Niagara Falls

As usual we've been super busy, but here are some of my favorite pics from our Niagara Falls weekend.

This was one of the first pictures I snapped on that cold, gray Friday morning when we arrived.  The weatherman predictions for that day were wrong (what? how could that be?) so we reversed our schedule and did the inside attractions Friday and saved the outside activities for Saturday, hoping for sunshine and a warmer temp.  When we first walked up the rail at the falls and Helaina took a good look, she yelled out "Oh WOW - cool!!!"  Yes indeed.  She was only 4 the last time she saw the falls and appreciated it more this time around.

She loved the afternoon at the aquarium.  Penguins, tanks filled with all kinds of fish, sharks, turtles, coral, sea lions, seals - just about anything you could imagine.

She liked the sharks that were suspended everywhere at the aquarium, even from the ceiling.

Helaina laughed hysterically at the sea lion show.  They balanced balls on their noses, waved to the crowd, jumped high out of the water, made funny sounds and played with their toys.  Our Discovery Passes also included an Imax movie about the history of the falls.  We thought Helaina would be bored but she loved it.  She learned about Lilewala(?), the girl who legend tells was called the Maid of the Mist.  It also had recreations of the first woman to go over the falls in a barrel and people who accidentally went over the falls and lived.  She was fascinated by it and still talks about it.

Our hotel had a great pool and Helaina couldn't wait to get in it.  Her and Jim took a dip after dinner and we had to drag her out to get her back to the room, showered off and put to bed after a long, exhausting day.

She woke up the next day ready for action.  So stinking cute, our happy little gal.

It was still a little cool early in the morning, but the sun was out and it warmed up quickly.  Riding the trolly to one of our destinations while Helaina studied what we would be doing that day.

Maid of the Mist was first.  No matter how many times I ride that boat it still is an amazing and thrilling experience.  Love it, love it, love it.

Decked out in her blue raingear, ready to get wet.  Half the time she had it off so she could get soaked.

Helaina snapped this picture of us.  You can tell it was on the return trip because my hair is wet from the mist.

Cute pic of Daddy and daughter with the Maid of the Mist in the background.

After lunch at the Fallsview restaurant with an amazing view of the Canadian falls, we finally ended our day with what Helaina had been waiting for - the Cave of the Winds.  This was her first time.  We told her all about it and she was so excited with anticipation that she was just about jumping out of her skin.

We got our special rubber sandals and waited in a very long line for our turn.  Down the elevator, a walk through the long cave-like corridor and we emerged at the start of the walk.  We donned our spiffy yellow raincoat and headed down the rubber-matted walkway.  Absolutely amazing.  With every step and platform you crossed, you got closer and closer to the falls wooshing past you, literally inches away.  No hood on for Helaina, she loved the cold water splashing her in the face and on her feet.

It was a much more wild experience this time than I remember.  Jim and I were in Niagara Falls years ago, way before Helaina joined our family, and I don't remember the walk being this exciting - or wet.

It's totally impressive to be standing just feet away from the water rushing past you - and in many locations inches away from the power of the falls.

Helaina could have stayed at this spot all day.  The freezing cold water came gushing through the bottom of the wooden fence and hit your feet like thousands of icicles.  She laughed and screamed with delight with every splash.  Even with our pants rolled up, we left soaked, totally soaked - thanks mostly to the Hurricane Deck.

We had to drag Helaina away, literally.  She kept wanting to go back through the trail, which we did several times.  Trouble is that she wanted to go back to the Hurricane Deck which was the place where you got POUNDED and the most soaked.  It was also scary because it was so forceful.

Jim took Helaina up to that deck a second time.  It was nuts.  The deck is built so that it's right in front of a portion of the bridal veil falls and the water is thundering down right in front of you.  It hits the deck and the rushing water surrounds your feet and drains right over the edge.  It's loud, windy, scary and I was actually afraid the force would knock Helaina off her feet and push her right through the wooden railings.  I was actually surprised that there wasn't more of a barrier there instead of just wooden railings.  I had her by the arm and wouldn't let go of her on that deck.  Jim didn't want to go back but he did for his adventurous little gal.  That's the 2 of them behind the Hurricane sign waving to me.  It was a fun 2 days.  We'll definately make the trip again in another few years.  Next time I think we'll take Helaina on the Whirlpool Jetboat ride that Jim and I went on years ago.  Now that's a wet, wild and scary adventure all on its own.

Road trip...

Well, can you guess where we went for Memorial Day weekend?

IT WAS WET ...

... AND WILD ...

... AND OH SO IMPRESSIVE ...

... yah, NIAGARA FALLS.  Ou little adreneline junkie loved it.  Lots of wet and wild pics to follow.

