DAY 5- Kirtland, OH!!!

Today was the day. The day! We were going to take the kids back to the place where WE became US. I was so excited!!!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, in yet another effort to be educational, we took a quick trip out to see Lake Erie. Emma has been learning about the Great Lakes, so we scored some points there!It was really windy.No, SERIOUSLY windy! Anyhoo.......You know how legends are made up of places that seem magical, like they might not really exist? We have a place like that in our family. It's called "The Bench."

The Bench is the place where Daddy asked Mommy to marry him. The Bench is the place where she said yes. The Bench is where our family began.Our tour guide of the Kirtland Temple thought that we were a little cuckoo because as soon as we left the visitor's center Emma started running around asking "Is this it? Is that it? Where's The Bench?!?!"It may not be the same simple wooden bench that I remember from so long ago, but it's still a pretty magical place for our family.

So much wealth from one little bench. Sigh....I'm all teary now.

Moving on....In case you were wondering why this place is so special to my hubby, he served his mission in the Ohio Cleveland Mission, which includes Kirtland. He used to have Christmas conferences & special firesides in the temple. The LDS church no longer owns the building or grounds, but the RLDS church (now the Community of Christ) was kind enough to let the missionaries use the building on occasion. They even got special "behind-the-scenes" tours from the RLDS restoration specialists. I was excited to see the new visitor's center & museum. They were educational & SO interesting. It was nice to see the effort they're going to to keep the history alive & restore the building.

So after reminiscing all over the place, we finished up our tour of Kirtland at the LDS sites. Emma really liked the Newel K. Whitney store because she's seen it in movies!

2 future missionaries in the School of the Prophets.Hey, I'm going to be a missionary too, Mom!

Checkin' out the sawmill & ashery.
So. Much.Fun.

After Kirtland we high-tailed it down to the John Johnson farm, but it was closed! Bummer. Andrew spent a lot of time there while on his mission & wanted to show the kids, but it wasn't meant to be. But that meant that we were ready to get on down the road to finally see the Dixons! After a stop a White Castle, that is, just so Kris could say she'd been. She's been, & she will not be going back, just in case you were wondering.

Tomorrow- It's Amish time!