Wisconsin Day 17

We loved the Football Hall of Fame.

This was a long day! We woke up in Canton and after a brief stop at the store, we went to the Football Hall of Fame. This was our third Hall of Fame visit on this trip, and we loved it! As soon as we entered, the greeter gave each of the boys a football card. It got better from there. 
 
Of course, we stopped by all of our favorite players busts and uniforms. We also watched a lot of short videos of the greatest plays and players. The boys liked confirming and reversing calls in the referee booth. The movies were really incredible. One was the sights and sounds of last year’s Super Bowl. It took place in a rotating theater on two screens. The second was even better. We were in a locker room with some of the greatest NFLers’ things hanging around us. A hologram of Joe Namath interviewed some of the best players to ever pick up a football. Coach Halas and Lombardi gave us a pep talk. It was so fun! If we’d have had time, we’d have watched it twice. We spent about three hours, but we had to get on the road.

Seth loves Peyton Manning.

Someone was nice enough to take our photo.

Mom remembers watching Steve Young.

So many famous quarterbacks in here!

Seth is small compared to these legs!

Seth also loves Marvin Harrison even if they had a staring contest.

We had such a great time in the Football Hall of Fame.

Josh Allen is our favorite!

Dax was wearing his Diggs shirt, and here are his cleats.

Each of the boys designed their super bowl ring. Here is Seth's.

Dax's ring was very organized.

Mark's ring was filled bling.

Mark would be a great football player.

We had fun trying on different equipment and learning about football. 

We needed to get moving because it was already noon, and we had a nine and half hour drive to Madison, Wisconsin. We ended up driving through downtown Chicago, but it was fun to see some of the big buildings. We also stopped to see the temple. We spent a half hour eating out of the car in the temple parking lot. Then we drove the rest of the way. Because we gained an hour, we let the boys get into the hotel pool at about 9:30. Tomorrow? More driving.

The Chicago temple

It was a long drive, but everyone did great. 

The boys deserved to swim.

Pennsylvania Day 16

The Priesthood Restoration Site has a lot more since Mom was last here.

We took 9 days coming across the country to New York. We were headed back in less than half of that time, so we knew we’d have some big driving days. On this day, we planned just a few adventures. It was an hour and a half down to the Priesthood Restoration Site. Mom had visited a single monument a long time ago, but we found a lot more. 

Both the Joseph Smith Cabin and the Isaac Hale House have been rebuilt. We toured each of those places. We also walked up to the sugar bush on the hill where the Aaronic Priesthood was restored. Then we drove down to the site of Joseph and Oliver’s baptisms. We even stopped in the old cemetery and saw the grave of the Smith’s first stillborn child. The site is really large and beautiful, and there is a nice Visitor Center, so we had lunch in the parking lot after our visit.

Mom loved the beautiful grounds here, and she made Dax take a picture.
Everything is so green back east.

We got to lift the weight of the golden plates.

It was pretty heavy!

Being in all of these places where Joseph Smith restored the gospel is amazing!

So proud of these priesthood holders (and future priesthood holder).

The headstones have been preserved in the cemetery here.

We have walked through a lot of historic sites.

This forest is where the priesthood was restored.

The Susquehanna River is big!

Mom and Dad get their pics taken sometimes, too!

The second leg of our trip was much longer. We drove six and a half hours through Pennsylvania to the farthest north part of West Virginia. None of us had been to this state, so we thought it was worth a short detour, which only added about 20 minutes to our drive. 

New State for all of us! The only one this trip.

We said goodbye to West Virginia and set out on the last drive of the day. This one was only an hour into Canton, Ohio. We checked in late in Canton, and the kids wanted to go to the pool. We went down, but only Seth got in as there were some pretty noisy, rowdy kids.

New York Day 15

Dax out in right field!

Today was Championship Day at Cooperstown. This was exciting because we had an early game against the Alaska Drillers. It was scheduled for 9 o’clock, but we had several delays because it rained most of the night. They mopped up the field with big sponge rollers, though, and they had it playable by about 10:30. Our boys played really well and it wasn’t a very close game. We ended up winning 13-4, so we advanced to the quarterfinal. 

This game would be against a team from Utah that was seeded #1 called the Clutch. In the top of the first, we jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but they quickly changed pitchers. In the end, we lost 20-5, partially because our best pitcher couldn’t go with a tight back. We still felt pretty good about a top 5 finish, and Dax finally had some balls hit to him. He made every play, which was nice, since he hadn’t seen many hit his way throughout the week.

Taking pictures of Dax is always an adventure.

His teammates came to help him get a good picture.

Dax really wanted a jumping pic!

Dax's team played so well!

Cooperstown was a success.

Professional photographers take a few pics throughout the tournament.
We snapped photos of them on the screen.

Dax made a great leaping catch that they photographed.

Dax went back to the barracks and got all cleaned up so we could check him out. Then we ate at the house and headed back for the closing ceremony. It was pretty low key, but they did introduce all the players and teams that showed up, which wasn’t too many.

The Barons walking across the stage.

Seth giving the baseball mascot a high-five.

The championship game started at 9:15, and Dax really wanted to go. He and Dad went and found his team and watched the game until pretty late. There were fireworks and lots of hits, and even a little wiffle ball. It was late by the time we finished seeing the fire flies and got to bed.

Dax hanging out with his friends pretty late to watch the championship game.

New York Day 14

Dax's team ended up being 9th out of 50 teams after pool play. There were 8 teams that went undefeated, including the one that naroowly beat us. This was important because of the way they seed the tournament. As the 9th seed, we have to beat the winner of the 24-25 game. Then we play the 8, 1, 5, and 2 seeds. That means we have to win only 5 games, and our pitchers are pretty fresh. Best of all, it meant that we didn't have to play until 7 o'clock tonight.

Our cute home in New York.

We went down to the river trail again. 

It is such a peaceful little spot

We decided to check Dax out and take him on a Church History adventure. We drove an hour down to the home of Joseph Knight. This site is not run by the Church, but it was still pretty cool. Two docents in period clothing took us through the house that the Knight Family lived in. Most of the house was original, but the tour was basically a tribute to the Knight Family, who supported Joseph and Emma. It was special to be in a house that Joseph and Emma definitely lived in.

This is the Joseph Knight home.

Joseph worked here and would have go in and out the back door, so we were excited to stand in a spot he most definitely walked--original floor, too!

The view of the property was pretty.

Mark is getting so tall. 

The docents then took us a few miles up the road to the Josiah Stowell Mansion. This house was much bigger and seemed way more modern than the Knight home. This site was more of a tribute to the Smiths, as they spent their honeymoon in the upstairs bedroom, and lived in this area known as the Colesville Branch for a while. They even had the mantlepiece that the Smith's stood in front of when they were married. 

Our tour guides were amazing.

Joseph and Emma Smith were married right here.

Seth liked these replica golden plates.

After the tours, we picked up some ice cream on the way back to the house. It was good, but maybe not quite as good as the last place we stopped.

Dax had his first tournament game tonight. They played well and beat the 24 seed, which happened to be the same team we beat on the first night. Next, the Barons will play in the 8-9 game of the final 16. 

Ice Cream is Dax's favorite treat.

Back to the fields we go!