Our Trip to Michigan, Canada, and New York

For the past couple of years, my dad has been planning a reunion and trip back east to visit our grandparents. It had been 12 years since I had seen them, and it was the first time Kody and the kids had actually met them. So we saved our money for a long time to go back east for a week and be with everyone. It was so WONDERFUL! We got to see my sisters and their families (which hasn't happened in 3 years), my uncles and aunts, and grandparents. We're so glad we were able to go, it was quite the trip!

 

We stayed the night at the Collins house because we were homeless (the next post will be about that one) and Lisl was a sport and willing to take us to the airport at 4am! Our plane left at 6am. That's the time to travel! No waiting, no lines. It was nice!

 

All travelers did awesome! Kamille is sitting in the row in front of us. Our only throw up episode was at the curb of the airport, before we went in. We had 4 suitcases for 8 people for a week. I thought I packed pretty well, considering my sisters pack 4 suitcases for just themselves. Haha, just kidding. But not really :)

 

The first day we enjoyed the hotel and a park. Michigan is green and beautiful and cool!

 

One of the kids' favorite parts was swimming in the hotel swimming pool! This one had a super neat waterfall

The first night when everyone was all together we had dinner and visited. It was really nice to be with everyone, especially those we hadn't seen in years!

 

Playing with cousins was a blast!

 

 

The second night we had a really nice catered dinner and there was also a professional photographer who came and did pictures for everyone. These pics are from my phone. We were kind of limited on a background since we met at my grandparents clubhouse. But, they still turned out good.

 

 

Jeaniece and family (Kind of funny that it's hard to tell which one is mother and which one is daughter :) )

 

Here's Jennifer and her family

 

Jackie Lee and family

 

Our not so little fam :)

 

Casey and fam

 

 

 

Dad and the kids

 Oldest to youngest

Grandpa Charlie and all the grandkids 

 

 Grandma and Grandpa Baird and the great grandkids

 

 Our big crew

 

 A couple of my cuties

 

The lil' man!

 

I thought I had a picture of the whole group, including uncles Dwayne, Scott, and Fred with their wives. But I can't find it, so maybe I didn't take one. Oops! But they were there too and it was so great to visit with them. We were rolling on the floor laughing with some things Dwayne and Scott said!  It was really fun!

 

After the get together with everyone, we all headed to the park for the kids to get all their wiggles out. And some adults needed to get wiggles out too. My brother Casey entertained us all with his wiggles! This video may only be funny to those of us who really know Casey, because we were cracking up! To me it gets funnier and funnier the more times I watch it1

 

On Monday we all went to The Henry Ford Museum at Greenfield Village. That was really neat! It's

 a large indoor and outdoor history museum complex. Named for its founder, and based on his desire to preserve items of historical significance and portray the Industrial Revolution, the property houses a vast array of famous homes, machinery, and exhibits. The collection contains many rare exhibits including John F. Kennedy's presidential limousine, Abraham Lincoln's chair from Ford's Theatre, Thomas Edison's laboratory, the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, and the Rosa Parks bus. Plus many more.
Henry Ford said of his museum:

"I am collecting the history of our people as written into things their hands made and used.... When we are through, we shall have reproduced American life as lived, and that, I think, is the best way of preserving at least a part of our history and tradition..." 

On the road to Greenfield Village in our rental car. It was a new Yukon XL. Funny thing is, these newer cars are 80% more expensive and about 20% smaller. I like our 2001 suburban better!

 

Here's the whole crew at the front gate

 

 

In the little playground area, Kosette climbed to the top of the rock climbing wall. She was pretty proud of herself 

 

 

Here's Braden and Jameson. All the kids loved the merry-go-round

 

Here's the home of Henry J. Firestone (founder of Firestone tires, and a good friend/partner to Henry Ford.) His property is a working farm, with real people dressed in early 1900's attire, really working the property with all the tools and equipment from the day. It was really neat



 

in the hat shop

 

 

This is the home of Daniel Webster

 

 

Don't mind the photo bomb from Boston in the background :)

 

This quote is so true! Love it! 



 

The nephews racing Kody on some stilts

 

The next day, Tuesday, we headed out on the 5 hour trek to Canada. Crossing the border went well. No problems or hold up's, or car searches for us. :) We had to show our passports and birth certificates for all the kids. They asked where we were from, why we were going, how long we were going to stay, why our car had a Florida license plate, etc. We had to roll down the back windows so the security guy could see all of the faces of the kids and call out their names. It went smooth though. 

 

One thing I noticed about Canada is that they have huge flags. Everywhere! It seemed like it anyway. All the flags really were huge! Some would be just in an open field standing alone flying. It was kind of neat. 

 

 

We pulled into Niagara Falls and stayed at the Embassy Suits. The biggest/tallest hotel there was! We enjoyed valet parking, dinner at the hotel restaurant, and our room on the 27th floor! It was a wee bit chilly that evening, especially as we walked about a mile down to the view of the falls. As we got closer and closer the mist was so strong, that if you stood there long enough, you'd end up pretty wet!  I lost my "Mother of the Year" award because I totally forgot to bring jackets. For all of us. Amongst the packing for our move, along with packing for a big trip, my mind slipped into putting jackets into the 'winter clothes' moving box. Oops! Thankfully we did all have pants, and that helped a lot!



