Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Thursday, 18-April

We're not in Colonial Beach for even a day and suddenly we're in D.C. to watch the Washington Nationals play.

Despite believing there's not a bad seat at a baseball stadium, we seem to have found some this time. Amy was particularly put out that we couldn't see the screen for replays as we were just to the side of it and she kind of... well, not kind of, she flat out decided to let it ruin her day.

I actually agree that not being blocked from seeing a good bit of right field plus no large screen to help fill in the gap was kind of a bummer.

But despite less than ideal seats and Amy's attitude, I think we generally enjoyed the game. After we drove around the National Mall. Traffic was nutso! I'm pleased to say we made it out alive and well!

The next couple days we got to know Colonial beach a bit, driving around the town and raiding the library!

Climb in and Read! This spot is perf!

Look who I'm with!

I also took Benjo to the beach one evening when he was the only one done with his work. It's only a three block walk! It's technically the Potomac river, but it's close enough to the ocean that the water is brackish and is affected by tides.

We enjoyed watching walking the beach, watching some ducks, and also seeing some people catch fish off the pier!

Moving Day to Colonial Beach

Wednesday, 17-April

We didn't go straight to our Airbnb this time. Today was the first day of baseball practice for little league!

We found a little league that would allow our kiddos to play, even though we're not residents. Amy and Noel are on the same team, Eliza's in coach pitch, and Benjo's in T-Ball.

We went straight to the baseball fields for practice. Thankfully, they were all in one place! Then after practice we drove the final hour down to Colonial Beach.

This is our cute but rather tiny Airbnb

This size of our Airbnb might not be idea, but location? Hard to beat! Right around, and I mean just right around the corner from the library!!

As we drove in, we definitely are feeling a positive first impression of Colonial Beach!

Last WV Hike

Tuesday, 16-April

Our last day before leaving West Virginia! We've packed, we've cleaned... well, Mom's still inside cleaning while the rest of us go on our final West Virginia hike. Believe me, she's happy about it!

The owner told me early on about a little cave up on the hill, so we decided to go see it.

It was pretty small. I couldn't stand up in it, but the kids could.

We enjoyed climbing on big boulders

Taking pictures of everyone being the same height

The view of the top

And looking down on our Airbnb

Eliza was playing on the hill and I got a couple shots of her that I just feel are gorgeous!

Something about her way as she's playing on the hill. It's lovely!

At one point, Amy pointed and asked "Dad, is this way North?" I had to think about it a minute and confirmed she was correct. "How did you know?" I was guessing because of where the sun was--not far from beginning to set. But nope!

"Because look Dad, the moss is on that side of the trees."

"But why does lichen grow all over?" Well, I sure don't know.

I asked her how she knew about moss growing on the north side and about lichen in the first place. She said "oh I've read about it tons of times!" Of course--books! I love how much she loves books.

As we got down, I liked seeing the little purple flowers blooming in the grass

And the excitement of this boy running in the grass!

It was a fun hike and in a way we're sad to say goodbye to West Virginia, but in a way we're glad to move on, too.

Random bites

This may not be as interesting to all y'all readers, so I apologize for that, but for our own sake I want to add some random tid-bits to our blog. And it'll be short.

I wasn't kidding about beautiful sunsets. Bonnie caught this amazing picture from our bedroom window.

This girl. I just don't have much else to say. I love her face!

I don't remember where we were exactly, but I missed a turn on my navigation and went to the next street. Lucky thing, on the next street there was some demolition going on. We enjoyed stopping to watch!

Kirtland

Wednesday, 10-Apr

We arrived at our Airbnb last night in the dark. We woke up to see this as our backyard. Made us wish we were staying a little longer, especially since it dawned rather cold this morning!

Then off to Kirtland.

In 2003 I attended a BYU Semester at Nauvoo, Illinois. Nauvoo was a headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1840's and is rich with its history. As then might be expected, church history was the semester's focus of study.

Kirtland was also an early headquarters of the Church before Nauvoo in the mid to late 1830's. We visited Kirtland on a tour and that visit left an indelible impression on my soul. This is my first time back to Kirtland since 2003 and I've had no small sense of anticipation.

