Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Palmyra, Niagra Falls, and Toronto

 Palymyra Temple

 This is the monument with the statue of Moroni on top of the Hill Cumorah.


 The Erie Canal in Palmyra
 This is the house where Gene and Suzanne lived in Palmyra when they were first married.

 Copy of original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. 
 The Four Corners- churches of different religions on all corners.
 Fence on the Joseph Smith home's property.
 The Hill Cumorah from the top.
 The Hill Cumorah from the bottom. Most of it is covered with trees, but the front is clear and there is a path up to the monument.
  Entering the Sacred Grove
 The Sacred Grove


 Niagra Falls is as beautiful as we expected.

 This is the Rainbow Bridge, just below the Falls, where we passed from New York into Canada.
 This isn't the main falls, but the falls on the US side.
 The NY side of the falls. We walked up the path through the State Park.


 We went on the boat, the Maid of the Mist during breast cancer awareness week, apparently!


 The first thing I noticed about Toronto was the number of high rise apartments or condos. They are all over the area, and even downtown, mixed together with the other buildings in the city.

 Toronto skyline from Ward's Island. We went over on the ferry.



 We rode commuter bikes around the city. That was the best way to see things, since traffic is bad and parking expensive and difficult to find. The bikes are in stations around the city, and you can rent them for $7.00 for 24 hours. The only thing is, you have to dock them every half hour or hour in order to keep them for one charge.


This is a street we rode on, but there was more traffic. It got a little scary in areas where there were no bike lanes.
 We got our riding done Wednesday, and it rained Thursday.




Monday, October 24, 2016

Lafayette

Stella wasn't quite sure what to think when she saw all of her stuff at U-Haul in Oakland.



Stella and Sarita both had October birthdays, so we did a little celebrating while Dad was still with us in Lafayette, after helping Jesse and Sarita move into their new apartment.
 It was General Conference weekend, and this little girl was excited to see the prophet and apostles speak. She knows them all from pictures we call her "flash cards".
 She likes Elder Bednar the very best of all.

 Sophie looking cross-eyed.
 Stella's favorite thing to do together was going outside on walks and picking up rocks, sticks, and pine cones.
 Sarita and Sophie went with us one day, but it's much harder with a double stroller!

 Stella was especially happy to be reunited with her Bunny.
 We went to a place called Fairyland when Carly and Bella came to visit. It had lots of things for kids to do, and we could see Jesse's office building from there.



 Stella's favorite thing there was the rabbit, of course.

 The new apartments have a nice pool and spa.
 The day I flew home, we took a trip to the zoo in the morning.