Ohio has beaches! And farms, too!

AJ's favorite part of our trip to Ohio was the FarmPark, where he got to ride around in a cute red wagon and meet all kinds of farm animals.  He was in heaven.

And he got to spend more time with his cousins.  They love him, and he loves them back.

After the FarmPark, we got to go to the beach.  I never thought of mid-western Ohio as a place for an afternoon at the beach, but we found a pretty good one on Lake Erie.  AJ must have noticed that the water was different from the swimming pools we go to, because he splashed around very seriously, like he was trying to figure out a difference in how the water was acting.  He also did some very serious sand experimentation.

It was a super great day for our little man.

Kirtland

While we were in Ohio, we went to Kirtland, which was the main attraction for us Mormons.  Kirtland is where the early members of the Church lived, and where they built their first temple.  We visited the old town sites and then we saw the temple, which the Church doesn't own anymore and anyone can tour. 

Here we are, minus Mike and AJ.  AJ was sacked out asleep in the car, and Mike volunteered to stay with him while he did some work.  This photo is in the upstairs room of the Newel K. Whitney store, where Joseph Smith taught other church leaders about the gospel.  It is a tiny room, and they used to fit a couple of dozen men in there at a time.  It must have been very crowded and stuffy.

Lea and I in the Whitney store.

After AJ woke up, he got pushed all over in the stroller by his cousins.  They all wanted to push him.  It's a good thing they are all old enough to know how to share and take turns, or some fights might have erupted.  AJ had a good time no matter who was pushing him.

In the visitors center, AJ seriously contemplated everything we saw.  He is a studious little guy sometimes.

Of course, at other times, AJ really gets silly.  For example, while we were touring the Kirtland Temple, AJ started blowing really loud, crude sounding raspberries.  A lot of them.  They echoed.  Keith thought it was hilarious.  The rest of us did too, but we tried not to encourage him. There's nothing like a baby blowing raspberries to really help you feel the spirit of a place.

Here we have the whole crew outside the Kirtland Temple.