Our Toll Family Vacation to Niagara Falls

Samantha: 85 Months, Week 1
Aedan: 50 Months, Week 4
Owen: 9 Months, Week 1 (Week 40)

Our first day of vacation started off well, with Owen even giving us the present of a good night's sleep. We weren't sure how he was going to do with just getting over his ear infection and still recovering from the bad diaper rash, but on Saturday into Sunday, he woke up a couple of times at the beginning of the night and just needed to be resettled for a few minutes, probably because he woke up and looked around, noticing he was in a different place. Then, he woke up at about 2:50, and I was about to go in and get him, but he stopped and went back to sleep on his own, then sleeping until after 7:00, so he kind of slept through the night, which was a great start to our trip.

Sunday, June 17th was our first full day of vacation in Niagara Falls. It was supposed to be the hottest day of our vacation, so we planned to head out pretty quickly in the morning and head over to the American side of the water falls to walk on some shorter trails, take a trolley to a few different stops, and check out the Discovery Center, before heading back to the house for the hot part of the afternoon.

It took a little bit of time to cross over the bridge and get through customs to the American side. Owen was due for a nap, so I was able to rock his car seat back and forth and get him to sleep for at least a little while. We knew nap time would be all mixed up during our vacation, and that was okay. Samantha and Aedan enjoyed looking out the windows at the falls as we crossed over Rainbow Bridge, and we got to see quite a few helicopters flying overhead as well.

Once we crossed over and found parking, I volunteered to stay in the car with Owen to see if he would continue napping for awhile. Unfortunately, he woke up from the commotion of Samantha and Aedan getting out of the car, so I took the opportunity to nurse him before getting him out and situated in the stroller. We walked out to Terrapin Point to see this view of the Horseshoe Falls. It was amazing to be able to stand at the edge of the falls and watch the water rushing over the edge. The power of the waterfalls is incredible.

I was able to capture this beautiful picture of a rainbow arching over the water.

Sunday the 17th was not only our first day of vacation, but it was also Father's Day and the day Owen turned 9 months old. Since we were out of town, I didn't make a sign or go overboard with pictures like I usually do, but here are some  great pictures of Daddy with his little 9 month old on Father's Day. :) It's hard to believe this little guy has now been out of my tummy for as long as he was in my tummy. He's getting so big, so fast, learning and exploring more of his world every day. He loves interacting with people and is such a happy, easygoing boy when he is awake. Sometimes I wish he would sleep more or be more consistent in his daytime and nighttime sleep, but he just seems to be much more sensitive to things than his siblings. Being sick and teething really throw him for a loop. He still does not take a pacifier at all or a bottle very well. He prefers to be held up on your shoulder and walked around/bounced to fall asleep, and he doesn't fall asleep in his crib on his own. He still nurses pretty well, about 5 times during the day and an average of two times a night, depending on how often he wakes up. He eats baby cereal mixed with milk for breakfast, and two jars of baby food for lunch and two jars of baby food for dinner. We have just recently started giving him puffs and melts to get him practicing his pincer skills and to give him more variety in his food. Samantha and Aedan definitely love to make him laugh and are enjoying that he is becoming more fun to play with, even if that means he is getting into more stuff as well. Now that he has mastered pulling up and standing, that is by far his favorite activity. He will pull himself up on anything and can even stand up with only supporting himself with one hand. He is much more physically active than his older siblings at 9 months, and we expect he will be walking sometime this summer. He is definitely a joy to have as part of our family. His cute dimples when he smiles just do me in every time.

Here are some other pictures from the American side of the falls as we walked around, crossing over to Goat Island and getting different views of the falls and the water leading up to the falls.

This is a view looking out over the American Falls.

And this is the outlook looking to the bottom of the falls. You can see the people down on the walkways below getting a close-up view of the falls.

It was amazing just to watch the water rushing over the edge and to hear the roar of the water crashing down below. God and His Creation are mighty and powerful.

The state park had a trolley you could ride around to various stops throughout the park. We took advantage of it a few times, and the kids thought it was pretty fun to ride on the trolley together. Here are all the cousins (and me) together, enjoying the first day at Niagara Falls. It's so fun to be able to have these experiences together every summer.

One of the trolley stops was at Three Sisters Islands and gave you a cool perspective of the Niagara River before it flowed around the bend and over the falls.

