Day four

Greetings from Victor, NY, a little south of Rochester.  We awoke this morning in West Seneca, right outside Buffalo, NY.  Without too much of an agenda for the day, we enjoyed the continental breakfast and indoor pool.  We researched some options for the day, and we were able to call ahead and reserve spots on an Erie Canal boat ride.  The drive was only about an hour, although not wanting to cut it too close, we ate lunch in the car.  Literally.  I climbed around and was able to make some peanut butter and honeys along with some dried apples.  We arrived at noonish and boarded shortly thereafter.  The tour was about two hours.  We went up two different locks.  Pretty cool!  The gate opens, the boat drives in, and it fills up slowly like a bathtub taking you up to the next lock.  We went through locks #34 and 35.  It rained on us shortly after the tour began.  But luckily we were planning for that, and we had saved and dried out the ponchos from the Maid of the Mist.  Life was good and most everyone else headed downstairs leaving us prime seats in the upper deck, first row.  We went back down the locks and also under two lift bridges.  Unlike draw bridges, the entire bridge goes straight up.  We also went past some old houses and churches made from "freestone."  As they were digging the canal, literally out of nothing, there was tons of rocks and debris and people could come and take as much as they wanted for building. There was nothing where the canal was, they had to dig the entire thing out, all by hand.  We thought it was hard planting Lelands and building a fence in rock, imagine an entire canal.  Despite the weather, I think the kids enjoyed it, although the whines did start to creep in at the end, two hours might have been just a few minutes too long for them.  However, tonight at dinner, Ryan did tell us he liked the locks better then Niagara and that the locks and COSI have been his favorite things so far.  He's got that science-y, engineer brain :).

After the locks and a stop at the gift store for a magnet (the locks were a success and deemed magnet-worthy; Coleson didn't want to buy the magnet beforehand in case we didn't like the tour!), we started off towards Rochester.  We came a little north to see the scenic route and avoid tolls, so it was a nice drive.  And we even found a McDonald's for my coffee fix and yet another bathroom break for the kids.  We arrived at our Rochester hotel about 4pm.  Unfortunately, this was the cheapest hotel and without a pool.  We had thought we'd be doing Niagara today and thus not arriving until after the illumination.  Without much to do at the hotel and with the rain, we headed to the local mall.  We parked and had to stay in the car and wait out the storm though.  There were crazy winds, I put the parking brake on because even in park the car felt like it moved.  Rain was blowing sideways.  It didn't last long though and we were able to dash inside.  We walked for a bit and let the kids throw pennies in a fountain (can we say distraction?!?  They had spotted the food court carousel).  Of course Chloe the copycat wanted to throw a penny, and you know what? She did it!  Sure it wasn't a straight shot and it bounced its way in, but we were all surprised to see it splash in the water, go Chlo-Chlo! Nothing in the mall appealed to us for dinner, so we went to UNO Grill just down the road.  It was quite tasty and we happened to stumble in on kids eat free night, score!  Ryan and Abby loved making their own pizzas.  After assembling them, we wrote their names on popsicle sticks and stuck them in the pizzas and they cooked them for us.  It was a fun meal.  The place was hopping.  Apparently they are celebrating their grand re-opening and they were the only restaurant around that hadn't lost power in the crazy storm.  This was when Ryan said his favorite parts of the trip were the locks and the COSI museum.  Abby liked Niagara Falls the best.  Chloe had no comment, although she did manage to get pizza sauce on her forehead and in her ponytail.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for bed.  After two late nights in a row- the Clippers game and Niagara Falls- it was nice to get the kids to bed on time.  Hopefully some good sleep will cure the whines and fits that have been creeping in.  Although all things considered, it hasn't been that bad, we've got pretty good kids in my humble opinion.  Thanks to my awesome hubby for taking the stay-in-the-room-in-the-dark-without-making-noise-so-the-kids-can-sleep shift tonight.  I enjoyed an amazing run!  It we seriously one of the best runs I've ever done, it felt so good.  I am not sure what happened, but all of a sudden I actually enjoy running.  Weird.  So anyways, I think I got all of today's highlights.  Tomorrow we see Great- Grandma!!!

PS fun fact : auto correct tried turning "roadtripping" into "roast ripping."  Not sure that I am a big fan of auto correct.

My Little Man

Ryan seems to have inherited his Mommy's fearlessness of heights.  It's a little nerve-racking being on the parenting end of this, especially for Ryan's Daddy.  Ryan never attempted anything silly or dangerous, but he did walk right up to the edge of everything and loved looking straight down.  Poor Daddy.  

Day three

What a great day, but oh boy am I tired!  We started our morning with the hotel continental breakfast in Columbus.  We left town pretty quickly, a few minutes before nine.  I was excited about driving near the Great Lakes and had hoped for a nice picnic spot.  Coleson didn't disappoint, he navigated us to the perfect place!!  We pulled off at a small town called Geneva-on-the-Lake, still in Ohio.  It was pretty much exactly what I had pictured in my head that a small town on the Great Lakes should look like.  We stopped at a park right on Lake Erie, and knowing our time was limited, we left the food and went walking instead.  We walked down a boardwalk right to the lake.  It was windy and choppy and I climbed the rail to stick my feet in :). The views were awesome.  The kids played on the playground for a bit.  I went ahead and put together our sandwiches and lunches, and we ate in the car after we left.  Way more fun to hang out by the lake then eat!  Ryan and Daddy played some catch with the squishy baseball they caught at the game last night.

