So.
We took a trip to Buffalo, NY this summer to visit Krista's little brother Matt,
Evan's little sister Emily and her husband Benjamin,
and Evan's little brother Garrett and his wife Katie.
They all happen to be working for APX Alarm in the same office this summer, so we took our flight credit with Air Tran (thanks to the big guy behind me) and we decided it would be fun to go see them and see a bit of upstate New York!
Let's just say this flight was much better than our last! Everything went smoothly, Thatcher was happy with Thomas the Train on our video iPod, life was good!
It was so much fun to visit and catch up with our siblings! We had such a great time with all of them whether we were out having adventures or just... hanging out at the apartment. Thatcher and Daddy found all sorts of adventures outside- from jumping out of trees and decorating the water meters with rocks, to running in the grass and smelling the gardens. When asked what the gardens smell like, Thatcher would answer quite excitedly, "Dumbo."
A big shout out to Garrett & Katie who gave up their bedroom for us and were so kind in hosting us at their place for the week, they really went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable and had a good time!
We ate so well the whole time we were there. And "so well" is really a complete understatement... we're talking Evan & Garrett's homemade pizza and sweet pretzels, Katie's homemade macaroni and cheese, Emily & Ben's Hawaiian haystacks, Black & Blue Steak House, the Original House of Pancakes... yum. Meal times were spent ALL together, as much as was possible! It was awesome!
Our first day of exploring took us to Rochester to visit Strong's National Museum of Play! It was so cool. It had a mini, real working grocery store where kids could do everything from ring you up at the register to push mini shopping carts down the mini aisles. It took every ounce of restraint in me to not spend the entire time in there, it was like my childhood dream come true. It had Sesame Street where you could walk through the town and play games, make music and put on puppet shows. It had a trains section (guess where Evan and Thatcher spent their time) with a riding train and then a huge train set to play with. They had a Hall of Fame for toys through the ages, a museum of toys in different time periods, and tons of stuff we didn't even get to. You ask Thatcher what his favorite part was and he'd probably tell you- the fish tank. We need to get this kid a pass to the Aquarium.
The next day started with a Tim Hortons doughnut (Canadian) breakfast with Matthew and his dog Mack at a local park! It was perfect.
After that we headed to Palmyra for some historical LDS Church sites with Katie and Emily! It was a great day. We started off at Hill Cummorah, the visitors center and then the hike to the top. We had a special experience with Thatcher in the visitors center. He sat so reverently through the presentation in the room with the Christus statue and when he was allowed to go see the statue up close he climbed up so he could see Christ's feet and pointed at his scars, asking "Owee?" We took the opportunity to teach him about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and showed him the scars on his hands and feet, and explained how they pierced his sides and placed a crown of thorns on his head. Thatcher soaked it all in and to this day still talks about Jesus' "Owee's" on his hands and feet and tummy and head. After the Christus Statue we walked around the gallery in the visitors center for a while. The first exhibit was about Joseph Smith's First Vision. I started to tell Thatcher about how Joseph Smith prayed to know which church was the true church when Thatcher stopped me and said "Prayer." He proceeded to lay on the floor with his arms folded and his eyes closed and said a soft prayer to himself. It was such a powerful experience to me to witness the untainted faith and pure testimony of my little Child of God. What an example he is to me. When we had gotten our fill of the visitors center we hiked to the top of Hill Cummorah and we all made it- Thatcher and 2 pregnant ladies hiked that hill like they could have done it in their sleep, with no complaining. Pretty impressive.
We drove down the street a few miles to see the Palmyra temple. What a beautiful temple, in such beautiful country. I can't tell you how many times I said that I would love to live in one of the many farms we passed in all our driving around up there and I really meant it. The temple was very neat to see, and while we didn't get to go inside it we were able to feel the Spirit of the temple just from being on the temple grounds and we were able to admire the beautiful stained glass, the President Hinckley Window (see picture of 3 tall windows below- you can see the Sacred Grove when looking out of those windows from the temple), the architecture and landscaping from the outside. I think this was the first temple Thatcher had ever been to.
Just down the road from the temple was the Smith farm, where Joseph Smith's family lived at the time of the religious excitement in Palmyra and at the time that Joseph Smith went to that grove of trees and saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. It was really awesome to see it all. The house (re-built on the same foundation) where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith, the house (mostly original) where Joseph hid the plates under the brick work of the fireplace, the cooper house where Joseph was inspired to hide the plates in the rafters rather than under the floor boards because mobs would come later and tear up the floor boards looking for them, and we were able to take a walk through the Sacred Grove.
We finished the day with a drive through the old town of Palmyra and got some ice cream before driving back to Buffalo to have dinner with the boys!
