Hogwarts or Bust

We set off with the Wilcoxes for the snowy reaches of Hogwarts to see if we could experience the magic of Harry Potter. We stopped first at Hogsmeade. Double click on the pictures that follow so you can see the details.


There it is in the distance. We just have to find the secret passage from Hogsmeade.


Doesn't the pumpkin juice look tempting?


Grandpa tested the butterbeer. How do you like the snowman in the background? Hogsmeade is a magical place in steamy Florida.


The kids say it tastes like a cross between a creme soda and a rootbeer float.


Of course with all the magic going around, who knows what will happen to your horses. Grandma and Aurelia, what happened to your steeds?


Mary and Troy seem happy enough.


Sage seems to be protecting Stephen from the magic spells.


But Victoria and Summer don't seem to happy with their mounts.


Jessica and David seem to be doing fine.


Here comes grandpa to the rescue.


You need to be careful where you stand. You never know what lurks in the follage.


Whoa! It looks like a dragon took off with some of us.


I understand that if you look into this mirror, your innermost thoughts are revealed.


Thanks for the thought grandma and grandpa.


Don't worry Stephen. We'll keep your thoughts secret.


Oh, that's so sweet!


Well, I am thinking about starting my exercise program!


Thanks, Aurelia.

Sugar Plum Fairies

Who's the most poised and graceful of the Wilcox sugar plum fairies? I'll let you decide.

Hendersons, the Lion Kings

What do you do when you visit the Hendersons, The Lion Kings? Double click to see how ferocious they look.

Take a ride on Dad's back?


Feed some friends?


Or ride a dragon?


Of course, Grandma rides a horse.

Stopover in Kirtland

On the way back to Florida we took the scenic route through Kirtland, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. We hadn't been here since our honeymoon 43 years ago. When the orientation film at the beginning of the temple tour ends, the screen retracts into the ceiling and the curtains open up to this spectacular view of the temple. Sorry about the flash reflection on the window.


The tour was great.


Here's a less spectacular view of the temple from the street.


Of course you have to stop to smell the flowers. We don't have peonies in Florida. They were my mother's favorite.


The first and the fourth places Joseph and Emma Smith lived when they came to Kirtland from New York was the Newell K. Whitney store. He was a prosperous merchant who had joined the church. In an upstairs back room was the first "School of the Prophets" that was started so the members could be educated so as not to be defrauded by their enemies. Here is where the Word of Wisdom was given when Emma complained that men of God shouldn't be spitting tobacco on the floor and the room was often so smokey that Joseph couldn't see who was sitting on the second row. The plans for the Kirtland Temple were drawn up here.


Here is Caroly dressed in one of her new missionary outfits knocking on the door of the Johnson Farm in Hiram, about an 8 hour horse ride away, to have a chat with Emma Smith. The Johnsons were prosperous farmers who housed the Smiths for a year.


Does it look like I am getting ready to record a revelation in the revelation room? Here is where Joseph and Sidney Rigdon had the vision of the three degrees of glory that is recorded in the 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. Here Joseph studied the bible for the Inspired Translation with Sidney as his scribe. Sixteen sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were recorded here, including sections 1 and 133, which served as the introduction and conclusion.


The windows in the lower left lighten the bedroom where Joseph and Emma were sleeping when a mob dragged Joseph out of bed, dragged him across the yard, stripped him nude, beat him up, tarred and feathered him and tried to kill him by pouring acid down his throat. The tar they used was made of warm pine pitch. The pine pitch had solidified on his face so the acid they tried to pour down his throat just ran off. After they left him for dead, he struggled home where they heated him up by the fire to soften the pine tar so they could peal it off.

The next morning he stood on the same front steps where you saw Caroly and preached to a large congregation that included many who had tried to kill him the night before. Several hundred people in the area were members of the church and were accustomed to coming to the home to hear the prophet speak on Sunday mornings. He didn't want to disappoint them. Emma and her young children then moved to Kirtland for their safety. The windows in the upper right lead to the revelation room you saw earlier.

Lake Thirty One of 10,000

When your state has 10,000 lakes, I supposed you can run short on names, so this is Lake Thirty One in Minnesota. It's connected to Lake Thirty by a short stream that is oft dammed by beavers.


Here's Loon Lodge with its new rock stairway where the Sabins, Kannases, and Thompsons gathered for a week of fun and a chance for grandma and grandpa Thompson to have fun with 4 more grandkids before their mission...


hosted by Randy's parents Ron and Robyn.


Of course, grandpa Roger had to swim across the lake.


If was warm, but if you stopped to tread water, the sunfish would nibble on you. At least they weren't piranhas.


What do you do in a paradise like this? Take pictures, of course...


also, hold babies...


row boats...


catch fish (Maddie was the champ hauling in 21 including this bass that she had to throw back since the bass season didn't open until the following Saturday)...


canoe to beaver lodges...


learn how to sew book bags...


and of course eat lots of good food...


and eat ice cream.


After a day of fun, you search out the genuine Finnish sauna...


to steam away your cares. The routine works best...


if you jump in the lake between sweatings. (Grandma did get up to her ankles in the water. Grandpa did the whole thing, several times.)


With your skin still glowing, you pause for pictures, first the Sabins...


then the Kannases...


and of course grandma doing her James Bonding.