  

The next day we all went on the boat ride that takes you up close and personal to the falls! It was really neat! Jace, Kayda, Jameson, and I stayed on the lower level of the boat inside behind the glass. While Kody took Kamille, Jefferson, and Kosette up on the open deck! We all wore ponchos and stayed pretty dry, for the most part. I got a couple of good pictures and videos. 

 

 

 

 

 

We're missing Jace in this picture. He was already being pushed ahead by Grandpa Charlie. 

 

Hasta Niagara Falls! It was beautiful and busy. Our hotel is the tall one right behind the big space needle thing. Here we're crossing the bridge back into the USA. We had to wait in a line of cars for about 45 min, to pass through border patrol. So we just enjoyed the sunshine and the view from the bridge. I did see a sign that said Niagara Falls is the honeymoon capital of the world. So. For all the unmarried...There you go.





 



 Once we crossed the border, it was about a 2 1/2 hour drive to Palmyra. It was a beautiful drive. Everything is green and lots of trees.

This is what the freeway/highways look like pretty much everywhere we drove. Green, lush, and pretty! Not like the west where it's brown and nearly dead.

The first night in Palmyra we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Since I forgot jackets, we used big blankets from our hotel. That helped a lot, especially since it got cold. :) All 30 of us took up an entire row. A big thanks to Dustin for going early and saving seats! I sort of got a kick out of the protesters on the side walk speaking through their megaphones and holding up their big signs that said Mormons aren't Christian. I just chuckled to myself and thought, "well, have you seen the title of our church? The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints? That seems pretty CHRISTian to me..." I felt bad for them standing there wasting their time. I didn't see one person take a pamphlet or other handouts from them. But I guess, if that's what they believe, their welcome to express their own testimony. I know I would like the same courtesy. So we just smiled at them as we walked past.

The pageant was good. It's all about the Book of Mormon. There were some pretty good special effects considering it was a live outdoor pageant. The cast was big; music, lighting, and sound were all very well done!

On Thursday we stayed in Palmyra and visited some of the church history sights. There's enough to see that it could take 3 days to visit all of it. We didn't have that much time, so we hit up the more prominent sights.

Here, we're at the Hill Cumorah Visitor Center. We enjoyed a little video on the restoration.

Did you know the Book of Mormon is translated (either in full or part) in 110 languages! There are lots of them here.

 

We walked up to the to of the Hill Cumorah. Looking down at the pageant stage and all the seats for the audience. They had a pretty steep walking path up to the top, but thankfully it was paved.

The Angel Moroni statue.

After visiting the Hill Cumorah we went over to the Joseph Smith house and Sacred Grove. This is an exact replica of the home Joseph Smith lived in for many years. I told Kody, that if a large family like the Smith's could live in something like this, we could too. :)

It was a bit of a long path down to the Sacred Grove. But it was beautiful! It's quiet and peaceful. Cool and shady. We could have easily spent several hours in the Sacred Grove. There's paths marked out that go all around. A lot of the trees climb toward the heavens and reach easily over 100 feet! As we walked through I would see a little spot of sunlight that broke through the trees and I thought to myself, "is this were Joseph knelt to pray?"

 

 Here's Angel Moroni on the top of the temple peeking through the trees

Palmyra, New York temple

This church building was beautiful! The lawn in front was breath taking! I would LOVE to mow this!

Next, we headed over to the printing press shop where the Book of Mormon was first printed and published. We had a lovely little tour and it was neat to learn little tidbit facts about the work Joseph did. I didn't get any pictures of the press shop. But after that we walked down the road to a little park and let the kids play for a bit.

 

We all met at another park later for one last hurrah together! The kids and some uncles enjoyed some soccer, and the others of us visited. It was so fun for me to be with my sisters and brother! I laughed and laughed and just felt so thankful for them. I think we're a lot closer now then I ever was with them growing up. Probably because we're all in the same boat of being married and raising kids. Even though I don't live close to them and we don't talk super often, I felt a real kindred spirit with them on this trip.

 

The next day, Friday, we headed back home....er....I mean back to Washington, where our "mobile home" (i.e. cars and trailers) were waiting for us to turn around and drive east. :) Our plane was delayed about 45 minutes, so we didn't land until 12:30am. And it was almost 1am before we got off, to the baggage claim, and out the door looking like a circus with 4 suitcases, a couple of backpacks, 4 car seats, and a stroller. We were quiet exhausted, but happy. :)

 

Our trip was truly splendid, and really a once in a lifetime opportunity! It would not have been possible without my Dad. He worked really hard, in a lot of different ways, to make it happen. He deserves the most credit! We got to be with all the family, see sights that were glorious and magnificent, and filled with the spirit! We are so thankful we were able to go!