By that time it was getting close to lunch time, so we took the trolley to a visitor center where they had food to eat, and then took another trolley to the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center. They had some exhibits for the kids to look at, as well as short movie about the history of Niagara Falls. It was pretty hot outside, so we took advantage of sitting inside an air conditioned building for awhile. By this point Owen was getting pretty tired and was ready for a nap. I put him in the Ergo and tried to just bounce him around in the back of the theater, but he was too distracted by the movie and the noise, so I had to take him out and walk around with him for awhile. He fell asleep on me in the Ergo, and I just walked around and looked at the exhibits while he slept peacefully on my chest.

Here are the kids posing for pictures inside the Discovery Center.

We got back to the house mid-afternoon, and I nursed Owen and tried to lay him down for another short nap since he hadn't slept very long that day. However, he was not interested in falling asleep with me, so I sent Ben back upstairs to see if he would have any better luck. He got him back to sleep, but he wasn't able to lay him down, so he just sat with him and let him sleep on him for a little while. In the meantime, I was out on the front porch with the big kids. We are continuing to not make Aedan nap because it helps him sleep so much better at night. He can handle being awake, and it is helping prepare him for afternoon preschool in the fall. Here they are doing their super hero poses for Papa and me. Aedan is Wolverine. (He found those sticks and Ema and Papa's house back in May, and he was sure to ask them to bring them along. They are pretty good Wolverine claws.) Alaina was Deadpool, and I forget what Samantha was, some made up character that flies.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent cooling off by swimming in the pool and then doing bath time and bed time. We had gotten pretty well settled in the house, and all the sleeping arrangements were working pretty well. It was a bit warm on the top floor where we were sleeping, but I covered up the windows with some blankets to keep the hot sun out, we kept the fan going and the door closed, and tried our best to keep the cool air in and the warm air out.

Monday was a bit of a frustrating day for me because I somehow dumped my contacts in the sink the night before and didn't notice it until several hours later when they had already dried up and hardened to the side of the sink. They were torn and I could no longer wear them. I wasn't too excited about having to wear my glasses the rest of the trip, so while Owen was taking a morning nap at the house, I called my eye doctor and the vision center at Walmart, trying to figure out if I could transfer my prescription there and get a pair of contacts to hold me over until I got back home. It seemed like it would work, and I could stop by later that day to get a pair, so luckily, I only had to wear my glasses for one day. Next time, I will remember to bring a back-up pair of contacts.

Our plan for Monday was to use some of our Adventure Pass that we got for activities on the Canadian side. We walked along the sidewalk that goes right along the falls, making our way to the visitor centre where we would pick up our passes. As we walked, we got some beautiful views of the Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls.

Here's a video of the one of the tour boats going into the falls. It's amazing how loud the sound of the rushing water is.

Here's a cute family picture with the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls in the background.

Here's another video of the Horseshoe Falls and then panning downstream to the American Falls. The amount of mist off the water is incredible as well.

We decided to do the Journey Behind the Falls first that day, donning our plastic ponchos to help keep us dry, and waiting in a little bit of a line to take the elevator down to the tunnels underneath the falls. Here are the three big kids in their rain gear and ready to get wet.

I had Owen in the Ergo so that he could go inside my poncho and stay a bit drier. This experience was so cool. We got to go right up next to the Horseshoe Falls, and the mist was blowing right on us. We all got pretty wet, but it felt pretty good to cool off in that way. Look how massive these waterfalls are!

There were a series of tunnels underneath the falls that you could walk through to see different vantage points, like this opening where the falls are rushing right over the edge. A kind lady offered to take a picture of the kids and me. They thought it was really cool watching the water rush over and splash through the hole at times.

We learned some interesting facts about Niagara Falls that day as well. For example, it has eroded quite a bit over the years, and we learned of a 7 year old boy named Roger Woodward who was in a boating accident, but was wearing a life jacket, and was swept over the falls and survived, which was just astounding to me that someone could survive the impact of falling that distance in combination with the power of the water, the current, and the rapids.

After going behind the falls, we had some lunch at a cafe in the Welcome Centre and waited for our time to go see the 4D movie called Niagara's Fury. Our time was around 2:30, and we had to take shelter under a canopy during some rain that came through. It felt like we were waiting for a long time, but the kids had a fun time chasing the seagulls around and watching them try to sneak off with people's food.

