Niagara Falls - Day 5

Our final day of our trip and it was still raining - as it had for most of the trip. Conor and I went down to get some coffee, juice, and a muffin while we were waiting on the others to get ready. We packed the van up and were on our way to Niagara Falls to spend a few hours before starting the drive home. When we got close to the boarder, we started looking for someplace to park. There was construction going on and detours, and it was all pretty confusing, but we finally found a place, paid the $10 parking fee, and got out of the van. There was a huge building that we went through and it was all rather strange feeling - it had a visitor's center, various restaurants and stores, but they were all closed and the building was pretty empty. There was one man in the visitor's center part and when we asked him how far away the falls were he told us it was a 20 minute walk in another direction. Turns out he was wrong - we walked out the door and crossed the road and they were about 5 minutes away.

While walking down a grassy hill, my foot slid forward and I fell on my knees - what fun! :) So the knees of my jeans were caked with mud. Through the mud, rain, and coldness, I still managed to take some pictures. I tried very hard to keep my camera as dry as I could.









There is no one in the above picture that we know, I just took it because of the colorful trees. :)






Conor had a ball - he loved splashing through the water puddles - he was just a blur back and forth in the puddle above. Mom and I were huddled under a small bit of shelter, just wanting a small amount of time without water falling on our heads. I do not mind getting wet (I never use an umbrella), but it just got tiring wiping water out of my eyes. :)

After so long of walking and getting soaked, we got on the trolley to take us back to where our van was parked. Everyone was starving, so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.


Conor loved all of the guitars on the walls, he tried to go around and count them all. The girls and I had a hot chocolate to warm us up.

This was the painting on the ceiling of the cafe - an Eagle to represent the USA, and a Beaver to represent Canada since they were on the boarder of the US and Canada.

Conor with his newly achieved wink. ;) We all piled in the van after we ate, the kids changed into their pjs because they were all soaked and it was easy for them to change. The kids cuddled up in the back - took naps and watched movies on the DVD player. We had thought that we would get home around 9ish that evening, but it ended up being more like 10:30. I dropped Jeff and the kids off at home and took my mom home because the girls wanted to get everything ready for school the next day. We had wanted them to only have to miss 3 days, but since we got home so late on Wednesday night, we told them they could sleep in and go 1/2 day or just take the day off. They both wanted to go to school, though, and they got all their things ready and went to bed. Can you imagine? Permission to stay home and they both chose to go... wow, that is dedication. Two really good students, craving knowledge. Awwww... I'm proud of them!

Or, wait a minute.... maybe they were just trying to get away from us - they had their fill of being in our company for 5 1/2 days straight with no break (they didn't have their own rooms to go and hide in). Or, they didn't want to help clean up the van and do laundry from the trip. Hmmmm... I'm still proud of them. :)

OK, that's it! That is all the pictures and stories from our trip! :) I probably forgot to tell some of the stories - but - my memory isn't THAT good. I should have written it down sooner so I wouldn't have to stretch my memory to remember what I did. Because I distinctly remember laughing at something Jeff did or said that he didn't want me to tell anyone... I remember telling him that I was going to put it in my blog and he didn't want me to... but I don't remember what it was. :(

Oh, well. Maybe I will remember at another time, or... and I'm sure this will happen ... Jeff will do something else funny to give me material for my blog. :)