Canada Day One - Niagara on the Lake

We are off on a new adventure! This time we are headed to Canada and our first stop is Niagara Falls. The drive here was incredibly long, made more so by our fruitless search in the first hour to find one decent cup of coffee to go with lunch. After one burnt cup, one over sweetend cup, and one store that was broken down, we finally got back on the road. An hour later. 

The first part of our journey took us on State roads through Vermont. Even though it can be a bit slow in places, we really like this way because it is just so beautiful. Vermont has its own unique and beautiful landscape which has a different feel from New Hampshire and New York. It is still early but the leaves are just starting to change so we had some beautiful color as we drove over the winding mountain roads. We stopped only once, on a low mountain, because Christian wanted to get out and admire the view. But eventually we hit New York and the highway and settled in for the long haul. The only other memorable thing on our drive was blasting the radio and singing along. For some reason the kids really like Bon Jovi and so we were all singing along to Livin' on a Prayer at the top of our lungs. 

Vermont view

It was after 10 when we finally got to our hotel, though on the plus side, customs is a breeze to get through at that hour. Christian was wild and it took a bit to get everyone in and settled. But it only took two pages of the Hobbit before Christian fell asleep. I'm afraid it will either take us forever to finish the book or he is just going to miss half of it. But everyone slept well that first night and thankfully no one woke us up too early this morning!

The falls from our hotel the first night

Boys enthralled.

This morning was wet, cold, and gray. We had a bit of a slow start and decided to head over to Niagara on the Lake for lunch. By the time we arrived the sky had cleared and it was beautiful! The town itself is gorgeous and there are huge flower arraignments down the middle and sides of the streets. Camille was in heaven. The boys were less entranced with the flowers but Christian led us into the lobby of an expensive hotel full of elderly guests quietly drinking tea. "I'm looking at art" he told me as he admired a marble statue of Cupid and Psyche. 
 

Flowers lined the streets

Camille loved the beauty here

Our family at Niagara on the Lake

We hadn't even gone a block before we saw the horse and carriages and it only took a mild amount of begging for Christian to convince us to take a 15 minute tour. He loves animals and really enjoyed petting our horse, Cinderella, before and after our ride. The driver was very friendly and pleasant but if she had information on the town we didn't stop talking long enough to allow her to impart any of it. But it was a very enjoyable ride down pretty roads and we did get a glimpse of Lake Ontario and Fort George. 

Christian loved the horse

Will, Jon, and James enjoying the ride

All of us on the carriage

After the ride we had a decent but overpriced lunch and then spent some time shopping. The boys enjoyed the stores but, like in the hotel lobby, I get very nervous when my children are touching or even near very expensive things. One store had adorable leather animal chairs/footstools which we all admired. But as the friendly shopkeeper went into detail about the handcrafted Italian leather and the $400 price I grew more anxious as the boys started devising plans to race these animal chairs down the hall. But no disasters happened and they were all fine in the stores we visited. 

Me and Will at lunch

A very expensive Moose chair

Eventually though shopping lost its appeal and the boys started to get more boyish. So while James and his mom continued shopping, I took them all to a park down the street. Will and Jon immediately brought out their lightsabers and had a battle while Christian and I played catch and learned that neither of us is good at throwing a football. It was fun but after a little while he went off with his brothers and I was able to finally sit down with my book. 

Christian on the flowery streets

  Reading didn't last too long though and soon Jon, Christian, and I were playing with the football again. This time Jon and I were passing (and getting better!) and Christian was in the middle. He ran hard at us every time we passed the ball and he would dive and try to tackle us. Sometimes Jon would just leave the ball and run away from Christian! We offered to take turns being in the middle but he loved it there. He didn't care about throwing the ball or even getting it, he just wanted to race, tackle, and win. We eventually moved to a larger area of the park because our game was getting so good. James joined us too and we continued to play for another half hour. The boys lost their shirts and shoes as we ran around with the football in the warm sun. At one point Jon paused to say "This is a great day. We started with a carriage ride and now we are doing this."

James, Jon, and Christian playing football

 The whole time we played football, Will stayed on the playground and played with a little boy he met there. The boy must have been about two or three and Will took time to carefully teach him how to fight with the lightsabers. It was pretty adorable. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that because I don't like taking pictures of other children and I couldn't get one of just Will. But it was really sweet to see him being so kind and friendly to this little boy. 

After our wonderful time at the park we drove down to see Lake Ontario. This is by far the biggest lake I have ever seen and it took a bit for us to convince Christian that it was not, in fact, the ocean. In his defense it did look like the ocean, the wind was whipping up some beautiful waves and the lake stretches out as far as you can see. The only glimpse we had of the other side was the hazy and faint towers of Toronto in the distance. The city seemed to rise out of the lake and it was so faint that sometimes it appeared to disappear altogether which gave it a magical and mysterious air. 

Christian and I admiring the very windy lake

Christian poses on the rock

Can you see the misty city rising from the water?

By the time we got back to Niagara Falls it was dinner time and after a short rest we headed out. Our hotel is right downtown and very near the falls so we were able to walk to dinner and then over to the funicular rail which leads to the falls. It was of course dark by this time but they light up the falls with different colored lights and it was all very beautiful. We kept a firm grip on Christian the entire time, much to his annoyance. But my parents made me promise to bring all three boys home alive and I am determined to do so. 

Riding the Funicular to the falls

It was late and the candy was already locked away

Niagara Falls

Our family at the falls

By the time we got back to the hotel it was 9:30 but the boys had been begging to go down to the pool all day so off we went. No matter where we go, hotel pools are always a highlight for the kids. And James and I had a lot of fun too, splashing and swimming around. It was a good ending to a good day. It wore everyone out so bedtime was quick. And since they've been sleeping for the past hour it is finally time for me to join them. :-) 

Christian carrying Jon around

Goodnight!