 

Happy Anniversary to us

9 years later, yikes.  Did being married to me make Jim's hair turn that gray?!  Guess so.

Yup, today is our 9 year wedding anniversary.  We celebrated with dinner out at Red Lobster with Helaina and Josh.  Helaina LOVES eating out at any restaurant and is a pro at ordering her food and asking the servers for anything she may need.  It's always funny eating out with her because she is so excited by food (not a good thing!), enjoys eating and is constantly thinking ahead to the next course, her next bite, drink or dessert!

Picture taken by Helaina while anxiously waiting for her food.  After she had bisquits and some of my salad, she kept asking "Where's my food?  When is it going to get here?"

Another pic of our thoughtful gal while looking out the restaurant window.  I put her hair in a bun (which she is obsessed with lately) and she wore my amethist necklast to match her purple dress, the earrings I wore when Jim and I got married, and the 2 hairclips I had in my hair on our wedding day.  When I brought them downstairs and surprised her with them she literally gasped.  "Can these be mine?"  Why not.  Everything else is.




Helaina is a parmesan cheese freak.  She loves the stuff and puts it on everything from macaroni to soups.  Helaina didn't get a salad with her kid's meal (I was going to share mine with her) so when ours came there were HUGE slices of parm cheese on them.  I picked one up to show her and said "Wow, Helaina.  Look at the size of the parmesan cheese curls in the salad!"  She smiled and grabbed it out of my hand.  I turned to the waitress and told her that Helaina loved parmesan cheese.  While Helaina was begging for cheese out of all our salads, the waitress came back with a small bowl filled with the parmesan cheese curls and some croutons.  She set it down on the table in front of Helaina and she again gasped, smiled, said thank you and dug in, devouring every single cheese curl in the bowl.  She then devoured her chicken fingers and rice pilaf.  All the while she was eating, she was eyeing what Jim and I had.  We both got the Seafood Bake - scallops, shrimp, mussels and a lobster tail served over linquini in a garlicy wine sauce - totally yummy.  At one point I turned to Jim and said "She's going to ask for some of my linguini any minute - just watch."  Seconds later, "Um Mom, can I have some of your macaroni?"  Sigh, it doesn't pay to sit within arm's reach of Helaina while eating, trust me, your food is fair game for her.  Helaina wasn't even finished with her meal when she asked if we could get dessert!   We ordered 2 desserts - one for Helaina and Josh to split (a chocolate chip cookie filled with warm "liquid lava" chocolate and topped with vanilla ice cream) and one for Jim and I to split (what else for my hubby chocoholic - five layer chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream).  We shouldn't have, we were already full, but it's a special occasion so we splurged - at Helaina's urging!  Happy anniversary to my thoughtful, wonderful hubby.  Hope I can keep turning those hairs gray for many more years to come.

All kinds of busy-ness going on

This little gal sure knows how to play hard!

This afternoon Jim and I were outside doing some yardwork and Helaina was on her playground.  After swinging for about 5 minutes this was the result.  I couldn't stop laughing.  She swung herself right to sleep.  I ran in the house and grabbed the camera so I could snap a pic before she fell off the swing.  We have had a hectic schedule lately - due mostly to her hectic schedule.

Both Dragonslayer plays Helaina was in were great.  She was anxious to get on stage that first night and was at ease quickly.  She sang, she danced, she acted, she hammed it up and she even got a few laughs from the audience.  We just love to see her happy little face on stage.  We have lots of great video from both shows and a few blurry pictures that need some editing.  It's pitch black in the theater and with no flash photography allowed, good pictures are tough.

We went out to brunch on Mother's Day which also happened to be the second production of Dragonslayer.  The show wasn't until 2:00 so we had the morning to kill.  Our table was near this window seat and I couldn't help but think that she was thinking about her performance on stage later in the day.

In the holding area for the kids before they go on stage.  What better way to spend Mother's Day than watching you daughter doing what she loves.

Pretty in pink sitting on stage as a child of the court.

Sitting on stage (again) with her fellow forest creatures - a bunny and a frog.

Yup, asleep on the way home from the play on Mother's Day.  She had her first show last Friday night at 7pm and didn't get to sleep until about 10:00 that night.  We had to wake her up the next morning for an early 8:30am soccer game, followed by the final Dragonslayer performance last Sunday afternoon.  Totally pooped out.  Hey, wait a minute.  Aren't I the one who's supposed to get flowers on Mother's Day?  That's ok.  I got what I wanted - a fondue pot and a gift certificate from a nursery for raspberry bushes.  Mmmmmmm.

