Niagara Falls

We went to Niagara Falls for a wonderful day of fun, family and frolicing. I absolutely love this place! Grandma and Grandpa Bowers (my parents), Uncle Micah, Aunt Holly, Isaac and Eli joined us for this wonderful adventure.

















When we arrived, we had a picnic beside the Three Sisters Islands. After being refreshed with lots of nutricious picnic yummies, we walked over to the islands to explore.


Goat Island and the Three Sisters Islands are great to climb all over. Josiah said his favorite part of the day was climbing down and under the first bridge and coming up the other side to surprise Grandma and Aunt Holly.





The furthest island out is very rocky and the water is fast so make sure not to slip off the rocks! Josiah and Nathan both loved climbing on and through all the rocks. I loved getting to the end of the trails to see the awesome views of Niagara River.

Noah stayed awake for awhile but just couldn't keep his eyes open when we started strolling down the path to see the Horseshoe Falls and the Bridal Falls.


Peek-a-boo!

Nathan didn't want to wait to have his picture taken. He wanted out of this tree. Grandpa was assisting him.

One last picture before we head to the car. This is Josiah sitting with Nikolas.

After seeing all the Falls and walking the trail beside the river, we had another picnic since there was an abundance of food.

Josiah and I would have loved going back to the islands for more exploring but ..... it was time to go home. It was a great way to end a great week.

He's mobile!

What is this green stuff??

Noah has been rolling around for awhile.

Then he started pulling himself forward.

This week he has begun crawling!

What's that?

I don't cry over spilt milk.

Do that flashy thing again!

Family vacation

Before the beginning of school, we were able to have a week-long family vacation. (I've heard the term "stay-cation.") John and I planned a few local outings. We live in a wonderful city with lots of local attractions.
Our first Saturday off, we headed to Pittsburgh to visit Aunt Angie before her big move to California. It was a long car ride for the boys but they did very well. We visited with Angie until she needed to leave for work then we headed to the Pittsburgh Zoo.

I'm ready. Show me the animals.There's a zebra up there somewhere...

We love going to the Erie zoo. When we were planning the trip to Pittsburgh, I really wanted to be able to check out the zoo in Pittsburgh. They have several elephants which are the main attraction to me. Josiah wanted to see sharks in the Aquarium. When we arrived in the afternoon, there wasn't a lot of time for us to see everything. (Strollers come in handy for speeding up trips.) We zoomed through the zoo seeking out the animals that are not at our local zoo. Our main focus was to find the elephants and sharks. Nathan really enjoyed seeing the Kodiak bear. He also pointed out the "mingos." That's flamingos in toddlerese. The elephant exhibit had two baby elephants! They were so cute.
checking out the elephantsthis is one big baby
oooo .... a swimming sea lion

Sea lions make a funny noise

polar bear

Josiah is in the polar bear trap

The Aquarium was wonderful - full of all sorts of water life: coral, fish, penguins, jellyfish and finally SHARKS.

pretty stuff One of the many sharks
Yep, it was a good trip. The ride home...... well, let's just say we were very tempted to speed.

Get me outta here!

Josiah's such a ham

I see you So sleepy....

Sunday, we went to church and spent the afternoon with family.
The Buffalo farm was on the agenda for Monday. We were told that the buffalo were in the back pastures. We kinda caused a buffalo stampede. I think they weren't used to strollers. When we headed back, the buffalo ran ahead of our little family to one of the front pastures. Oops. After leaving the farm, we stopped to visit some good friends of ours then headed home again.

These are NOT the spooked buffalo.

The next day, Josiah was the only one to go out. He enjoyed a fun day with Marcie at the Crawford County Fair. He told me that he saw a lot of animals and that he rode the Fair Wheel.
Of course, we had to see our own zoo. We visited with cousins. We played at the beach. We had a great time as we balanced keeping the boys rested and well as making memories. We topped it all off with a trip to Niagara Falls. That trip needs its own post.

Oh No!

Saturday evening John was going to get all the boys in bed so that I could rest a bit. (What a nice guy.) It wasn't long before I heard my name yelled from downstairs.
While John was giving Noah his bottle, Josiah and Nathan were climbing on the back of the couch looking out the window. Everyone was happy until Nathan fell head first to the floor. Thank God he didn't hit the coffee table.
Nathan was crying. Noah was hungry. John was trying to calm Nathan, get me and get some ice. Josiah went to his room and got out his ice pack bag - what a helper. I dug out the soft cold packs from the freezer then started to give Noah his bottle again.
God is so faithful and good. When John and I both started praying for Nathan, he immediately calmed down and stopped crying. We were able to ice his eye and just relax with the boys until bed time.
Nathan is doing great. His eye didn't swell a lot and now it's just bruised. He doesn't even notice. He continues to be the climbing adventurer that he is - just not on the back of the couch.

Nathan learned a new word: blackeye