Niagara Falls

This past Labor Day weekend Robin and I took the kids and my mother to Niagara Falls for a couple of days. We figured that since the kids are 6, 4 and 2, they would take one look at “The Falls” and say “that’s nice, can we play now”, but to our surprise Eli, James and Amanda really enjoyed the magnificent sights and the Maid of the Mist boats. Anyway, their fascination lasted for about 45 minutes, 45 minutes longer than I thought it would. Planning ahead for their lack of interest, Robin and I booked a hotel with an indoor water park. Wow! What I time we had. At first Eli, my oldest was a bit hesitant to go on the big BIG slides but on the second day it was full throttle. James didn’t meet the height requirement for the big stuff but was happy with the wave pool and smaller slides and sprinklers. The two big slides which were completely enclosed like a pipe were tube slides, meaning that an inner tube is used. These slides started out in the building, but since they are so big they exit the building only to come back in at the end of the ride. The first time my daughter and I went on these slides we went on a double inner tube so that we could go down together. After we pushed off I was completely blown away; I thought that even though the slide is completely enclosed with fiberglass that light would still be able to penetrate the walls. PITCH BLACK ALL THE WAY DOWN. I’m not sure if I was terrified for my daughter or that I was actually terrified for me, I think it was for my daughter. I was expecting Eli to freak out but the only sound that came from her was laughter and a couple of WOOHOO’s! We must have ridden that thing 20 times. Amanda enjoyed the little slides along with James. Since Robin’s belly is home to our fourth, I was pulling double and triple duty between the small slides, big slides, sprinklers and wave pool to keep all the kids happy. Amanda loves the water. I don’t think her smile left her face the entire time we were there. My mother who still works and really doesn’t get to spend a lot of time with the kids really enjoyed however, she opted not to take advantage of the slides.

We also went to the Aviary in Niagara which to my surprise was absolutely wonderful. The kids loved it because we were able to get close to all the birds, and the set up was pretty unique. The whole Aviary spiraled down in one big observatory complete with a huge waterfall.

We did a bunch of other touristy things, but to sum it all up, the trip was good.