Palmyra

Palymra was great. The kids were the best they have ever been while we toured the sites. They sat through the whole Restoration movie at the Hill Cumorah visitor centre (only 15 minutes, but still great). Afer the movie was over, we went into the interactive part of the visitor center. Jonathan really enjoyed himself watching all the Book of Mormon movies. He made sure he went to all the different stations to watch them all. It is moments like those that you realize all the other crazy stuff that happens while we were there is worth it:) They were also really good in the grove and at the Joseph Smith homes. When we were in the log home another child kept picking up all the artifacts. One of the sister missionaries kept asking him not to and taking them away from him, but he kept grabing different things. I thought Jonathan and Benjamin were going to join him, but they just stood quietly and listened!!!!! AMAZING :)

The kids also had a lot of fun swimming on Saturday and Monday. Hannah was doing huge cannon balls into the shallow end by herself and then ventured into the deep end with Joel close by. She jumps in and then swap to the surface and over to the side of the pool by herself. Jonathan also decided to be brave and jump into the pool by himself (no lifejacket or water wings). I was amazed. Jonathan hasn't been much of a water baby, so this was incredible. A few times he jumped in without telling me. He did a good job of swimming to the surface, but I helped him to the side of the pool. I was so proud of him. Even Benjamin was getting brave in the water. He had his life jacket on, but he jumped to me a couple of times (with me holding one of his hands) and even started to kick his feet while I swam him through the water. It was so cute to see.
The weather was really nice. Saturday was nice and hot for swimming and then not too cold while we were watching the Pageant. Hannah and Jonathan fell asleep through the Pageant, but Benjamin stayed awake. It rained a lot on Sunday, but by the time we finished with the site seeing and went back to the campsite, it had stopped raining. A few sleeping bags in the tent got wet, but we were able to dry them out in the sun before bed. Eden slept great while we were there, so I can't complain :)