Summer Vacation #3

Eric and I took our third (and probably final) vacation for the summer.  A good friend of ours got married in western New York over the weekend, so Eric and I decided to make a mini-vacation out of it.  We left Friday morning and took the northern route through Canada to Niagara Falls.  It was our first time seeing Niagara Falls and it is definitely an impressive sight.

Welcome to Canada!



Pretty golden fields were everywhere in Ontario



Niagara Falls, Canada

Getting wet from the falls!

White water rapids - most dangerous level - deemed impassable

Gum wall - pretty gross, but kind of interesting

Niagara Falls, USA

Maid of the Mist boat gets you extremely close to the falls - very windy, loud and wet!

Lots of rainbows caused by the mist - so much mist it's hard to see the actual falls

Crossing the bridge from Canada to USA - we stopped right on the line.

After spending the afternoon in Niagara, we headed south to Jamestown, NY to meet everyone for the wedding.  We spent some of Saturday before the wedding touring the area and driving through Amish country.  It's a beautiful area with rolling hills and lots of trees...not what I expected.

The guys - Scott, Cap, Eric and Armin

We had a great time, but are definitely happy to be home...and to not have any plans to travel anywhere for the rest of the summer! :-)

Summer Vacations

While winter seemed to drag on forever, spring flew by and summer is moving just as fast.  Mainly because Eric and I have been busy vacationing. :-)

Our first summer vacation was a long weekend in North Carolina as a surprise to his dad on father's day.  We had a great time visiting Eric's family.  The weather was pretty hot (especially now that we've grown accustomed to Michigan's milder temperatures), so much of our visit was spent indoors.  We did get to go with Anna and Abbie to their summer bible school family day where they had a blast playing on the inflatable slides and obstacle courses.

Abbie on the big slide

Anna flying down the slide

Abbie & Anna

Vacation #2 was a trip to Iowa to visit my family.  We had a great time and crammed a lot into just a few days.  Eric and my dad rode in the University of Okoboji Campus Bike Ride around the lake.  The weather wasn't the best (cold, windy and rainy), so Mom and I decided to pass, but the guys had a good time - instead, Mom and I went with Juli and the kids to taco house for lunch...yummy!  We managed to eat at the Taco House 3 times in the 5 days were were home. 

We spent a lot of time with Addison and Colton - Colton has finally warmed up to us, so it was fun finally being able to play with him.  We took the kids to the amusement park with my parents - Eric rode with Addi on the Spider ride and I rode with her on the Carousel (glad I had the slower ride - the Spider was spinning around pretty fast).  We got a great view of the lake from the Tipsy House and enjoyed a nutty bar and frosty root beer...yum! 

One thing we didn't get to do while we were home was to go for a boat ride around the lake.  They've had so much rain this spring and summer, that the lake is too high to get the boat out of the canal - we made one attempt with the whole family and the boat's windshield was still about 6" above the bridge.

Colton - Aunt Brooke - Addison

One of Colton's many expressions.



Uncle Eric & Addi on the Spider

 

Addi  and Aunt Brooke on the Carousel

View of the lake and Queen 2 from the Tipsy House

Eric - Dad - Colton in the Tipsy House

Colton & Addi riding the dragon

Addi at her T-ball game