Okay, so maybe it wasn't a world tour, but we did pack in a whole lot of fun for this summer's vacation!! Due to the length of this vacation, we'll split up our post into several installments!
We started off by flying out on Friday afternoon to Niagara Falls, where we stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge on the Canadian side. The hotel has a complete water-slide inside of it, along with a bowling alley, lazy river, treasure hunts, reading time etc - it was pretty amazing and the kids kept saying over and over "thank you for letting us stay here!" so even they realized how fun an experience it was! The kids even had a little "cabin" within the hotel room that had bunk beds and a single twin bed for Addison - it was very charming! The rooms were a bit loud at night with other hallway doors closing, but doable. There was a great breakfast buffet in the morning - they really made it easy for people with kids!
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| Tiny children on a huge chair welcoming us to the Great Wolf Lodge! |
The next day, we began our Niagara Falls adventures, and what an adventure it was! We did the four main things - the walk along the river rapids, the boat ride, the Nigara's Fury movie, and the walk along/behind the actual waterfalls. There were tons of people there, so it took a while to see everything but the weather was lovely and we had a great time - even the kids said that they had a good time which you never know how they'll enjoy sight-seeing!
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| The Horseshoe Falls (The Canadian side) in the background |
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| Walking along the river rapids - they were gorgeous! The water was such a pretty green color and the weather was perfect! |
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| Selfie while we waited for the male Zs to hit the restroom - American falls in the background |
When we went on the Hornblower boat, it was a fun experience, although you get VERY wet as it is basically raining when you get close to the falls where they pause before turning around and going back. Addison's poncho sleeve was accidently pulled up her arm and she got soaked there - leading her afterwards to inform us that she did NOT like boat rides AT ALL!
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| American falls in the background - this is the "before picture!" |
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| And After - a little soaked |
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| Two very wet ladies! |
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| Approaching the Canadian Falls |
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| Gorgeous! |
Walking behind the walls (or in these pictures beside them) was interesting to see just close up the tons of water coming down and hear the roar.
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| We ended up with three different ponchos this day - one of every color! |
As we drove away, you can see both the American and Canadian water falls, with the Canadian side having all of the development and tall hotels. So odd, wouldn't have expected that!
We left on Sunday afternoon after playing all morning in the Great Wolf Lodge waterslides, before we took off for Rochester and the National Toy museum. There were some fun exhibits, such as Sesame Street, grocery store, Berenstain Bears and a Comic book hall.
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| Childhood favorite - Sesame street! |
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| Addison still loves Berenstain Bears |
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| Even the older Mr Z had fun in the Comic book hall with the games there! |
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| In Big Bird's nest with the chicks! |
We headed that night to Corning where we stayed overnight and went to the Corning Glass Museum on Monday morning. Super fun! We each did the glass blowing sessions and made our individual glass ornaments for Christmas! The kids all loved it - as did the parents!
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| Getting ready! |
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| Here goes Daddy while the boys wach |
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| She's full of hot air! :) |
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| Hers turned out such a nice size! |
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| Kaleb is blowing on his now |
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| And the finished product! |
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| Zachary blowing on his, which was multi-colored |
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| Finito! |
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| And finally mom's was done! |
After doing our glass ornaments, we walked around the museum where they had stations set out for the kids with a "passport" that you'd get stamps on as you learned about the various aspects of glass. It was fun!
After the glass museum, we jumped in the car and took the trek to Cooperstown to see the National Baseball Museum. It was amazing - such an American icon and yet it was in the tiniest town - not even a McDonalds!
After racing through that museum, we jumped into the car again and began the 4.5 hour drive to Stowe Vermont where we would then be spending the next week for Amy's summer conference. The roads were small and windy, and full of surprises like this Amish buggy! Kaleb at one point though got carsick, so thankfully Lisa texted us how to stop, let him walk around and then keep his eyes on the road after that to keep the illness at bay. Whew - so glad that we didn't have puke in the van!
Thus this ends the first installment of our summer vacation - we'll post again more next week!
We did have some fun events prior to going to Vermont that we didn't get a chance to post, so here are the pictures of Karis and the boys going skeet shooting for Father's Day. First time for them, and both boys hit one each! Bravo! Zachary really had a fun time, and Kaleb was just a little on the small side and while he had fun, it did hurt his shoulder!
Karis had to make an adjustment on the warped wall in the backyard, and after a bit of a break and then starting again, Kaleb now has mastered the warped wall.
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| Thumbs up! |
Addison is pure girl - and pure tomboy at times, but before we left she got on this kick about dancing and kept asking why Mommy and Daddy didn't have dancing at our wedding. No matter how many different ways we tried to explain that we don't dance, her answer was always "Don't worry, I can teach you how to dance so that we can dance at MY wedding!" And she kept conning Karis into dancing with her. Very cute, but sure hope she gets over this dancinb bug!
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| A princess and her Daddy! |
