New York, Niagara and Ninjas

We recently took a trip to Western New York to visit Niagara Falls and church historical sites in Palmyra. We drove to Rochester, about an eight hour drive, without incident. The kids only needed restroom breaks twice-when we ate lunch and when we got gas. Easy enough. The drive back was not so nice. Noah is obsessed with bathrooms. It's really weird. If he hears the word bathroom, he suddenly must empty his bladder. We were at a building that had nice, clean bathrooms inside, but also had port a potties outside. He saw the port -a- potty first, so he ran to it. GROSS!!! The hotel was nice. There was a pool and a hot tub, so we hung out there for a while, then headed to bed. The next morning, we headed to the Peter Whitmer farm and church building in Waterloo, which was an adorable town! Then it was off to Palmyra for a full day of sights. It was 100 degrees, and HUMID. We hung out in the Book of Mormon publishing building for a while because it was air conditioned. We had lunch at a pavillion by the stake center, then went to the Smith family homes and Sacred Grove. The kids were so wild, I wasn't sure if they were listening to anything that was said. They have been talking about it, though, and get excited when they see pictures in the back of their Book of Mormon from the places that we visited.

We set up camp in the stinkin' hot weather, then drove out to save our seats at the Pageant on Hill Cumorah.  We bought supper there and ate outside, then hung out at the Visitor's center and enjoyed the air conditioning before the start of the Pageant. It was a great presentation.

Our camp site was interesting. There wasn't anyone there when we arrived. It was just an open field at the 4-H Fair grounds. The website said they had showers. So, Wednesday morning I headed to the showers with my clean clothes and towel. The first shower I turned on had no hot water, neither did the other two! When you turned the hot water knob, no water even came out! I was an unhappy camper. It had been so hot the day before-there was no way I could skip a shower. BRRRRRR! We drove to the top of Hill Cumorah Wednesday morning. The time spent in Palmyra was really great.

Off to the Falls! We had directions to Niagara Falls, but the signs said to go a different way, we followed our directions, and they got us to Canada! We were planning on doing both sides, but since we ended up in Canada first, we just did that side. For some reason it took a long time to get into Canada, as if a lot of people want to go there? While we were sitting in traffic, there was a woman walking across the bridge who was wearing a head scarf that covered her entire face, except for her eyes and Noah whispers with enchantment, " A ninja!" We corrected him and had a good laugh. The Falls were amazing!!!! The water is a beautiful green and it's just awesome! We did the Maid of the Mist-which cost more on the Canadian side-boo!  What a bunch of hosers, eh?  It was totally amazing! Heidi got drenched. Noah and Owen didn't want to get that wet.

 After a long day there, we headed to Northern PA-to the Allegheny National Forest for camping over night. On the way there, Emmy had a blow out and I think we gave a few people some good laughs. We were on a pretty busy road and I had her dangling, while Chad was wiping her naked body clean. Oh, the joys of travelling with a baby! When we checked in, the lady said that the mama bear had just been out with her three cubs. I'm not a fan of camping with bears. I was a bit nervous! The bathrooms were the nicest camping bathrooms ever!- even nicer than some hotel bathrooms. The kids went exploring on all of the trails. The forest was gorgeous!

     On the way home, we took a slight detour and went to a light house on Lake Erie, near Port Clinton. We could see Cedar Point across the bay. We got to walk up into the lighthouse. That was lots of fun. Being on the lake is always great! We finished the trip by eating at Mi Pueblo. I love my family and love that we were able to take such an awesome vacation.