The weather was decently stormy most of our drive through PA and NY.  We were following 90, basically around the curve of Lake Erie and the storms were staying with us.  We checked the weather and radars as much as we could with minimal cell signal and changed up our plans a couple of times.  It ended up that we went straight to Niagara Falls.  What a place!  We stayed on the American side.  We got our bearings and then started off with the Maid of the Mist boat ride.  Amazing!!  Wow.  It was so surreal being in the Horseshoe Falls with huge walls of water all around and the mist was so thick it felt like pouring rain.  Loved it, I had no idea it would be that cool.  And yep, we got super spiffy blue ponchos.  After the ride there was a short boardwalk that we started to walk up, but it was wet and the kids were not interested, guess it was best we didn't try for the Cave tour behind the falls!  Just like Disney, the Maid of the Mist dumped us out in a gift shop where we got our customary magnet and we splurged on tshirts for the kiddos, we're pretty awesome parents :)

After the boat ride, we got some dinner.  We ended up just outside the park at some crazy, touristy food court.  It was expensive junk food, but it served its purpose well enough.  We wandered some more, checking out as many scenic views and taking as many pictures as I could get my family to agree to.  Thanks for being good sports and humoring Mommy!  Such a pretty place.  We walked the pedestrian bridge to Goat Island and saw the falls from the top.  We saw lots and lots of birds, which is always exciting to the kids.  We hopped on the Trolley for a bit and hopped back off to walk out onto the Three Sisters Islands.  We then rode the Trolley back to the main visitor area where we headed out the observation tower to await the 9:00 lighting of the falls.  After a day full of tourists and feeling out of place as Americans, we enjoyed chatting with a family from Indiana while we waited on darkness.  Unfortunately, it has to be really, really dark to see the illumination.  We stayed til about 9:30 and it was pretty cool.  I got a couple good pictures and we were worn out and ready to move on.  Our drive to tonight's hotel was only about 30 minutes, although it did start storming on our way and getting our stuff and three kids inside in the rain wasn't overly ideal, but we managed just fine.  We've really been blessed with good weather, lots of rain and storms around but we haven't been caught out in it.  Hopefully that will continue tomorrow, they are calling or some serious thunderstorms, glad we had a nice window of good weather today for Niagara.  And now here we are tucked away in our hotel in West Seneca/ Buffalo NY.  It was 10:30 by the time the Big Two were asleep and well after 11 for dear Chloe, who happens to be asleep on me as I write this.  Here's hoping she'll stay asleep when I try to put her in the pack and play.  And here's hoping everyone Sleeps In Crazy Late tomorrow morning!!  We don't need an early start tomorrow and we are thinking indoor pool.  Nighty night.

Day two

This morning we woke up to a continental breakfast followed by a swim in the indoor pool, always great fun.

Our first adventure of the morning was to the Ohio State University campus.  We parked at the stadium and wandered for an hour.  It rained on us for just a couple minutes when we first got out of the car.  We hid out in a covered bus stop which was kinda cool I suppose.  Fortunately the rain passed quickly.  We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful brick buildings and pretty grass fields.  The kids "climbed" a few trees, and Mommy made them pose for some photo ops.  We had fun in the math major area; there were big statues of numbers and we took pictures of the kids by their age.  Hopefully the pictures are cute and Chloe's 2nd birthday pictures will include photos of her with a huge #2, how cool would that be.  We drove to the other side of campus and ate lunch at Potbelly's.  It looked like an awesome little local sandwich place, however we realized once inside that we've eaten at one in DC.  So much for trying to be different.  But it was super yummy and still really cool and we can't get it at home, so it worked out very well.

After lunch we drove to the arena/ Scioto river area.  The views of the city and bridges were great, unfortunately the river is being reconstructed so it didn't look all that nice.  But it'll be great when it's all done in a couple years, lots of paths and green areas and whatnot.  We walked for awhile before venturing into COSI, the Center of Science and Industry.  The kids seemed to really like it.  There was a ton to do.  Highlights included the water play area within the kids' area.  Chloe was so cute squealing as she put balls on this waterside thingy over and over again.  We also saw an Oceans area with a submarine and a Gadgets area where we could shoot balls out of a huge funnel.  And there was a heartbeat drum that was really cool.  You hold the handles and it detects your heartbeat and beats a drum to your rhythm.  When we came out it was raining, but again it passed within minutes and we were able to continue on.

After COSI, we walked to the Columbus Clippers baseball game.  They are the triple A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians and they were playing the Pawtucket Red Sox.  We sat in the bleachers in left center.  It was still overcast, which was great, otherwise we would have been looking right into the setting sun.  Dinner was nachos and pretzels, nutrious?!  And to top it off we had dippin' dots too :). Coleson caught a plush ball from one of the promo things between innings, way to go Daddy!  We left at the beginning of the 7th inning and Columbus was leading.  I had hoped to make it through the whole game so the kids could run the bases.  But as it was, we left at 8:30 and even though it was a good one, it was a long day!