The movie Niagara's Fury started with a film, so we were in this large room waiting for it to start. Owen was definitely getting tired, and he was wanting to just get down and crawl around, so after we got his plastic poncho on him, we put him down on the ground, and off he went, crawling across the floor. It was hilarious to see this little baby crawling with this long poncho trailing off from behind. Aunt Jeni took a video, and I'm not sure I can post it, but here's a link to it: https://www.facebook.com/jeni.t.riley/videos/1967778079920306/

Once the movie started, Aunt Jeni offered to hold Owen for me, since I was carrying him earlier for his nap, and it didn't take long for the tired little boy to fall asleep on her shoulder. He even stayed asleep through the entire movie, even though it was loud, there were lights flashing, rain falling down on us, and water spraying up on us to simulate going over the falls. The kids really liked the movie, and they got really into it.

After the movie, since there was going to be rain in the forecast for much of the rest of the evening, we took the bus back to our house to hang out. I was able to go to Walmart and a pair of replacement contacts, we had dinner together, and then just had fun playing in the house together. We brought some toys along with us, as well as some Legos. Plus, the kids just had fun running around the old Victorian house and playing hide and seek.

It was going to be a beautiful day on Tuesday, with slightly cooler weather and no chance for rain, so we decided it would be a great day to go on the Hornblower Niagara Cruises. Aunt Jeni, Alaina, and our family took the bus down to the falls again to walk around and find out if we needed to reserve times for the boat ride. (Ben's parents went to a walk-in clinic that morning to have his poison ivy looked at.) The kids were getting a little antsy just walking around and waiting, but I was able to get Owen to take a nap in the Ergo, and I was able to get some more beautiful pictures of the falls with the sun shining down and a bright blue sky. The kids even found a tree with low-hanging branches that made it look like a cave on the inside. They played in there for quite awhile. Plus, we got some cute pictures of all of us together and of the kids.

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Aedan was tired that morning and was not wanting to participate in any pictures. Here he is sitting out on the side after we asked him to join us for a picture.

As a way to kill some more time, we took the bus up to Clifton Hill where we walked around for a little while before going to Wendy's to eat lunch and make plans to try to meet up with Ben's parents again. Our plan for the afternoon was to go on the boat ride that took you up into the falls. Here we are at the top of the falls where we enter for the boat ride.

Owen was tired again and ready for a nap, and since I was planning on carrying him on the boat anyways, I decided to put him in the Ergo and let him sleep. Even though it was pretty hot standing in the sun, he fell asleep pretty quickly and stayed asleep for most of the boat ride. Because he was asleep, I didn't want to stand outside in the wind and mist with everyone else because I knew that would just wake him up right away. Luckily, they had a protected area on the inside behind some glass so I was able to still see our family, even though I missed out on being out there with them.

Here are some pictures Ben took of the kids before the boat took off. Again, Aedan was not in the mood to smile at pictures that day.

Here's a picture I took of Ben standing next to Aedan and Samantha. They have their ponchos on and are poised at the front of the boat, ready to see the falls and get wet.

Aedan had a hard time seeing over the railing, so Ben had to lift him up a lot so that he could see.

Here we are approaching the Horseshoe Falls.

And here's a video of everyone getting wet as boat pulled up to the base of the falls, sitting there for awhile so everyone could see and feel the power of the falls and get soaked by the mist spraying up.

Owen was still asleep while we were inside the horseshoe, but woke up toward the end, so I came out and got a little bit of a glimpse of the falls as we were pulling away. Words don't do it justice, you can just look at the pictures and videos to see how amazing these falls are. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride.

Here are Owen and I on the boat once he woke up from his nap...

...and here are our three adorable kids, who all were wearing striped shirts, which we didn't plan, resting in the shade together. Samantha was glad to hold Owen for me for a little while.

And here's a couple pictures I took once we were done on the boat ride, showing another boat on the journey that we had just taken.

Going on the boat ride was really our only plan for the day, so we decided to head back to the house for some more swimming time. Having a pool in the back yard of the house was a definite bonus, and the kids loved playing around in the pool together. Even Owen seemed to enjoy floating around in the pool in his baby float. I decided to get my phone out that afternoon to take some pictures of everyone having fun in the pool.

