Niagara Falls (part 2)

Here is the (much anticipated ;) second half of our vacation to Niagara Falls.

On Thursday morning we decided to drive over Rainbow Bridge and visit the American side of the falls. We did this for 2 reasons. The first and most important, was for Dan to be able to check his voice mail and make some much need phone calls. International calling is not part of our cell phone plan and at 99 cents a minute, we decided that the $3.50 toll charge to cross the bridge was better than a $30+ cell phone bill. While Dan sat under a tree and made a few calls, the kids and I explored the sights (the second reason).

The American Falls in the foreground and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls in the background.

The view from Luna Island looking at the American Falls. Blake is taking his morning nap.

Rebecca found a cool spot up in a tree on Luna Island.

After our time back in the US, we drove back into Canada to the Americana Hotel in Niagara Falls for the Cadet Counselor Convention. Dan has been a Cadet counselor at our church for the past 8 years and is now also on our area's Cadet Counselor Executive Committee. We did not intentionally plan our vacation to Niagara based on the fact that the convention was there. It was a nice coincident, so we decided to sign up for the convention, which was very family friendly.

While at the convention there were workshops and speakers for both the men and women and activities for the kids. Dan did workshops related to leading Cadets, geocaching, and reflector ovens. My workshops were cupcake decorating, card making, and we both took scroll sawing.

I made turtle toppers out of fondant. I will definitely try using fondant for the kids birthdays in the future.

I made a few pretty cards.

Here is Dan scroll sawing. We both did pretty well and will also have to try this again at home.

Rebecca and Blake spent their days playing in the hotel water park, visiting the Niagara Falls zoo, and generally having a lot of fun with the other kids. They both were exhausted in the evening and had a hard time waking up in the morning.

On Friday night we went back to the falls with the Cadet group to watch the fireworks.

The American Falls illuminated.

The Canadian Falls illuminated.

Waiting for fireworks.

Ahh! Worth the wait!

The final thing we did before leaving on Saturday was to play a little bit in the hotel water park as a family. Rebecca is fearless in the water and loved the body slides and tube slides, which she had to go on with an adult.

Rebecca and Dan after the tube slide.

All smiles!

This was Blake's first swimming pool experience and he seemed to like it too.

After leaving Niagara we drove to Jenison, MI and spent the night with friends Cara and Jamie and their adorable kids Owen and Emrey. We finished our drive home on Sunday afternoon. We had a great time and made lots of great memories.