When a free Saturday presented itself we hopped in our car and headed a little south to check out the Joseph Smith Birthplace memorial near Sharon Vermont. It was a little chillier than we were expecting but we had some really pretty snowfall on our drive down. Not to mention, Vermont is beautiful, and we saw it "between" seasons as all the gorgeous fall leaves had long since fallen and the ground was not yet blanketed in snow. We still enjoyed it though.
It's probably no surprise that we were the only ones at the memorial. We were there right when they opened and it isn't peak visitor season. That meant we got a nice little tour of the small exhibit and the memorial all to ourselves. The exhibit is really nicely put together with beautiful paintings, books, statues, and some pieces from the time that Joseph was born (including the hearth that was in their home).
We saw a layout of the land in it's entirety and the kids were pretty amazed with how big it was. And we also learned a lot about the early years of Joseph Smith's life. A lot of the items we already knew but there were definitely some tidbits in there we had not learned yet. It's always nice to learn some new things. We were so busy listening and taking a look around that I forgot to take some pictures of the inside, so I made up for it with some outside pictures.
The stone layout here outlines the size of the Smith family home where Joseph was born.
The kids were pretty enthralled with how small it was and declared that it was smaller than our home but big enough to still run around in.
The kids were also pretty enthralled with the cookies that they were given inside the exhibit and the big empty space to run around in.
The base of the memorial.
Family picture in front of the memorial. The kids are still chowing down on their cookies.
The top part of memorial is exactly 38.5 feet tall, one foot for every year of the prophet's life and is one solid piece of granite - without blemish. So, as you can imagine, it is quite tall and it apparently was quite the feat to get it up.
Our guide was great and did a really good job at involving the kids so as we drove away (and stopped to snap a few more photos on the way) the kids had plenty to say about the memorial and what their favorite parts were.
There is a chapel down the road from the memorial that is really beautiful and looks out over the rolling hills below it. I had Jason snap this photo out the window seeing that I was driving.
He still had some time before we really needed to start heading back across the border so we stopped in this small little town that was full of all sort of factory tours (including Ben & Jerrys!). We opted for the apple cider mill and headed on in. It was seriously cool.
There were homemade jams, along with hard to find products, artisan pieces, and lots and lots of apple cider and maple syrup. This inactive beehive was pretty neat as well.
The kids enjoyed seeing all the machines that the apple cider was made on, including this old fashioned apple press.
This isn't the best picture seeing that I missed getting a picture of Milayla sitting in this cute little wooden lounge chair by just a few seconds. She quite liked it, it was just her size!
When we were waiting in line to purchase our adequately large jug of apple cider, we noticed that they had some treats called Cider Donuts. I asked Jason what they were (not sure why I thought he would know) and there were a few people that heard me and turned to give me this look of "did she seriously just ask that!?". Yes, I did. And I made up for my poor knowledge by ensuring we got a few to share on the way home. As near as I can figure, they are cake donuts that have apple cider in the dough. The kids quite enjoyed them.
Then it was back across the border. The kids were really curious about the border. It was the first controlled border that we have ever driven across (other controlled borders have always been in the airport). It was fun to get to start some intro discussions with them about world politics. And I mean, verrrrry intro. But it's a start. And they love getting into the conversation in any way possible. And since our trip they have made many duplo controlled borders where Milayla drives cars and animals through and Atticus will ask her questions such as - Where are you from? Where are you going? and, my personal favorite - do you have any cider?
Of course the border guard didn't actually ask us if we had cider, just the usual questions of dollar value we purchased and such. It's just fun to see watch and listen to the kids' recreation of it.
It felt nice to get away together though. Getting out of the city just felt so relaxing and I always enjoy the conversation that two little toddlers come up with. The questions are creative and never ending. Their curiosity is wonderful!
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