After getting the kids cleaned up and dressed from swimming, Ben and I got dressed and ready ourselves, for he surprised me with plans to take me out to eat that evening. He talked to his family about taking care of the kids for us so we could enjoy a dinner out together, and I loved the surprise. It's fun to be able to take advantage of these times to get away. We tried out a small, local Italian restaurant that had pretty good reviews. We split a ravioli and risotto, and everything was very good. After feeling so busy and tired out from Owen being sick and not sleeping well, it was wonderful to be able to sit, relax, talk, and enjoy a meal together. It meant even more to me because Ben planned it without letting me know until that day. I enjoy surprise date nights. :)

Owen seemed to finally be getting better and recovering from his ear infection. We didn't have any nights where we had to be up with him for hours on end, trying to get him back to sleep or to stay asleep. However, he still was waking up a couple of times to nurse during the night. On Wednesday morning he was up at 6:30, and it was too bright out to convince him to go back to sleep that morning.

Our plans for Wednesday were to go to Niagara Glen to walk some trails through the woods and down by the water that is downstream from the falls. Ben's parents had gone on these trails before and said they were just beautiful. When we got there, Owen was getting ready for his morning nap, and I was planning on wearing him in the Ergo anyways, so we sprayed ourselves with bug spray and got ready for our hike. It really was beautiful on these paths, and the kids did a great job following the marked paths for the trails we wanted to go. They did an excellent job of staying on the path, as we warned them that there might be poison ivy off the path, and no one ever complained of being tired, and we hiked for probably about an hour. Owen slept comfortably in the Ergo, and the canopy of trees helped keep us in the shade and protected us from the rain shower that moved through the area. Here are some pictures from our hike through Niagara Glen.

Ben and I were at the back of the pack at one point, so I had him stop and take a picture of the two of us together, and you can see Owen's little head sticking out of the Ergo. :) I'm so glad I can still hold him like this and enjoy him napping on me.

We told each kid that they had to have an adult with them as they walked, so it was cute to see them trading partners so that everyone had a turn with Aunt Jeni, Ema, Papa, and Ben. (Owen was my partner the whole time, so I couldn't really help anyone else out.)

We took the trail all the way down to the water, and it was amazing how quickly the water was moving even this distance away from the falls.

There was a small nature center at the trail-head that we stopped in after our hike. The employees there were eager to talk to some visitors and even took the time to show the kids some rocks and fossils that they found over the years. In fact, there was even an area where they could examine rocks themselves to look for fossils. They had microscopes and magnifying glasses for the kids to use, and they were super excited to each find their own fossil that they were then allowed to take home with them.

Owen was happy to get down and crawl around. However, he's a smart boy and doesn't like the way the concrete bricks feel on his knees when crawling around, so he just started doing this bear crawl everywhere. It was cute to watch him get around and pull up on things. This little boy certainly wants to be on the move!

After that we took a short drive down the road to see the whirpool area where the water is pushed in a circular motion before continuing down the river.

While the adults were enjoying the view, the kids were getting a little antsy, so I decided to spin Aedan around for a little while. Ben captured our little moment on video. Samantha wanted me to do it to her as well, but she is much too heavy and tall to swing by the arms. However, I was able to hold her under her arms and swing her around for a little while, but I don't think she thought that was as much fun. Aedan loved spinning in circles and would have been willing to do it much longer than I was able to.

Our next stop was the last thing on our Adventure Pass called the White Water Walk. We stopped and ate our picnic lunch outside before taking the elevator down to the boardwalk that followed along the white water rapids downstream from the falls. Again, it was amazing how quickly the water was moving past us. Goes to show you again just how powerful the Niagara Falls are.

Here's a great picture of Daddy with his three kids. Aedan actually smiled at the camera, and they are all looking!

They had a couple different walkways that went right down by the water and the water would splash up every once in awhile, getting unsuspecting visitors all wet. Samantha and Alaina stood at the corner, wanting so badly to be splashed by the water. They did get wet a little bit, but not as much as Ema and Papa did when they stood up on the edge of one look out and got splashed from behind!

It was already after 1:30 at that point, our kids were getting tired, and we had plans for the kids to go back to the house and take naps that afternoon so we could take them out to the fireworks at 10:00 that night. The kids all took pretty good naps that afternoon, even Owen who slept for about 2 1/2 hours without us having to go into his room. It was nice break time for the adults, and it was going to be much better for everyone in staying out late that night for fireworks.

After dinner, as a way to pass the time until we were going to leave, we went out into the back yard to play. I bought some bubbles for the kids, and Owen enjoyed crawling around the yard and trying to catch the bubbles, too.

