Our vacation part 2 - Hamilton/Niagara Falls
We said our goodbyes in Toronto Friday morning and headed down to Hamilton to visit our friends Dustin and Jolene. Dustin and Jolene were our across-the-hall neighbors when we lived in Caronport, and now Dustin is working on his Doctorate at McMaster University. We hadn't seen them for about four years, since Gavin was just over a year and their son Nate was seven weeks old! The boys are now five and four, and we have five children between us!
We found our way to their house quite easily, and once we figured out where to park (they have some complicated system where on odd days with full moons and more than seven clouds in the sky you park on one side of the street, and then on even days with...I don't know, it confused us anyway!) we headed in.
We had a wonderful day together - the guys took Gavin and Nate to the park while the girls were napping, and we were going to join them later...but discovered Abby had used her dirty diaper to make a very big mess in their playpen before she fell asleep! We scrubbed and rinsed both Abby and the playpen, and finally headed out to the park, only to meet the guys already on their way home. We had a nice dinner together and then we headed down to Niagara Falls.
After checking into our hotel, we got everyone dressed in warmer clothes and went down to find a good spot to watch the fireworks from. Gavin had been talking about these fireworks for months, so he was pretty excited! The kids both were really impressed by them, and once some of the crowd cleared we went back to our hotel with two very tired kids (Rachel had slept through the fireworks in the sling).
Saturday morning Dustin and Jolene and their kids met us at our hotel and we spent the day together in Niagara. We did the Maid of the Mist boat ride, which was a great success even though a couple of us had to go to the washroom before we even got on the boat (we had assumed there would be a lobby-area inside to take care of these things, but once you pay for your ticket, it's just a big long line down the hill and into the elevators and onto the boat). Rachel was due to be fed as well, but thankfully she again was happily sleeping in the sling and didn't wake up until we were off the boat. We did remember to ring a waterproof camera on the Maid of the Mist, so we will have some pictures of that once we pick them up.
Like any touristy place, it seems to take a long time to get things done in Niagara (and I'm sure having five little kids with us didn't help!) so we had something to eat, visited the Hershey and Coca-Cola stores, and then somehow it was almost time to go already! We said goodbye after a wonderful couple of days filled with laughter - we had almost forgotten how much fun we have together!
Next...Part 3 - New York!
Dustin and Jolene and us
We found our way to their house quite easily, and once we figured out where to park (they have some complicated system where on odd days with full moons and more than seven clouds in the sky you park on one side of the street, and then on even days with...I don't know, it confused us anyway!) we headed in.
We had a wonderful day together - the guys took Gavin and Nate to the park while the girls were napping, and we were going to join them later...but discovered Abby had used her dirty diaper to make a very big mess in their playpen before she fell asleep! We scrubbed and rinsed both Abby and the playpen, and finally headed out to the park, only to meet the guys already on their way home. We had a nice dinner together and then we headed down to Niagara Falls.
After checking into our hotel, we got everyone dressed in warmer clothes and went down to find a good spot to watch the fireworks from. Gavin had been talking about these fireworks for months, so he was pretty excited! The kids both were really impressed by them, and once some of the crowd cleared we went back to our hotel with two very tired kids (Rachel had slept through the fireworks in the sling).
Saturday morning Dustin and Jolene and their kids met us at our hotel and we spent the day together in Niagara. We did the Maid of the Mist boat ride, which was a great success even though a couple of us had to go to the washroom before we even got on the boat (we had assumed there would be a lobby-area inside to take care of these things, but once you pay for your ticket, it's just a big long line down the hill and into the elevators and onto the boat). Rachel was due to be fed as well, but thankfully she again was happily sleeping in the sling and didn't wake up until we were off the boat. We did remember to ring a waterproof camera on the Maid of the Mist, so we will have some pictures of that once we pick them up.
Like any touristy place, it seems to take a long time to get things done in Niagara (and I'm sure having five little kids with us didn't help!) so we had something to eat, visited the Hershey and Coca-Cola stores, and then somehow it was almost time to go already! We said goodbye after a wonderful couple of days filled with laughter - we had almost forgotten how much fun we have together!
Next...Part 3 - New York!
Nate and Gavin playing - they did really well together!
Getting ready for the fireworks
Niagara Falls at night - I would have loved to have tried more night photography there, but I didn't have my tripod and my hands were needed to watch children!
Our family at the Falls (Rachel's in the sling, of course - I had a lovely one-sided tan from carrying her all day)!
Dustin and Jolene and usThe rest of the Hamilton/Niagara pictures are at: http://fclark.smugmug.com/gallery/3386168#189169955
brought to you by Greg and Farrell Clark at 9:52 AM
1 Comments:
Very nice pictures. Your family always seems to be smiling and happy so you must have had a great time.
Post a Comment
<< Home