Niagara Falls, NY

Geo: 43.0955, -79.0559

Weather- 77 and sunny
[PHOTO_ID_L=niagara-falls-movie.jpg] We had a great first day of driving. The kids worked on their first location in the book I made for them. Believe it or not they liked it. Then they watched a movie about Niagara Falls (twice). Nice intro to where we were going. They got excited when they saw things when we got there. What a great visit to Niagara Falls, Ontario . We arrived around 7 PM to the Marriott Gateway Fallsview. It is a very nice hotel. We did not have a fallsview room but[PHOTO_ID_R=hotel-with-a-view.jpg] every window in the place has an incredible view. We stepped out of the front door and could almost feel the mist from the Horseshoe Falls. There is a beautiful walkway and park above the waterfront that takes you to the road that leads to the o. The Falls are amazing. The amount of water and power is extraordinary. We walked all the way to the top of the Horseshoe Falls. On the way there was a downpour. We had a blast in the 5 minute downpour and enjoyed the rest of the walk. We had a late dinner in the hotel. We watched the fireworks from the observation deck in the restaurant. What a great start to our trip.Today we are learning the best way to get across the border to the US on the Rainbow Bridge.. What a nightmare and it is only 8:30 AM. Here is a suggestion, get to the Hard Rock Cafe downtown. [PHOTO_ID_L=falling-rain.jpg] There is a park a block away where you can turn around and get into the border line via a stop light. DO NOT take 402. Massive one lane backup. Paul's aggressive driving took us through the Falls lane to Hard Rock where we figured out a better way. Most people are still sitting in the other line. Ugh. We are going to do the Maid of the Mist and the Cave of the Winds (hopefully) on the New York side. We wanted to get across the border and beat the crowds to these places.
We are finding that this trip not only has learning experiences in regards to the places we visit but teaching moments for life. For instance, hotel etiquette. We don't go to hotels often if at all. We usually rent houses. So the kids are learning that there are lots of people around and we need to be quiet and respectful. We are also learning how to...well, BE QUIET when there are other people in the room trying to sleep! We won't mention which child (ben) couldn't lay still (ben) and sounded like he was running a marathon in the sheets. Paul and I laid there quietly at first. It got so ridiculous that both ended up laughing hysterically which then wound them up again. Then that child (ben) ended up on the floor next to me "ah-hemming" to get my attention because he and the other boy (Matt) couldn't share the wonderful down comforter. It took one mommy threat to get another room for them and all went quiet. Either Paul heard nothing (zzzz) or he was in avoidance mode. Oh yeah, and this morning the first child mentioned (ben) graced us with his version of a rooster wake-up call at some unGodly hour which he conveniently doesn't remember. Phhffft.
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I will update our day in the next post. Thanks for reading.Read more