Niagara Falls

Saturday-
We arrived at our last destination yesterday, Niagara Falls. After we got all settled in I decided to surrender to the shopping itch I had. I didn’t do too badly though, I mostly just finished shopping for the boys school clothes. I did splurge and get myself one pair of shoes…I couldn’t help it, I LOVE shoes. They are snazzy green heels…I can’t wait to have an excuse to wear them. Aspen has adopted my shoe obsession as well…I think we got her four pairs last night. AND she appears to have inherited my neglect for fashion...I put a pair of UGGS on her and she said, “Ewww, I don’t want these, they’re ugly.”

We did the tourist thing today, on the American side. What do you do a lot at Niagara Falls???...RUN. Sometimes the mist alone from the falls can drench you. I have to admit that Marc and I were impressed by the raging waters. We were kind of worried that it would not meet our expectations (we were really disappointed by Old Faithful). I also heard that the American side wasn’t as good as the Canadian side, but we thought the American side was great. Maybe they mean the actual town (it is kind of a dump).

We didn’t do much today. We viewed the falls from all possible angles. A trolley service is available but Marc thought the family could tough it out…we did, but we were exhausted. We ate at the Top of the Falls Restaurant for lunch…would NOT recommend it. It was overly priced and our experience was horrible. They sat us by the bee catchers and our table for five ended up being a table of fifteen. Bees swarmed all around us and all over our food. They never even offered us to move inside (in fact, they told us they couldn’t because no tables were available). What if my kids were allergic??? The supervisor didn’t even give us a discount. They only told the waitress to offer us a free dessert. I picked gelato and when she brought it she informed that they don’t have to go silverware??? If I haven’t painted a clear enough picture for you this was the end of our meal...the kids playing down in the grass while Marc and I paced the balcony dodging bees and eating our food. The bees got so bad that the staff was even upset they had to clean it up. Oh and I almost forgot what made the pacing begin…I went to take a bite of the kids chicken fingers and when it was almost to my mouth I felt the furry buzz…ugh.

The only attraction we did today was Cave of the Winds. I WOULD recommend that. It was awesome being so close to that powerful water. At one point you could even go under part of the waterfall…the boys loved that. Nicholas wasn’t too happy about being soaked afterwards though. Aspen loved feeling the raging waters on her feet. We tried to take a family picture but couldn’t even get her to look up…she was too intrigued with her wet shoes.

They were SOAKED!!!

Sunday-
So I booked our plane tickets for my birthday trip last night. I was actually sad when I pressed the purchase button. Am I really going to be able to bare being away from my babies for FIVE days???...HELL YES!!! After today (well the past two weeks) I am ready to take off tomorrow. Although I will miss them a ton, it will be a much needed break. Aspen is driving me bonkers. She is so naughty. She literally tries and LOVES to drive me crazy…and it’s working. I didn’t think I was ready for her to go to school but watch out Nature’s Way…here she comes haha. She’s not really a bad girl but she knows what buttons to press, that’s for sure. I knew having a mini me would be hell.

Besides her behavior today, we had an amazing day. Well I guess you could say evening…we didn’t even leave the campground until 4PM. We ventured over to the Canadian side and now I see why they say it’s better. It is much nicer. The view of the falls is beautiful and everything is so clean. It has all of the tourism stuff too (like shops, activities, and restaurants).
It was another walking adventure...who needs people movers when you’re a DeForest (I DO). And it looks like we’ll be walking over the bridge tomorrow instead of driving…ugh. The kids have been so wonderful though (don’t get me wrong, there have been lots of “Are we there yet”). And it’s been COLD. I hope we get to return home to some warm weather. It’s so odd how we usually experience such drastic weather change on our RV adventures. It was so hot in Lancaster and now we are complaining that we’re cold.

We did a couple attractions today. After a long scenic walk we took a break and hopped on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. I was expecting to get soaked but it really wasn’t that bad. We got wetter yesterday just looking at the falls…I still think that is the most fun we have had here so far, running from the mist. But if you’re going to come all the way here, you kind of HAVE to go on the boat ride…it’s the main attraction.

After that we did Niagara’s Fury, the 4D experience. The kids enjoyed that the most. It starts out with a cartoon story about the creation of Niagara and then you go in a simulator. That is really the only way I know how to describe it, I have never been on anything like it before. You basically “experience” the Creation of the Falls. From there we took a “Journey Behind the Falls”. It was very similar to Cave of the Winds, but not as good. If you were going to skip out on an attraction, that would be the one. But maybe we would have enjoyed it a little more if we weren’t so hungry.
Our timing for starting the day ended up being perfect. We sat down to dinner just in time for the illumination of the falls. Our table was at a window overlooking the beautiful setting. It was the best view I have ever had during dinner. The lights changed color about every ten minutes and the kids got a thrill out of guessing which color would be next and deciding on their favorites. Blake loved eating at a “fancy” restaurant. In fact, he had picked it out for us from a coupon book. Our food was fantastic. I think that was the experience we were hoping for at the Top of the Falls Restaurant…if you want a “nice” dining experience, go to Elements at Table Rock.
Monday
Today was kind of a wash. We drove back over the bridge and just spent the day doing mostly kid stuff. We finished up our sight seeing with the White Water Walk. Thankfully, we DID take a bus...it would have been a very long walk. I am torn whether to recommend this or not. It WAS awesome...the water moves so fast it's scary. It is listed as a class 6 rapids. BUT...was it worth the bus ride or the money??? We honestly could have probably done without today all together. One day on each side was fine for us. However, we still enjoyed everything we did today as a "bonus".

