Niagra Falls Mini Vacation

With the end of the my spring semester, Kristine and I decided we needed a little vacation before getting back to summer classes and work.  We really wanted to go camping, but the forcast showed three days of rain, so we opted for an overnighter at Niagra Falls instead. Camping would be postponed until later in the week when the weather was better.  Kristine had never been to Niagra Falls, and I hadn't been in probably 20 years so it looked fun. 

We stayed at the Sheraton on the Falls, which is right in the middle of a touristy area with lots to do and places to eat.  Here is Victoria checking out the view from our room.  As soon as we got in, she immediately went to the window.

Kristine and Victoria.

It wasn't very crowded and must not be peak season yet.  Walking along the edge, we could feel the rumble of the water pouring down.  With all the mist generated by the falls, there was constant rainbow. 

Victoria seemed very taken in by the falls and was content to watch what was going on.

Of course she had to pull out her hair tie 10 minutes after Kristine made her look so nice.

Food prices were suprisingly high.  The cheapest meal we had in the entire two days was at Wendys.

Victoria on the other had thought Wendy's was the best.  Especially the yogurt and drinks

Part of the hotel package was two days of access to the indoor water park.  It wasn't the biggest water park, but the slides were fun and Victoria loved it.  She divided her time between fighting the waves in the large pool, and playing around the slide in the little kid area. She is definately a water baby and will love her lake time with her cousins this summer.    

Sooo Helpful....

Evidently Peter was not eating his breakfast fast enough for Victoria, so she decided to help him out.  

Here are a couple random picts.

 Hair.  We started putting her hair up in little whale spouts and pig tails.  This is what happens after Victoria decides to pull them out. Pure awesomeness.

I don't know what it is, but Victoria loves getting into small spaces where only she fits.  This is at church in fancy dress.

We went to the mall and of course we had to ride on the carousel. Victoria loved it so much we had to go twice.   

Kristine and I decided we were tired of moving cars and parking  each other in so we turned our one car driveway into a two car driveway.  Victoria was utterly fascinated by the work going on outside. 

Yesterday she started putting her head on the ground and looking at me through her legs.  I don't know why this is so entertaining for her, but she thought it was really fun.  This is the best I could get before she stopped. 

 We set up her princess activity table.  As soon as she saw it she knew it was for her.  Its still a little big and she hasn't quite figured out coloring yet. but soon it will get a lot of use.    

Dancing Queen

Victoria loves music.  We went to a friend's wedding reception a little while ago and Victoria could not help herself.  She heard the music and started dancing.  Unfortunately I only got the tail end.

The squeals of delight and arm swinging continued for the whole time we were on dance floor. 

UN-Adventure

This year Kristine and I got to chaperone Syracuse's international relations learning community United Nations trip.  Since we left at 6am and didn't get back until after midnight, Victoria got in a good day and a half of grandparent time.  When grandma dropped her off on saturday morning, to our chagrin, Victoria desperatedly did not want Grandma to leave. 

It was special going to New York again.  We were running around with tons of college freshman, but that didn't diminish the feeling.  It felt unexcpectedly familiar.  New York had always been where Kristine and I ran off to when dating.  Returning together after a while felt nice.   

What would NYC be without a long car or bus ride to get there.

Here we are at the UN.

After our UN tour and lunch we had some freetime. We went down to see the 911 memorial. This is the one of the new towers going up.  Like the previous World Trade towers, this new tower is the tallest building in NYC.  Its really amazing to see all the construction and "rebirth".  We have gone to the site several times after 9/11 and it was always just an open hole like a wound. Finally the space seems to be healing and coming back to life. 

This is the view from the North reflecting pool.  The museum is the building in the immidiate background.  Appropriately it looks like a fallen building.  Next two it is one of the new towers going up.

This is a picture of one of the relecting pools at night ( from the 9/11 memorial website.)  The memorial has two pools like this, one for each tower. The names of those who died are on the outside surrounding the pools.