Oh and before dinner, we drove down to see downtown Buffalo and the Michigan Street Baptist Church (in the rain). The Michigan Street Baptist Church is significant in many ways, but we had heard of it because it was the last rest stop before Canada on the Underground Railroad back in Pre-Civil War times. Black slaves who were escaping to Canada had a safe place to hide in the basement of this church, and it was a neat experience to see it and learn more about it.
That brings us to Sunday! The greatest day on an APX Summer schedule because it's the only day of the week the guys don't have to work! And this particular Sunday just so happened to be Fathers Day too. Great day. So we went to church, played some games, then headed to Niagara Falls that afternoon! We parked along the road on the way to the falls so that we could walk along the rapids leading up to the falls. It was really amazing to see. All of a sudden that water is just going SO fast and SO wild and in the near distance you can see it fall into the horizon.
We would later learn that these rapids meant the point of no return. If something (or someone) got as far as the rapids, there was no turning back and they'd be sent over the falls. We also learned that on a scale of 1 to 5, these rapids were a 6- extremely dangerous! Crazy but beautiful.
We took the pedestrian bridge over to Goat Island- the island dividing the river into 2 falls- to take a look at the falls from the American side. I'm telling you, if you have never been to Niagara Falls, you really need to put it on your bucket list! It is really breathtaking!
We had such a great time that the next day, Evan, Thatcher and I decided to go back to Niagara Falls for a little more adventure.
We took in some more sights on foot.
Thatcher's favorite part of the day? The trolley ride, hands down.
Thatcher's least favorite part of the day? The Cave of Winds, hands down. (My favorite- and notice the picture of Evan taken while under the Bridal Veil falls! It was so fun! And Evan? Completely soaked.)
Although really, my favorite part of the whole day MAY have been Thatcher in his little hat. This is on the Maid of the Mists boat ride through the gorge and into the middle of the Horseshoe Falls- really a once in a lifetime experience. It was so incredibly cool to be surrounded by that gigantic waterfall!
Then we got our passports ready and (they arrived at our house 10 MINUTES after we left for the airport, no exaggerating. We had the sweet girl who was watching our house overnight them to us so we could...) WALKED TO CANADA! We had dinner at the Canadian Hard Rock Cafe (Thatcher loved that place SO MUCH) and saw the falls from the Canadian side. If I had to pick one place to see the falls from, it would definitely have been the Canadian side but really, I thought it was spectacular from every angle! And... we got stuck. In Canada. All because we didn't have a stinking DOLLAR to pay the toll to get through the turnstiles, back onto the bridge. In fact, we didn't have ANY cash on us whatsoever. So. We decide to go buy some delicious Canadian candy and get cash back. Oh, you don't do cash back? That's a shame. So we try the ATM. Oh, you don't want to take our card? Sucks to be us. Oh, and YOU don't want to take our card either? This is getting old. And Evan is getting very grumpy. So while Evan is trying yet another ATM machine, I break down and just decide to beg. One guy passed me up, and I'm pretty sure he was thinking I was a desperate lunatic- begging and using a cute innocent child to sweeten the deal. It was embarrassing. But then I saw them... the 3 old ladies. These women were walking towards the same candy store we had just tried to get cash back at and if my memory serves me correctly they were in fact wearing halos, and so I thought "Hey! I can sell them some of this candy, and get the $1 we need to get back to the U.S!" So I approach them and ask if they'd mind buying a chocolate bar off of me so me and my family could cross the border. After a little more explaining and a few glances down at my adorable son in his cute little hat, eating Smarties, they ALL start reaching into their wallets and literally PILING money into my hands! I was like "No! No, really! I just need ONE DOLLAR! It's a TOLL! I'm not a beggar! Please!" I was shoveling money back into their wallets as fast as they were stuffing it back in my hands saying, "Go! Take it! Buy the boy an ice cream!" I don't think I've ever been so southern in bestowing blessings from God and all things holy in their behalf and thanking them tremendously. I run out to the road where Evan is standing in the drive-through bank in the median trying to get his ATM card to work and start jumping and shouting and waving the $7 I had just scored off of these 3 sweet old ladies. God bless them. I'll never forget them.
We made it back to the U.S. just in time to make it onto the Observation Deck to see the falls lit up at dark, then we called it a day. As Thatcher clearly shows, it was exhausting, but it was a really great day.
That brings us to our last day. We had breakfast at the Original House of Pancakes then headed to Lake Ontario, only to find that the lake was not swimmable that day due to high river currents! We had fun playing on the beach and then had to head back to Buffalo to catch our flight home.
It was a great trip. It was such a blast to be able to take such a great family vacation and I know it's one we won't ever forget! We miss it already! Thanks again to our siblings for showing us such a great time, you guys are the best!
Meet our little fish.
We swim here, we swim there, we swim outside and inside, we swim in big pools and baby pools. Our days right now are revolving around how often we can get to the pool.
Viva la summer.
