Old Fort Erie and Fireworks

Sunday was Granddaddy's birthday, so in between church services he got to choose what to do that day. He decided he wanted to check out Old Fort Erie a few miles up the river. In reality it was a little more than a few miles (try an hour) but our way there took us on the scenic tour of the homes along the river. It was a pleasant trip ogling and awing over the magnificent properties and houses. We finally arrived just with enough time to take a stroll around the fort. Old Fort Erie was originally built by the British, had been unoccupied several times and in the War of 1812 was captured by the American forces in the summer of 1814, and after using is as a base of operations destroyed it later that year. It is celebrating the 200 year anniversary of the War of 1812 next year, so the museum has been modernized and become interactive (very nicely done by the way) and the outlying fort has "real" people dressed in the attire of the day out there to answer questions. Kyler's goal was to have his picture taken with as many canons as he could. It was quick and we wished we had had more time to check out all they had to offer.That night after church, the kids decked out in their new Canada t-shirts, we walked back down to The Falls to do some final souvenir shopping and to sample a dish we had been seeing all over Canada. It was called poutine. At first glance it's picture looks like a dessert, but it is french fries covered in brown gravy and cheese curds. It actually tasted pretty good and reminded us of a loaded up baked potato. We were also able to view the fireworks show they have every Friday and Sunday. These treats were worth the walk back up the hill to the hotel!

Another Niagara Day

We actually did not get to see all that Niagara had to offer that first day, so Saturday was devoted to that very task. We had one more thing to do on our adventure pass so we took the people mover down to the White Water Walk. You travel down an old elevator, and through a tunnel, to a platform and walkway right near the water. At the base of Niagara Falls is a deep pool almost as tall as the falls themselves, but not a mile down the river it gets really rocky and shallow. Therefore the river turns into a "class 6" section of rapids. That is the highest classification available and no one is allowed on this portion of the river. The water was moving sooo fast - just check out all of the "white water."

We had promised Kyler that we could take a ride on the huge Ferris wheel we could see from our hotel, so this day seemed the perfect opportunity. The Skywheel was ginormous! We took a few spins around and saw views of both of the falls. We also spied one of the bridges back into the United States and though it might be fun to return "home" for a little bit.This bridge has two lanes each way for cars and also a pedestrian walkway. We always carried our passports, so off we went. We paid a toll to get across (50 cents each!) and made our way. We walked down to the edge of the American side of the Falls to get another view. It was fantastic! We only stayed about a half an hour, but it was nice to see the view from a different perspective. We even took our picture at the "border" between the two countries on the bridge. It didn't seem that far when we were walking there, but the way back was v-e-r-y long. It was a very warm day and the twins had just about had it with all of our fast paced, go-go-go vacationing. They refused to walk and by the time we had walked back both of them had fallen asleep on top of our shoulders. I was just about spent from it all, but it did bring a smile to the rather serious (and kinds scary) border agent who was checking our passports to get back into Canada. For dinner that night we had made reservation to eat at the Skylon tower which offers a revolving room and excellent "fine" dining. The view of both portions of the falls and the surrounding areas were the best of the whole trip. Konner and Kassidy enjoyed a drink for just the two of them and we all had a fantastic dinner!We had yet to take advantage of the pool the hotel had so after dinner we thought it a fun idea to go have a relaxing dip. Only thing was the pool was not heated - at all. I swear it felt like they had pumped the water straight over from the falls. We only lasted about 20 minutes before Konner was shivering and turning blue so needless to say it was our only trip there. We had a little rest and ten headed back out to take another look at the falls at night and enjoy our second dessert for the evening!

Toronto Zoo

We arrived at the Toronto Zoo right at lunch time (we had planned on earlier, but there was more traffic again - yuck!). After grabbing a bite to eat we planned out what we wanted to see of this great big zoo. We definitely did not get to see it all (there was one hill we were just refused to walk down and back up again), but boy did we see a lot. Kyler's favorite was the spider monkeys and Kassidy and I, the giraffe and South American penguins. Konner loved the polar bear (the real one and the one on top of our refillable soda bottle!). We walked and walked and endured one of the hottest days of our stay there.We rented a double stroller for the Kass and Konman - best purchase of the day! It made our lives so much less cranky and all three kids took advantage of the free ride towards the end of the day.Here are just a few snapshots of all the animals and creatures we got to see that day.One of the funniest things Kyler wanted to do is have his picture taken with each and every statue he could find in the park. It was quite a task and sometimes Kassidy and Konner joined in the fun too. Here are some of my favorite ones.Here we are at the end of the day, we had tired feet, tired kids, and tried our best to get outta there to beet the road construction we got trapped by the night before (which by the way we succeeded - yes!).

Ontario Science Centre & CN Tower

Thursday was scheduled to be one of our days in Toronto. We decided to visit two places that day - it made it quite a long day and even though the day before we were traipsing all around The Falls, we were up to the task. Our first stop was the Ontario Science Centre. It is a huge place with lots of things for people of all ages to do. I can't even mention (or even remember) all we saw and did, I would be here forever, so here are some pictures of some of our favorite activities there.The kids got to send billiard balls down ramps and loops and all sorts of mechanisms creating music as they went.Here they are checking out the different spectrum and colors of light.Here was one of our favorite spots - a keyboard programmed with sounds from the human body. It was quite entertaining and just thinking about it now is making me giggle!A grocery store to "shop" in just like mommy and daddy. A ramp of water you could dam up or guide and then race boats down (my favorite spot!).Kyler made this bridge.Konner played a song on the steel drums.Jason took a spin with gyroscope.



The kids got their grove on in the "music studio" while Jason ran the lights and sound. We checked out the featured exhibit on snakes and other reptiles.We spent over four hours there and could have spent another 2 days checking everything out, but we needed to fins a place for dinner and check out the next place on our trip - the CN Tower.The tallest tower in the world lets visitors go to a viewing area of two levels. You can check out the 360 degree views of Toronto and the surrounding areas from one floor and then learn of the history and stand on their famous glass floor and the other level. You can also pay extra to be taken even further up the tower but we decided this was high enough for us.

How far you can see from the tower is simply unbelievable! Jason and the kids especially loved watching a near by small airport. I thought the view at dusk and later was just beautiful with all the city lights coming out. Most of us felt "up" to the challenge (sorry, I just had to!) of standing on the glass floor and looking down to the ground below. The babies had no fear and were often seen lying on the glass making "glass angels." For Granddaddy and Kyler, they very much preferred to keep themselves on the solid ground. (Kyler, on a second trip to the floor that night, did make it to the glass floor, but only for a few moments!)

The CN tower is also famous for it's spectacular lighting at night. Here is a bit of red and white for Canada that I was able to capture.

We had another day FULL of walking and things to do. It was a great time. The drive home however was not so fun that night. We ran into some traffic that made it feel a little too much like home for us and what should have been an hour and a half trip back to Niagara took us twice as long! They were (of course) doing construction in which the freeway went from four lanes down to one three times on our trip home. (Needless to say the next night we made sure we left early enough to beat the road closures!)