Niagara - the Canadian perspective

Katelynn told me more than once that today was the best day of her life. WOW! What high praise. I'm still grinning as I remember walking back to the car with her, the sun had set, our bellies were full, the Falls were lit up in pinks, oranges and purples, and roar of the water soothed my frazzled auditory nerves, and the cool mist from the Falls floated through the air, chilling our faces and hands. Hmmmm. I wish I could bottle this memory to pull out when times get tough.

The morning began like most mornings in the trailer - me in bed, with 6 of my favorite beings surrounding me. Eli and Abbey had taken up the bottom two thirds of the bed. The 4 girls and I were relegated to the top third. The phrase "dog pile" has taken on new meaning lately. :) We all took our time getting up and moving, we indulged in a Krusteaz Crumb Cake for breakfast. Emily chanted "We're eating CAKE for breakfast, a cake made of crumbs." Dishes were washed, coffee was spilled, mud was washed off of a few kids, a Diet Pepsi was spilled. (Yes, it was a conspiracy this morning, I was NOT allowed to ingest any caffeine.)

We eventually wandered down to the laundry room/arcade to finish up the laundry began the night before - and to start a new load full of muddy clothes from their morning "adventures". The girls enjoyed spending their hard earned allowances on air hockey, bubble gum, and a few video games while I folded the never ending pile of clean clothes. We inhaled a fast lunch and packed up the truck for our first international stop on this trip.

Passing customs into Canada was very simple, I decided to play it safe and not joke about diaper "bombs" or any other such "no-no" key phrases. However, actually getting to where we wanted to go in Canada was not so simple. I ended up turned around - and almost had to head back into the USA - because my GPS said there was a road where there was no road. After paying a road toll twice in the span of about 10 minutes, we eventually got going in the right direction. As Scott and I text messaged back and forth later in the day, he commented that this was the first time the entire Stringer Zoo had been out of the country at the same time.

Our first official stop of the day was to the Butterfly Conservatory. The girls had watched a Dora episode last night where Dora and Boots went to a Butterfly Garden, so during the entire drive from campsite to conservatory we were all chanting "Where are we going? Butterfly Garden". What nuts we are!

The butterflies were stunning. The "Bigs" and I snapped picture after picture, while Hailey giggled from on top of my back, and Beth cringed down by my waist. (Beth is horribly afraid of anything resembling a bug, even these brilliantly colored insects.) We were all in awe of the way these delicate creatures floated around, chasing each other through the sun and shade. Our favorite one was a blue butterfly that when closed was brown with spots that looked like eyes.

The girls were so good!! They stuck by my side, never ran, stayed quiet and were hands down the most well behaved children in the conservatory. We passed many children that were screaming, running away from their parents. I took a moment to praise the girls and to reward them with a trinket from the gift shop.

Next we drove along the cliffs toward the falls. We jockeyed for parking with all the other tourists and natives - it was a Sunday afternoon. Then we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and... I wish I had a pedometer on, I'd love to know how far we went. We walked along the falls, up a hill into town, in town for a while (looking for the Hershey store). The "Bigs" were excellent walkers, never complaining, just wondering aloud if Mommy would ever head in the right direction. :)

Eventually we found our way to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. The girls were suitably impressed with the decor and our volcano dessert. Scott tried valiantly to reach me by phone, but the cell signal was just too weak.

After eating our fill, we ambled down the street to the Hershey store. (Hmm, I'm sensing a theme.) The girls ran around drooling at all the chocolate, I was on a hunt for fondue chocolate. I found it!!! I picked up 13 boxes (no, not all of them are for me). We also picked up a few snacks for the drive to Michigan, and once again we headed toward the falls.

It was dark now, and the falls were lit up with strong lights from the Canadian side. I didn't think that the colors changed, but as I look through my pictures from the night, I can see that they did range from pink to orange, and even to purple at one point. It was striking, but we all agreed that we liked the view during the day even better.

It took us a while to walk all the way back to our truck, but there were no complaints. We enjoyed the sights and just being together. What an awesome way to end our trek at the Niagara Falls.