October: Niagara Falls

Our Five in a Row book in October was Mirette on the High Wire. It is a great story about a little girl who learns how to walk on a tightrope. She joins up with the Great Bellini and they travel the world performing together. One of the places they go is Niagara Falls - which provided a great "field trip" opportunity for us! We made a very last minute decision to head to Niagara Falls one Friday evening. We stayed at the Americana - a hotel with a perfect water park for our kiddos! Even though we arrived at the hotel fairly late (7ish), we still hit the water park for some fun - and all three kids loved it! We had a very late night, then were up early the next morning for a yummy breakfast, more water splashing fun, and a Niagara Falls walk. It was a chilly weekend, so our walk didn't last too long. The kids did get a chance to see the falls though, and think about whether or not they'd like to cross it on a high wire (resounding NO). 

The water park at Americana is not huge. There are four water slides, only two of which our kids were allowed on. Both Seth and Maddy LOVED the slide - and wanted to go again and again and again.... Kiera loved the baby pool, which also had four small slides. She also went down again and again and again.... There was a wave pool, which was fun as long as they were glued to Greg or I :) 

As mentioned, our night was pretty late. Kiera was in no mood to fall asleep in a pack and play so we put her in our bed. Big mistake. She is not a great sleeper - she's a mover and a shaker. At about 2AM she woke up very angry saying, "Share, mom, share!" Apparently her idea of sharing a pillow is her laying crosswise on the pillow ... which meant I was bedless. I crawled in with Seth and Maddy for the rest of the night .... I knew when I wasn't wanted :)  

We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant -- the biggest hit of that meal was the fact that our little booth had it's own personal TV. Not very conducive for eating :)

Picture time! Kiera behaved in true Kiera fashion! 

After looking at the Falls we headed to Rainforest Cafe for some lunch. Seth and Maddy were thrilled (although somewhat quiet and in awe). Kiera was scared - very different for her! Once everyone got used to it, they all enjoyed their experience very much! After lunch we headed to our van - with a quick stop at Hershey's Chocolate Factory (where we got some yummy chocolate strawberries!) Maddy found a shirt there that she thought was hilarious - It said, "I'd trade my sister for chocolate". Silly girl.