Niagra Falls

This past weekend we met up with Grant's family for a reunion that began in Niagra Falls.  We packed up our "little blue car" (Kendra always refers to it as such) and away we went.  I was a little nervous about the drive because the most direct routes were all little highways and back roads through towns--I was so skeptical I totally considered adding 100 miles to our journey by taking the interstates around, and I didn't know how my kids would handle the drive.  But it turns out my anxiety was for naught, because the drive was super smooth, we made awesome time and both kids handled it great.  And, the East is just beautiful in the fall.  Behold:

And we didn't even pull out our big guns for her until were over 2/3 of the way there.

"I've got my binky, my sheep and the Lion King.  Hakuna Matatta, people."

After some sleep, some breakfast and a good run for Mommy, we bundled ourselves up and threw everything in the car to make the walk over to the falls.  We were less than a mile away, it was awesome.

"DAD!  Will you keep up, please?"

When we told Kendra that we were going to go see a waterfall, she somehow knew what that meant and was chomping at the bit to get there.  In fact, she was so excited that when we turned the corner and came upon a small fountain, she gleefully declared, "WATERFAAAAAALL!" and jumped over to it.  So we got a kick out of explaining that oh on, we're going to go see a BIG waterfall.

"That's a little more like it."

We also got to hang out with these guys the whole time.

He looks more like Seth and less like the Unibomber sketch from the font, I promise.


We had already decided to brave the chill (it was the of the last week of the tourist season) by hopping on the Maid of the Mist.  We originally planned on just doing it ourselves, but when we got to the observation deck, Kendra saw the boats and got really excited by them, so we let her come with us while lots of loving family members stayed with Elliot (who apparently is a tourist attraction in and of himself).

Unfortunately, even though we arrived at the jetty (dock) just after a boat had departed and had lots of time on our hands for capturing the moment, Kendra was too excited and distracted to stay still long enough for a good picture.  This was the best Grant could do:

"I was promised a boat!"

Being the last week of the season, the boat wasn't crowded at all.  In fact, we were able to plant ourselves in a corner against a wall and it was empty enough that we had an open view of the falls.  Which are not pictured because there was so much water spraying around every where.  But it was pretty amazing.  And Kendra really got a kick out of it.  If you ever go to Niagra, you have to ride the boat because you can't see the coolest, most spectacular falls from the American side, you have to either be in Canada or hop onto a boat that will take you right up in there.  Pretty awesome.

You can kinda get the idea from the observation deck...but seriously, pay the $13.50 and get a really good look from the boat.

So much fun!