Hill Cumorah Pageant

 We returned last night from a very quick and very lovely trip to New York.  We were invited to go up with friends to see the Hill Cumorah pageant up near Palmyra, New York.  There was incredible amount of driving, but the boys really did great (except for this one hour in Maryland on the way back).

Before we left, Jason spent hours cleaning out the van.  It probably hasn't looked that good since it was brand new on the lot.  Jason is incredibly thorough and meticulous.  Needless to say, it took less time for me and the boys to mess it up than it took him to clean it.  Which is kind of how things go with kids.

While he was cleaning out the van, he found some sunglasses.  The van belonged to my grandparents before we got it, so I can only assume that these glasses belonged to one of them.  They were designed to fit over large glasses and so they are huge.  Jason looks like a bug when he wears them.  Jason loved them as he found they were tinted perfectly to his tastes and fit over his glasses.  I think they belonged to my grandmother and therefore dubbed them the "granny goggles."  Of course, everyone had to try them on.

After our drive, we dropped our gear at the cabin (more about that in a later post) and went over to claim seats as the seats at the pageant are available on a first come, first serve basis.  We got there a few hours before the start and had some time to kill.  Some of the cast were mingling with the audience and were kind enough to let us take their pictures.  Below are Josh and Michael with King Noah (I thought it was interesting that all the bad guys had the best costumes).

Ben, our social butterfly, was quite taken with this lady's shiny broach.  

So we got a picture with her.  I have no idea who these people were cast as, but they were very nice.

So, the pageant is basically a play version of the highlights of the Book of Mormon with a volunteer cast.  They did a wonderful job.  Below is the set, which was used quite creatively to depict scenes in towns, boats, wilderness and waterfalls.  The special effects were pretty cool and included an actual waterfall, fire and explosions.  Josh was most concerned about the swords (were they real? no) and the fire (was Abinadi really being burned? no).  Michael was most impressed with Christ's appearance (on a zip line).

But, back to before the pageant.  Up on the hill was the statue of Moroni who showed Joseph Smith the location of the gold plates.  That area was closed off because of the performance, but our super zoom camera  took this picture of it.

And down in the field behind the chairs, Jason and the boys played with their friends, the Vs, and got the chance to work off the 10 hour car ride with a frisbee and balls.

While Josh and Michael played, Ben made some new friends.  Jason told me Ben went up to three different elderly couples and made friends.  He touched their shoes and their watches and told them that he is "Ben" and that he is "two."

Then, the boys got all snuggled up with crackers and water to watch the pageant.  It got a little cool up there in New York at night.  Luckily, we brought lots of blankets with us.

I don't know how much the boys understood or learned from the pageant, but Josh and Michael did sit through the whole thing.  Only Michael fell asleep at the very end snuggled on my lap.  Ben ran up and down our row getting high-fives, saying hello and touching the Bishop's and his wife's shoes.

I think we may have finally produced an extrovert.

In any case, it was a great experience.  We got back to the cabin at midnight and spent an exciting night (ever shared a twin bed with a 2-year-old?  No?  Don't.) before getting up the next morning to see some of the historical sites in the area.