Oakland Temple

After leaving Fairyland, it made sense for us to visit the temple, since we were already in Oakland. It was just a short detour, and a really nice ending to our day of fun.

We started in the visitors' center where the sweet sister missionaries talked to us for a while, gave the kids stickers, and turned on a great movie about families for us. It was a moving show, where each time the setting changed we moved down a row of seats around a curved hall to see the next portion on a different screen, which was set up in a room to match the scene. It kept the kids engaged and had a good message.

After that we headed outside to see the temple and wander the grounds. Really, that time ended up mostly consisting of the kids playing in the water. It was still pretty fun though.

This was the first picture we took. There's a John Deere digger in the background, right up against the temple that I kept trying (unsuccessfully) to strategically cover or crop out of the pictures.

The grounds were beautiful and the day was perfect. The kids really appreciated the fountains and waterway running the length of the field.

It was all I could do to keep Elinor from removing her shoes and wading in!

Looks like she's standing in the water - she's really not. There's a little ledge on the inside of the rim. I still made her get out. I have to work hard to make sure my kids aren't the rambunctious, unruly lot that everyone whispers about. :)

She's kind of a clown.

This temple has big sculpted panels on both the north side and the south side. We were on the north side, so this one shows Jesus teaching in the Holy Land. Reading up on it just now, it looks like the south side has Jesus appearing to the Nephites and can be seen up close from a garden on the main floor roof. We'll have to do that next time.

The view was amazing from all sides. We drove up some pretty steep hills to get there!

Getting ready to leave.

One last hurrah in the water before heading home.