Then, once the bugs started to come out and kids grew aimless, we went back into the house to play. The girls and even Aedan decided to play beauty parlor and do everyone's hair, even Ema and Papa. I don't have permission to post the pictures of their hair-dos, but I don't think Ben will mind. His was the tamest hairstyle anyways. They were having so much fun putting clips and rubber bands in everybody's hair, and they were very proud of their creations.

After I got Owen to bed that night, we got the big kids ready and left to go see the fireworks over Niagara Falls. We drove to a parking lot that was a little bit closer downtown, and then walked a little ways down the hill towards the falls. On our quest to find some coffee for the grown-ups, we stumbled upon these fountains with colored lights, and the kids were pretty mesmerized watching them for awhile.

Seeing the falls at night were definitely worth keeping the kids up for. They project lights onto them and the colors change, definitely making it a sight to behold. Aren't they just beautiful?! It was so fun for Ben and I to come back to the place we spent some time at on our honeymoon almost 12 years ago.

After walking along and looking at the water for awhile, we went across the street, got some coffee and Timbits for the kids, and then found this spot to sit to watch the fireworks. The kids ran around in the grass for awhile, doing their best to keep themselves awake as it was approaching 10:00. Here are some great pictures of Aunt Jeni, the three big kids, and me while we waited for the fireworks to start.

As I took a video of the fireworks, I also captured this great moment where Ben went to sit next to Alaina, who was looking a little worried about the fireworks. Samantha and Aedan were so excited to see the fireworks that night. We could hear the booms every night at 10:00 from our vacation house, and the kids were so excited to finally see them in person.

After a late night on Thursday, and being up with Owen twice during the night, we had a little more of a relaxed morning on Thursday. Our plan was to go to Clifton Hill and enjoy some of the more touristy attractions of Niagara Falls. The kids saw the SkyWheel (a large ferris wheel) and were very interested in trying that out, so we got tickets for that as our first thing that morning. The girls rode with Aunt Jeni, and Ben and I rode with Aedan and Owen. Our little cabins were air-conditioned, and it felt pretty nice inside. We got a really nice view of the falls and the surrounding area from up above, and I think we did six or seven rotations, so it was more of a ride than I thought we would get. The kids really liked it, and even Owen seemed interested in looking out through the windows. Here are some pictures from our ride on the SkyWheel. I'm so glad that we were blessed with such good weather so we could enjoy all these activities in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

After our ride on the SkyWheel, Owen was definitely getting tired and ready for a nap. We wanted to play Dinosaur Mini-golf, and Aunt Jeni lovingly offered to take Owen for me so that I could play mini-golf with the kids, Ben, and Ema, without having to lug Owen around in the Ergo as well. She is so good with him, and he loves to hang out with her and take naps on her chest. She said it wasn't very long before he fell asleep on her once they got in the shade.

The rest of us had a blast playing mini-golf on the dinosaur course. There even was a pretend volcano in the middle that would burst out fire every few minutes or so. We played the easier side of the course, which allowed the kids to be much better at hitting the ball and having success. Samantha and Alaina got pretty good at their strokes, standing in the correct position, and aiming toward where they wanted the ball to go. Aedan didn't care too much about doing it the right way, and he was perfectly fine with knocking it along like he was a hockey player hitting a puck. Here is a video from one of our holes. We definitely had a fun morning doing some more kid-friendly activities.

After playing mini-golf, we went across the street to a family restaurant for lunch and some air conditioning, before walking back down to the falls. This was our last full day at Niagara Falls, and we wanted to squeeze every last drop out of our day together on family vacation. We walked down to a little park area where the big kids ran around in the gardens, and Owen had a chance to crawl around in the grass and tackle Aedan.

We had all done a lot of walking already that day, but we wanted to walk along the sidewalk by the falls one more time. Even though it was pretty hot and sunny, the kids were troopers, and I even got Owen to take a nap in the Ergo as we walked around. I think Ben said we walked over five miles that last day. Here are my last pictures of Niagara Falls from that afternoon. I was always amazed and how blue-green the water was. This was definitely a beautiful location for a family vacation, and I enjoyed our time together so much.

