Before my junior year in High School my parents were called to serve a mission in Rochester New York. My younger sister, Lizzie, and I moved into the mission home with my parents and finished off High School. I have wanted to go back for so long but have never had the chance! Finally this past weekend Dan decided we would make it happen. I was able to meet up with a really good friend, see all the church sites, and visit my old home. It was a great trip.
The Hill Cummorah
This is how Abby took in the sites...
Smith Log Home
The Sacred Grove
Smith Frame Home
All of the sister missionaries who gave us our tours were great! At the Frame Home Sis. Maples let the kids touch the original walls. We also saw a spinning wheel at which Tess quickly told Sis. Maples not to touch the "pointy" part or she will fall asleep! (Sleeping Beauty!)
Jacob was very interested in the box that Joseph Smith hid the plates in when the mob came.
It is a replica.
The Barn
Grandin Building: Book of Mormon Publication Site
Through out this tour Tess would raise her hand when the sister asked if anyone had any questions and ask "um, how'd they do that" And the sister had just explained how they did that! Love my little girl!
Peter Whitmer Farm
Elder Kinghorn greeted us at the door of the visitor center. He loved Tess's hair (as most do). He was so cute with Tess. asking why he didn't get any of her pretty red hair. The day after we met him we saw him again at the Smith Farm and he called out to Tess by name and once again asked for some of her hair...Tess got the biggest kick out of this sweet man remembering her name and took his request quite literally. Too cute!
Sister Ahokava really enjoyed Jake, and he loved the individual attention. He listened so intently, better than the rest of us!
The Palmyra Temple (view from the Smith Farm)
This temple is so very special to me!
I was able to talk with the current mission presidents wife, Sister Hemingway, and set up a time to see our house before church on Sunday. We had a little time to kill and so we headed over to good ol Brighton High School.
1/3 of the building
Mission Home 657 Winton Rd
The next set of pictures are for my families enjoyment! The only big changes were the bathrooms upstairs and they changed the "sisters" room upstairs to a laundry room ... everything else is the same. President and Sister Hemingway were so sweet! It was so fun to look around and remember.
I loved playing on this baby grand piano! When we lived there it was in the front of the room with much better lighting.
One of the two rooms for the Elders (same flannel bedding)
Mom's office
Lizzie and my "escape" room.
General Authority room (sorry it's blurry)
My Room
Lizzie and I had fun sleeping in both of our beds.
I couldn't make it to New York without stopping at Wegmans. This store was just as amazing as I remembered. Dan was in awe. Anything you want to eat they have!!! The kids loved the "cantaloupe" lady and her samples!
We returned on Monday and went hog wild and bought canolis, donuts, raisin nut bread, bagels, soda and an assortment of olives just for Dan! Dan enjoyed eating all of the food mentioned above. (He can eat anything! I wish I had his stomach!)
I had to take a picture of the flower section (just for mom). I have fond memories of helping mom pick out and arrange flowers from here to go in the mission home. We always had fresh flowers on the tables.
We were there for the train not the beer! The kids LOVED this train and chased it through the kosher food section and the beer section! I think they should move the train back to the candy section where it was last time I was here!
As we were getting ready to leave for home Jake said he didn't want to be in the back seat all by himself. He told me he would take care of the girls! So, we put his seat on the 8th seat. Sure enough, he was great entertainment for the girls and the 6 hour drive was pretty pleasant. Thanks Jake! (At one point Tess did have to say " Jake, Don't do this, don't you understand, we'll get separated! It's our only hope!" to which Dan and I LAUGHED as quietly as possible.)
Feeding Abby
Peek a BOO
Abby's latest trick..."YEAH Abby, can you clap..."
Dan eating his variety of olives. HILARIOUS faces followed!
THE END!
of this very long post, but we will be going back very soon!
11 comments:
Awesome pictures Becky! And now you need to make a trip to Leesburg since a brand new Wegmans just opened here in November. We love it!
Oh my gosh, that was DARLING!!! What a fun trip! Okay, I LOVE Abby's backpack carrier and I think we need one! And I can just see Tess asking, "Um, how did that work?" So cute!!! You guys are totally the cutest.
Oh thanks for sharing. It brought back memories of my family comming to visit you guys there.
What a great trip. It looks like you were able to fit in so many activities. I keep telling Jeff I want to take him back to Puerto Rico some day and show him where my family used to live. It seems like it would be so fun to see the changes and what has stayed the same. Glad to see your family had such a good time.
Sounds like an awesome trip. Love the mission home pics--we remember the General Authority room as our room!
Hey, my favorite people! That trip sure looked awesome.
We miss you all, we'll make sure to drop by sometime.
What a fun trip :o) Don't you love walking down Memory Lane??? And I just HAVE to tell you--did you know they're building a Wegmans down here? I am SERIOUS!!! It will be right by the Healthtrax on Observation Drive :o) We'll make a date for the grand opening...
Wow Becky, what a cool trip! Miss you guys...when are we going camping?
Awww! I'm so jealous! Did you guys happen to see my mom while you were there? That's where she's serving her mission right now. :) We want to go and visit her but don't have the budget right now. We want to pick her up in Dec though so we can bring her home. That's awesome that you got to go. You guys look like you had so much fun. =D
What a fun trip! So glad you got to go back and revisit old memories. I first thought this was going to be a high school reunion post but it's so much better!
ohhh, brought back some very good memories. Thank you for sharing. I wish we could have been there with you.
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