Niagara Falls

Maybe now, one week later, I will actually finish the story of our trip. Because the trip was going so well, and because Jerad is Mr Spontaniety, we decided to stay an extra night and go to Niagara Falls. It was only about two hours from where we were staying and we thought it would be a good chance for our kids to see one of the natural wonders of the world. Of course, we hadn't thought to bring our passports, so we had them overnighted up......only to realize that one of the nine passports was expired (my sister's family was also spontaneously going). It was mine! I felt so bad, it had expired May. So we couldn't go onto the Canadian side, but we stayed on the New York side and had a really great visit. We just drove up for the day, and then came home that night to stay in Erie.

Minutes after we arrived, we hopped onto the Maid of the Mist boat ride, put on our rain jackets, and drove right up under the falls. It was amazing. And wet. The falls are absolutely huge and loud and just a marvel to see. So so glad we did it.

They just come roaring over the top right at us.

This is how little the boat looks from the top! But it is a huge boat. I kept thinking about how Jim and Pam from "The Office" got married on the boat.

We took in views of the falls from all different directions. We hiked around a little and even ate lunch at the top of the Horseshoe Falls. Ally did great! I kept giving her the opportunity to sit down and "wait for Daddy to see it" but she always chose to hike along with us. Such a trooper.

I think I mentioned before that we took a lot of pictures. SO SO many more than I actually put on the blog. Sometimes even having passerby people snap a shot for us....this was one of the most beautiful areas and the sun was glistening on the water and I could have sat there for days...hard to see all the beauty here.

I wanted to get a picture of my three kids there, but somebody in our family starting getting a little attitude. I call her "tudy" a lot, because she just gets fussy about silly stuff sometimes. Check out Miss Fusser, she was not having any of it. Enough of the pictures! You can probably tell she has her arms crossed in her trademark "tudiness"

Well I can play that game too. So I said "Fine, I will just get a picture of the other kids with Daddy" And I snapped this shot.

And then I looked out of the lens of my camera and see Miss Tudi over there fussing again. I snapped the picture and I have to say this picture makes me roll with laughter. I can't wait to show off her little attitude at her high school graduation party.

In all seriousness, we had another great day. Even Carly. Another happy memory that I will hold onto for a long time. We could stay no longer because we did have to get home for Ally's monthly chemo in the clinic. So we said Good Bye to Niagara Falls.

And the next morning, back at our hotel, the kids walked hand-in-hand (without me even asking!) for one more trip up the tower to look out over Lake Erie. And then we got in our car and headed back home.

Ally continues to do well. She just finished her fifth day of steroids for the month. She is eating a lot. This month her cravings have included a turkey and colby cheese bagel for breakfast every day, soft pretzels to the tune of three or so a day, and peach/banana smoothies with fresh peaches from her Pa's orchard. A little healthier than our pizza roll days, but still eating a lot.

Over the last few days, she has developed this hypersensitive smell issue. She says she smells flowers and/or soap/fragrance and it really gets to her. Makes her head hurt and makes her a little nauseous. Of course, any little thing like this causes me to worry. Has anyone out there ever heard of this?? Please let me know if you have. I tried to research it some but came up with nothing.

Tomorrow is the last day of summer. Wow. Back to school on Tuesday. More blogging on that later.