Can't have a play without a celebration treat.  Giant chocolate chip cookie decorated with green dragon icing for "Helaina the Dragonslayer".  To say she loved this cookie is a giant understatement.

Soccer has been fun.  She's played a few games already and is having a blast.  It was picture day this past Saturday before the game.  We had to be at the field at 7:45am - 45 minutes before her 8:30 game - on a SATURDAY morning.  It was like trying to wake the dead getting her up on a weekend  morning when she can usually sleep in and catch up from an exhausting week of school.  Jim and I weren't too thrilled about it either.

Helaina also had a birthday party to attend that same afternoon for one of her first grade buddies.  Coincidentally, the boy who was having the party was on the team she played that morning.  The party was at Fun Junction, a laser tag place that Helaina had never been to before.  She loved it.  The kids wear a vest that has flashing lights and "shoot" at them with the giant laser gun.  They play in a dark cave-type castle setting with floor to ceiling hiding places.  Jim and I went into the arena and watched for a while.  Funny stuff.  They also played arcade games, had pizza and cake.  Another exhausting Saturday.

I just love Helaina's sense of style.  Here she's sporting her new Monster High (of course) dress with Monster High skeleton socks and blue "patent leather" shoes.  She couldn't wait to get to the bus stop that morning and show everyone her new dress.  As I've said all along right from the start, Helaina's a tomboy in a princess disguise.

The stage is set, part 1

It's the big Dragonslayer weekend.  Helaina's super excited.  2 shows, 2 characters to play, songs, dances and a lot of fun.

The purple roses are ready for after her performance.

Celebratory ice cream cake decorated in her favorite icing colors with sprinkles.

Costume 1 ready - a child of the court.

Costume 2 ready - a snake in the forest.

She went off to school today in her long skirt and jeweled sandals, sassy and happy as can be (as usual).  It's the fourth play for our little showgal and she's ready more than ready to take the stage.  Good luck to our little Dragonslayer.  It's so exciting!

Nice weather

LOVE THIS LITTLE FACE.

Hello Kitty face courtesy of family fun day at our local YMCA.  Helaina had to wait in line a long time to get this done, but it was worth it.  Adorable.

It's been a beautiful week with temperatures in the 70's.  Helaina is thrilled to finally be wearing shorts to school.  Last Saturday she said "It's hot.  Why can't we open the pool today?"  A bit too early, little one.  We told her she could play with her water table instead and she ran into the house so fast it was unbelievable.  "Can I wear one of my new Monster High bathing suits?  The 2-piece one?"  Sure.  Jim unburied the water table from the shed, found some of her water toys and Helaina filled the table with freezing cold hose water.  Cold water doesn't bother her in the least.

First thing she did was plop her butt into the cold water.  Squeal heard throughout the neighborhood.

Jim and I just watch in disbelief.  Debut of Monster High bathing suit #1.

Wet and wild happiness.

Bathing suit gymnastics.  Helaina's got a sweet cartwheel.  It should be awesome because she cartwheels through the house, the yard, the playground, school, the grocery store (if she can get away with it) - ANYWHERE she can.

She's so proud of herself now that she can do a back walkover and get all the way around.  She'll stand straight up, put her hands in the air over her head and bend backwards down to the ground into a table, then kickes each leg over and stands up.  She's getting better on the uneven parallel bars too.  She's got really strong arms.

Our little gal has a style all her own.  Her "Monster High" outfit, as she calls it.  Monster High shirt, Monster High skirt, Monster High bracelet and Monster High hair clip.  Add in striped monkey kneesocks and purple glitter shoes and voila - ready for the kiddie red carpet.  Helaina's teacher loves some of the outfits she comes up with.  She told me one day that "Miss M said my outfit was wackadoodle!!!" 

A few weekends ago we took Helaina to her first Saturday morning Lowe's workshop.  The project was building a Croods planter, which was right up her alley because we saw the movie The Croods at the mall and it was great.  Take a look at Helaina's expression and her left hand position.  She's like "Dad, stop moving your hands when I swing the hammer!"  Jim learned with the first swing of the hammer that she was not very accurate.  After getting hit several times he was leary after that.  Every time she'd raise the hammer he'd move his hands and the wood pieces would fall.  So this is me:  "Oh for Pete's sake.  Just hold the wood.  Here, let me do it.  How hard can she hit?"  Well, I found out on the first whack because the blood blister she gave me next to my thumb took 2 weeks to go away.

We got through it.  Helaina's hammer wielding improved.

And tah-dah, a Croods planter.  They gave us a packet of tomato seeds and hopefully they will sprout.  It was fun.  She got the red apron to keep and a little Croods planter badge that I ironed onto her apron.  We'll go back for another workshop - hopefully the next one won't involve a hammer.