel where everyone got less than ideal sleep, we swam and ate and then drove out to the John Johnson farm.  It's an hour from Kirtland and we were the only ones there, so we had the whole tour to ourselves.  Peter was mighty sleep deprived and pretty sick of the whole thing by then and so we had a struggle with him.  I'd love to say the farm house was a better experience, but it was definitely unideal trying to go through a spiritual, reverent tour with a wild, cranky 2 year old.  At one point the tour guide missionary said, "We're going to just sit quietly here for a moment and reflect on what occurred here and pay attention to what we're feeling."  Peter looked at her and said, "Uh, NO!" and proceeded to climb up and slide along the bench.  All  in all, though, he could have been much worse.  He was a good kid most of the time.

After the Johnson farm, we headed back home.  We made it about 1/2 way when Peter started to lose it and he cried the rest of the way home.  When we arrived home, I picked him up and he felt very hot.  He had a temperature of 102.9.  No wonder he'd been cranky.  I guess two days of early mornings and no naps had done him in.  I put him to bed early and he woke up this morning fever free and acting much better.  After a long nap today, he was back to his normal self again.

I'm really glad we got to go.  It was fun to hang out together, fun to play in the hotel, and especially wonderful to see the places personally the we've been reading about.  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he saw Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father.  It was so special to stand where those things occurred.  Christian and Bella seemed to really enjoy it too.   Benjamin came along out of duress and didn't seem to care about it at all, but to his credit, he hardly ever complained and was in a pretty good mood most of the time we were there.