The kids loved contributing to the "gum" wall on White Water Walk.

We ALL had a great time with the fun house mirrors.

Aspen took a ride in Cinderella's carriage at the arcade.

The boys opted for guns and zombies.

The "moon" wheel...Aspen mooned us out of no where while at the top.

I wonder how many people work while on a skywheel...probably just Marc ;)

Our trip couldn't end without a round of dino-golf.

Watkins Glen

Let’s camp!!! That’s pretty much what we’ve done the three nights we have been here. It has been so nice to just settle down and enjoy the campground after our busy days in Lancaster. Our first day (the drive up) was lonnng. It was only supposed to be a five hour trip but the navigation had us go a longer way that stumbled upon some bad traffic. It ended up taking us six and a half hours. It didn’t help that we got a late start (didn’t leave until 2PM) because I thought it would be a good idea to go back to that maze before we left. I wanted to tire the kids out a bit hoping they would nap a little on the way…it worked for the boys but Aspen’s eyes never got heavy (she did fall asleep on the way to dinner, stayed asleep while the rest of us ate, and slept the whole ride home). But we didn’t even get to Outback until 9:40PM (they closed at 10…boy were they happy to see us…haha actually, they were really nice) so no wonder she was pooped. She did perk up when we got back to the RV though…in fact, they were all hyper and ready to stay up all night.

Oh…back to the maze. It was a lot of fun, BUT I will stick to taking the kids through corn mazes myself. Marc is too claustrophobic and controlling. I usually just let the kids be in charge and follow them. Yes, sometimes it is scary AND I regret the decision, BUT we always make it out just fine. Marc feels the need to get out…NOW (he even cheated a little and talked to the workers about shorter paths out). But the kids still had a good time and I finally got to try a whoopie pie…YUM.

We couldn't leave without visiting the chicks again:)

Yesterday, we didn’t leave the campground at all…well that’s not true. I messed up our meat for hamburgers (it filled up with water when I was thawing it out) so we had to run to Pizza Hut for dinner. From there we went to Wal-Mart to get some groceries and got lost in window shopping. Marc got carried away and spoiled the kids. Aspen got the bike of “my” dreams. It’s a Barbie bike and it has cupcakes all over it…oh and it’s nothing but PINK. She is so excited to have a bike like her girlfriend Caitlin. She even named the Barbie that bikes with her Caitlin. The boys got a powered razor to share. It is pretty much just Nicholas’s though…Blake tried it once, wasn’t successful, and vowed to never get on it again. Nicholas sure is enjoying it though. He’s even been sharing it with the neighboring camp girls…the girls always flock to him.

Other than that, we were here at the campground all day. It was a perfect day for it too…it drizzled for most of the day. They have a really nice playground here and the kids met some friends while I was doing laundry. The other mom, Samantha, had two boys of her own and really took a liking to Aspen. Our playground party was abruptly ended when Aspen fell and busted her lip pretty bad.

You can get a good look at her fat lip in this picture.

We all met up again at the jumping pillow. What’s more fun than a jumping pillow???...a wet jumping pillow. The boys were already having a blast but it was nothing compared to the fun they had once the rain came. It made the pillow so slippery…they were running and sliding all over the place. They were so wet and dirty but the happiness on their faces was priceless. Samantha and I agreed that the pool was the best place to get them cleaned up (neither of us wanted our filthy boys in our RVs). Our boys played so well together we had a hard time pulling them apart.
I don't know which was more fun for them, the jumping pillow or trying to clean up afterwards.
Our night ended with a movie in the woods. We watched Monster House. I love the set up they have here. It reminds me a lot of the little area Nature’s Way has in the woods for story time. Blake and his friend exchanged email addresses afterwards and decided to be pen pals. It’s so cute watching them create their own friendships (without the help of mom).

Today we ventured out to the Watkins Glen State Park today and walked the Gorge Trail. It was a 2 ½ mile long hike with 19 different waterfalls. It was beautiful. The kids did great, but we did cheat and take a shuttle back down. We had a nice picnic lunch afterwards and the kids enjoyed the playground. Why is it that when they find something to completely occupy themselves I bring nothing to occupy myself? It was too cold for me so I sat in the car most of the time. The park has its own pool also.

That reminds me, Aspen has refused to wear floaties since our stay in Mill Run. She is soo brave…too brave. She is really close to swimming…she can stay afloat, but that is pretty much it. She doesn’t use her arms; therefore she doesn’t really move anywhere. But she is still so excited that she’s “doing it”.

Although I am really looking forward to Niagara Falls, I really don’t want to leave this campground. I wish we were staying at least one more night…everything has been so laid back and peaceful here. There are a couple things I would still like to do here. There is a little hiking trail here in the park with a trout creek that I would have loved to have taken Blake to but I haven’t been able to pull the other two away from their friends at the pirate ship playground. I am sure that Niagara is going to be just as busy as Lancaster…go, go, go.