Fortunately the kids went to bed a little better tonight then last night.  Tomorrow we drive up to NY!

Summer 2014 road trip, day one!

In hopes of avoiding the seemingly inevitable cold and illnesses and limited daylight hours and traveling on thanksgiving, we decided to move our annual road trip from November to July this year. Also, Great- Grandma was sick recently and is still recovering in a rehab center; we are eager to see her!  We've spiced up the trip this time, and we are swinging way west of our normal route.  It's not that much longer in terms of drive time and seeing some new sights is exciting.

We left this morning at about 9am.  We took 75N- it was all three kids' first time in KY and Ohio.  We stopped at the Kentucky welcome center for a picnic lunch (egg salad, of course! at least for the adults).  We enjoyed a fun dinner at Skylines Chili.  It's a local chain based out of Cincinnati.  Yumm!  Coleson had a bowl of chili and I had a 3-way : spaghetti noodles, chili, and shredded cheese.  It was nice to eat somewhere different and unique.  We even bought a few cans of chili for some special dinners back home.  The kids all ordered hotdogs, despite us trying very hard to talk Ryan into chili.  We reminded him that he loves chili, chili is what this place is famous for, and that you can get hotdogs anywhere.  But he wanted hotdogs and what do ya know?  We were right!  After trying our chili he really wanted his own.  Sorry Buddy!  But we'll have some fun chili nights back home.  We also treated ourselves to funnel cake fries for dessert.

We are staying in a hotel in Columbus Ohio tonight, as well as tomorrow night.  We will have all day to explore without any big drives and no packing, hooray!  My first impressions were great.  It is July though!  Everything is lush and green and there's a nice river and old buildings, what more could you want in a city?!?  Looking forward to getting out and wandering around in the morning.  And yes, we have breakfast and an indoor pool so the kids are thrilled.

Hopefully I can update regularly with my fancy new smartphone :). Plus with all five of us in a hotel room, there's not much else to do at night.  No lights or noise or tv after bedtime.  In fact, I am writing this with my right thumb while lying on the bed with my left arm on Chloe.  Hopefully the excitement will wane and it won't take an hour on future nights to get them to sleep!

Bowser

It took awhile but I finally figured what Abby means by the "Bowser song."  It's a song by the Florida Georgia Line called This is For my People Back Home.  There's a line that says "we're always thinking about you," however Abby sings it "we're always thinking of Bowser."  I've tried to suggest the correct version, but of course Abby doesn't want to hear it :)  Mystery solved, point Mommy!

planes, birds, and kite surfers

Chloe loves anything in the sky.  She goes crazy for airplanes and helicopters.  She'll hear them, point up, look around, point to her ear, point up again.  She gets so excited when she spots them and she'll watch them until they are out of sight.  She is pretty fond of birds too.  As we discovered on our beach trips, just about anything in the sky is cool.  She'll point to parasailers and kite surfers and anything else that flies by.  Love it! 

 

seagulls

Last week, Coleson had meetings in Nashville so the kids and I drove to Tampa to see Aunt Lolly and Uncle Brian.  Among other things, the Big Two did a word puzzle that announced Aunt Lolly's pregnancy!  Hooray for another cousin!! 

Other notable memories: 
*Abby, upon spotting a bunch of seagulls at the beach, "Chickens!!!!!"
*Whilst eating lunch at a beachside restaurant, a brave and obnoxious seagull swooped by and grabbed a chicken finger right off Abby's plate!  They proceeded to fight over it in mid-air.  The seagulls and pigeons were waayy too unafraid of people.  :)

Peppin and Joy

We have some crazy conversations around here.  To the best of my ability, here's the recreated version of our chat in the car this morning:

Abby is singing "peppin and joy" over and over in the backseat.  It sounds like it could be to the tune of "heaven and nature" so I ask her if that's what she means.  Ryan and I start singing "heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing."  Abby says with certainty that is not the song she is singing.  She is singing "peppin and joy."  Ryan asks her if she means "heaven and joy."  Abby is still adamant "PEPPIN and joy."  Ryan tells her that's not a real song.  They banter back and forth.  A minute or two later, Abby takes the conversation for a left turn and says "oh Heaven and Taylor in the morning?!"  We try to explain that it's Kevin, but it does rhyme with Heaven.  By now I'm feeling a little looney trying to keep up with what's going on.  Fortunately, Ryan and Abby start bickering over a water bottle and the craziness is over and my brain can rest for a quick moment.  But never for long.  We are pretty silly around here!

[If you don't know, Kevin and Taylor are the morning show hosts on the local radio station.]

Love

Last night I was driving the kids home from Jacksonville.  I stopped for gas and I passed a random, small, sketchy gas station.  I kept going and Ryan asked why.  I told him I liked the other gas station better - it's bigger, brighter, safer.  As we pulled up to the pump, he read the sign : Love's. 
"Oh, I know why you like this one.  It makes you think of Daddy!" 
:) :)