NY/Canada Trip Part 1: Niagra Falls!!

The fun begins! We took a shuttle ride from the parking lot to the tourist area.

A trip to Northern New York and Niagra Falls was on our MUST-DO list for living on the East Coast. This summer we made it happen. We met J's parents in Niagra after a day of driving and camping close by. The link above will tell you a little about the history of people exploring the possibility of going over the falls. "Do not try this at home" is obvious advice to any but the most crazy thrill seekers. As for us, we went for the typical sightseeing options. We decided to head over to the Canadian side of the tourist area since we had passports and had heard it was the better side to view. We walked around for a bit, cooling off in the spray of the falls and admiring the vast amount of water going for a plunge.

American Falls from Canadian side

Horseshoe Falls

Both from the humongous ferris wheel

The Fam

We toured the Journey Behind the Falls, which ended up being a long wait and overpriced (do not recommend it) and went on the Maid of the Mist (definitely recommend!). Seeing the falls from so close was quite a thrill! We also went on a large, enclosed Ferris Wheel which offers a fantastic view of the falls and the street of things to do once you've seen the falls.

All blue and ready to get wet on this scorching hot day!! Bring on the water! J caught a nice pic of Maid of the Mist complete with rainbow in the late afternoon light after we'd gotten drenched while on it. We started on the lower deck in the back and progressed to the front and then to the top to get a good soaking. The water I expected, the wind I did not. It was incredible how close they could get the boat to the falls. We read a little of the history of the falls too and did not realize that the horseshoe shape is from erosion and only after adding stabilizers were they able to slow the rapid rate of retreat of the falls. Now it only moves back about 1 foot every 10 years. Muy interasante!

Looking toward Rainbow Bridge and American Falls on the Canadian side.

Little A's Birthday!!

For little A's birthday this year we kinda wanted a chill birthday without too much hollabalo but wanted to celebrate with many of her cute little friends so we took it to a nearby park. Little A loves fruit so we let the chillin's make little fruit kabobs. She also loves games so we played a few of her favorites: Red Light-Green Light, Duck Duck Goose and Hide and Seek. She had so much fun and was happy many of her friends were able to make it. We stuck with ice cream, mostly because I didn't feel like making a cake in the middle of summer and because I have memories of 2 years ago when the icing was melting off the cake it was so hot outside here. Nothing like ice cream to cool you down!

The next day was her real birthday and she was ever so delighted to have milkshakes for her birthday dessert.

This is our little A to a Tee (heehee). Her favorite color is yellow and she is such a happy girl that this made a perfect birthday gift. She certainly makes our every day happy! Our little A really knows how to communicate well. She is constantly cracking me up with what she says and how she says it. She loves to go just about anywhere and loves, loves, loves her older brother and sister. She's not going to know what to do with herself next year when big bro is in preschool. She loves to help in the kitchen, cleaning, sorting, laundry, you name it and she loves it. Except me trying to strap her in her car seat before her. And me helping her out of the car. Or with washing her hands. Or getting her shoes on. Yep, she's 3!! And we love her!!!!