We first visited the Kirtland Temple. The Kirtland Temple is currently owned and maintained by The Community of Christ church. When Joseph Smith was killed in Carthage, Illinois in 1844, the Church split many, many ways. The two most significant churches still in existence today are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ.

I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to the Community of Christ church for their stewardship of this structure. I know it's easy for Latter-day Saints to have a bit of a "it-should-be-ours" or "we'll-get-it-back-someday" attitude about it. Some feel the temple is somehow defiled because of the Community of Christ ownership. I'd like to kindly but unequivocally denounce such attitudes.

I believe the Kirtland temple is as much a temple of God as any other on this earth. Its dedicatory prayer is part of the scriptural canon of our church. As for me, I add my personal spiritual witness, as firm as any I can offer, that Christ appeared here to the Prophet Joseph Smith. They spoke face to face. Other heavenly messengers also appeared here with the specific intent of conferring Priesthood Keys necessary for the final dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth. I would sooner affirm these truths than I would the reality of my physical experience. Is it any wonder then that this temple, this city, this history, hold a special place in my heart? The Kirtland temple is a house of God.

Family up in the pulpits

The entry and stairs

It was a cold day outside. We warned kids it would be. Not all heeded the warning! :-)

Our tour guide through the temple was fantastic. He grew up here and even lived in Joseph Smith's old home as a boy. He grew up here and this temple has played a key role in his life including, if I remember correctly, his blessing as a baby, his baptism (there's no font, so I'm not sure how that worked), and his wedding! He shared his testimony of this structure and shared some of his personal spiritual experiences with us. I loved him for sharing these with our family.

He also shared some fun tidbits like why, in the lower hall, they decided to seal closed some access panels in the pillars. These housed access to pulley systems to lower large curtain dividers, part of the original design so that the two large halls could be divided for separate groupings as needed. It turns out that little boys would like to hide their toys inside them each Sunday and leave them there. How does he know they did this? Well, because he was one of said little boys!

After our temple tour, we headed to "Historic Kirtland" where the old downtown was. This is an area owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

When we arrived, we hadn't eaten our picnic lunch yet, so the missionaries (it's all run by volunteer missionaries) there kindly opened up the old school house for us to eat in.

The kids had some fun with it, playing school.

This isn't my pic. I have no idea why or how I missed taking a picture of the Newel K. Whitney store, but alas, I did. I got this one off the churchofjesuschrist.org website.

Newel K Whitney and his wife were praying to know about God's truth and His church. They were told it was coming and to wait for it. Soon, missionaries arrived and a few months later (if I remember my timeline right), Joseph Smith arrived. He entered the store, walked up to Newel K Whitney and said "Newel Whitney, thou art the man." Newel said "You have the advantage of me sir as I can not call you by name as you have me." Joseph replied "I am brother Joseph, the Prophet. You prayed me here, now what do you want with me."

Newel K. Whitney's store and upstairs space became a place of many significant occurrences during the Kirtland period.

It was a beautiful experience to be in Kirtland again. There is much more to see that what I've brushed over here, but this post is already long. I encourage anyone who visits (or lives in) the Cleveland area to take some time to visit Kirtland. I believe you will find it a valuable and memorable experience.

Temple Trip, Free Cone Day, and the Wright Brothers

Well, before we get to the main focus of this post, some here and there pictures seem to fit.

The farm owner dropped by and showed us how to feed the dogs and goats. The kids loved it!

Many gorgeous sunsets in this little West Virginian valley

These two are great playmates! So cute with each other... most of the time. :-)

Tuesday, 09-Apr-2019

Today we set off to Ohio! First stop, the temple in Columbus.

As usual we took turns. I went in with Amy to do baptisms, then Bonnie did sealings.

We have very good kiddos. I feel grateful for that.

There was a lovely stream nearby they played in while waiting for Mom.

As soon as Mom came out, we headed straight down to Dayton Ohio. Why, you ask? Because it's the closest Ben & Jerry's scoop shop to our home in West Virginia, and today is FREE CONE DAY!!!!