We also got these great family pictures of us with both falls in the background. Everyone is looking at the camera, and everyone is smiling. I just love them! I feel like this first one if frame-worthy. :)

And here is a cute one of Samantha and Alaina. They are best friends, and I know one of Samantha's favorite parts of vacation is simply being with Alaina for a whole week. These girls are so good for each other, and it has been such a joy to watch them grow up together. As the day progressed, Samantha got more and more sad because she knew vacation was almost over, and she didn't want to leave family and go back home. I tried to cheer her up and encourage her to enjoy the time we had left together, rather than thinking about being apart.

We also walked a bit further down from the falls so we could go to the Hershey store. Everyone got a treat to eat, and most of the grown-ups chose a delicious chocolate milkshake. It was the perfect cold treat for a hot afternoon.

Once we made the long trek all the way back to the house that afternoon, we decided to do one last swim in the back yard pool before spending our last evening together. Ben and I did a little bit of work gathering up some stuff to start packing, but we mostly enjoyed just hanging out and talking with his family.

Friday morning, once all our stuff was packed up and loaded in the car and all the rooms were checked and checked again, we left for the drive back home. We had plans to stay at a hotel part of the way there so we didn't have to do the whole 8 hour drive in one day. We left around 10:00, Owen took a nap in the car while we drove, while the big kids enjoyed some down time playing with toys, and we were lucky to not have much of a drive to cross back over to the U.S. at Port Huron. Here is Owen blowing bubbles in the car as we waited to go through customs.

We stopped at the same Chipotle in London that we stopped on our way up. We just can't resist eating at one of our favorite restaurants, although this time we got a burrito bowl for the kids to split because they get so much more food than ordering separate kid's meals. Plus, a kid's meal is not enough for Samantha anymore. Here are our three wild and precious kiddos after lunch that afternoon. It was such a fun week of family time, and I am always sad to see vacation come to an end as well.

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Saginaw, Michigan, using points from our credit card to get two adjoining rooms. That works out really well, giving everyone the space they need to sleep well. The hotel had a pool, too, which is really what the kids care about. We arrived a little after 4:00, got ourselves situated in the hotel room, and then went out to dinner at a Pizzeria Uno that was right across the street. Again, we took advantage of our chance to eat deep dish pizza, food that we don't have anywhere near where we live. The kids ate well, giving them the opportunity to go back to the hotel and swim before bed time. We even took Owen this time, and he enjoyed floating around the pool in his little baby float.

As I mentioned earlier, Owen had been doing fairly well with sleeping at night while we were on vacation, but maybe that was because he was out all day in the sun and got tired out from all our activity. I think there were only a couple of days he actually took a nap in his pack and play at the house. Well, on Thursday into Friday he surprised us with a really good night, sleeping from when I put him down at 8:30, all the way until 5:30 in the morning. Then, I was able to nurse him again and he went back to sleep until almost 7:00, which was a really good night for us. Friday night at the hotel, however, was not as good. I got him to sleep a little earlier, since he hadn't napped much that day in the car, and he was asleep in his pack and play in the bathroom by 8:00. He woke up at about 12:20, and I changed and fed him and he went back to sleep fairly easily. Then, at about 4:30 in the morning, I woke up because the power had gone off in the hotel, so none of the monitors or fans or sound machines were working anymore. I knew it was only a matter of time before Owen and the other kids woke up from the change. I was hoping and praying that it would turn back on soon, but it wasn't seeming likely. Ben tried to get Owen back to sleep once he woke up, but he wasn't having it, so I ended up having to nurse him again to get him to relax enough to fall back asleep. Ben ended up finding a white noise sound on his phone that he played in the bathroom for Owen the remainder of the night. I went into the kids' room to go to the bathroom and check on them. I knew Samantha wouldn't be able to see to go to the bathroom, and I could tell that she was awake, so I helped her go to the bathroom before tucking her back in bed and emphasizing the fact that it was still the middle of the night and she needed to go back to sleep, even though it was weird with the power out. The power didn't turn back on until about 7:30 in the morning.

After that rough and abrupt awakening in the middle of the night, we knew everyone would be tired on Saturday morning. We had thought about going somewhere, like a local zoo, but it was going to be a rainy morning, and we were all just ready to get back home. We had three and a half hours of driving left, so not a bad trip for the day. We got back mid-afternoon, and it was so good to be home, for the kids to play in their own environment, and to get back to our own beds. I love vacation, don't get me wrong, for traveling is one of my favorite things to do, but it's also nice to be home.

(Blog about June 17-23, 2018)