Whattup! Represent!

Ben and Rebekah fell asleep on the way, so Mom stayed in the car a bit while we got started. We brought her a scoop in the car too. :-)

The line was nice and short... until school let out just down the street. Yikes! Then it was an hour long and longer! Still, I managed 9+ scoops. The "+" is for the one's I helped kids finish. :-)

And this is what it's all about! Ah yeah!

The weather was perf! A great Free Cone Day 2019!

Before it got dark, Bonnie wanted to check out a few things before leaving Dayton. She recently read the biography of Wilbur and Orville Wright, much of which occurred in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio. ...and it kind of makes North Carolina's "First in Flight" thing seem a bit like silliness in the PR department, but whatevs!

This was the site of their boyhood home. Bonnie jumped out and took pictures of all the signs to read later. Don't worry, I won't post them all here! 

Then we went over to the flying field where they did a lot of their work in making controlled flight a real, working thing.

It was soon getting dark and we planned ahead that we'd stay at an Airbnb this night in between Dayton and Kirtland, Ohio, which is up near Cleveland. It was a small place for us, but fine for one night and the beds were SO comfy! Sometimes, it's the little things. Actually, it usually is.

Double Header!

Monday, 01-April

The Clay Center is a science museum in downtown Charleston. We visited there today and I must be getting science-centered out as I took zero pictures. Doh! While the Clay Center wasn't the best one they've been to, the kids certainly had a good time. That's a cool thing about kids--it doesn't matter if something is the best. Take them to a park, a playground, a science center, whatever--they love it! Even if they've been to better ones before, they don't care, they'll have fun wherever! If they complain, it's usually because another sibling is bugging or because we have to leave. It's rarely, if ever, about the playground or the science center being not up to par. #lifelessons

Wednesday, 03-April

Today... was crazy. I just don't know how else to say it--we're nutsoes! Official graduates from CGNU--Crazy Go Nuts University.

First, we went to Cleveland, Ohio to catch the Indians

We were up in these seats and it was coooooold!

Our ushers did us something awesome--they moved us to the sunny side out in right field! And gave us vouchers for $10 in food! Granted, that doesn't go far at a ballpark, but we're grateful!

We spent the last couple innings up in the kids zone which was indoor, up over beside the foul pole in right field, then we sped off to Pittsburgh!

And made it to our next game. We got a little lost in this park trying to find our seats, but we eventually made it. I'm not much a fan of the Pirates--they've always been my least favorite MLB team for no reason I can explain, they just are. Still, I liked the stadium!

I unfortunately can't say I like the crowd. We had a number of getting-drunk college students around. When I took Benjo to the bathroom, there were a couple guys running a gambling operation which the police came in and broke up as we were leaving. And while this isn't much about the crowd per se--I spent the 2nd through the 8th inning in the dollar-hot-dog line. Yeah, that was awesome. Or... not.

View from our seats.

This was the view just around the corner from our seats--an awesome view of the bridge.

By the time we made it home, it was laaaaate. Like 2am or so and we were tired. Well, the kids were asleep long since and Bonnie drove some of the way for me to nap too. It was a long day, but filled with baseball!

Reds Rainout

Saturday, March 30th

We drove to Cincinnati today for a Red's game! Unfortunately, after an hour or so of being in the stadium, it was officially declared a rain-out. :-(

We got to see the stadium and had some fun there--especially the kids in the kids' section. Of which somehow we didn't get any pictures, but oh well. It was a playground much like any other.

Another state sign that wasn't really the type you "get out" to take a picture with.

Our seats were out in the rain, so we slid up under some cover for a bit, but it was still very cold! I love the view of the river there.

We could bring in lunch in a soft-sided cooler. We found some shelter and sat on the floor for lunch.

Another view of the field, this one from our lunch shelter.

Sometimes they don't want to be in a picture, and sometimes they want a picture with eeeeevvverryyyyyythiiiiiiiiiiiing. LoL!

And yes, we indulge them. Usually. Sometimes.