Spring Break

We've been to New York! and Canada! Firsts for all of us but Daron. 

Silas's favorite part of the trip may have been going through airport security. He said he felt grown up. (He was mad on the way back when they told him to keep his shoes on because he wasn't 13 yet.) We flew to LaGuardia, which was a highlight. You could feel the excitement of the city even from the airport. There was a fancy fountain that dropped water pictures and had a light show of all that NYC offered. I kind of wished I had been brave enough to plan a trip there, but it was still a thrill to see the skyline and Statue of Liberty standing one inch tall in the bay from the plane. I also ate a bagel. Then we flew to Buffalo, where our plane landed twice because it ran out of runway the first time and we had to go back up and try again. 

Not New York

Probably infecting everyone. Certainly his brother.

Cute man at the airport.

Statue of Liberty!

My children in New York City. Zoom in closely for the tiniest, foggiest picture of Manhattan.

Northern New York was a lot more dreary with no classic spring break sunshine, but we got our rental car (a lovely Mazda with red leather seats!) and headed for the falls. We saw it from the lookout on the American side. I had hoped the Maid of the Mist would be open, but they have to wait until the ice melts and there was a solid sheet still, so no luck there. We would have frozen anyways. By the time we left on Friday about half of the ice had cleared. Here we are at the photo op. Not sure why you need this 100 yards from the actual thing, but we took the picture! My children were icicles and not thrilled upon any viewings during the trip. Also Rory was sick the first half and Silas the 2nd.

Our hotel was on the Canada side, so we crossed the border, got shamed for not having a booster for Rory, and were officially international travelers. Niagara Falls, Ontario is rather Myrtle Beachy, but our hotel was on a not-touristy street and minimally dodgy.

Day 2 we went to the Falls on the Canadian side which had a much better view although it doesn't look it in our pictures. Also, there were black squirrels which I thought was super fun. Then we thawed in the car looking at the falls in the snow, letting the children use the seat warmers while our parking meter ticked down. Next, we were off to Niagara on the Lake which was an adorable town of shops. We ate at a little local place. No one got poutine. By a miracle, when we were looking up things to do we found a play that was happening at 1:00 on a Wednesday in said town, the exact day we were there. It was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Still seems crazy. The theater was gorgeous and the play was pretty good! We stopped at an alien diner on the way back for milkshakes. 

That evening we swam and decided to go to the Rainforest Cafe for an atmospheric dinner. That was about all we got because the food was bad and the service was so slow we had to run to get back to our hotel in time to watch Survivor. It was by the wire, but we made it! We did many things we could do right at home on this trip, but I do not regret them.

These are the boys souvenirs. Silas's is the Jellycat dragon from a fancy French shop. Rory's is the Matchbox car from No Frills Frank's where we bought hotel snacks. Raise your hand if you got gipped. Don't worry, he leveraged this to his advantage later on.

Day 3, we went to Toronto. We probably should have cut this day out. It was a bit of a drive and all we had on the books there was eating at the CN tower (which was the most expensive meal of our lives). The view was good though! I thought you were supposed to get small servings at fancy restaurants, but they served me a plate of more mushrooms than I have ever seen. Silas was still puny so as to not be left wandering around a cold city aimlessly before our reservation, we just found a movie theater and watched The Minecraft Movie. I actually really enjoyed it.

Day 4 we went back to Buffalo. We found an adorable pizza place/comic store. We toured Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin house. It was very impressive. The kitchen was really stuffy though and Silas thought he was going to be sick. I told him he could not throw up in a historic treasure, so he and Daron made a quick exit to fresh air. We had some caned friends on our tour, so we didn't get to go upstairs which was a bummer, but it was cool anyways. At the front porch there was a spot where the tiles were broken up and loose. The docent was pretty keen but (much to Daron's horror) I told Rory to pick one up if we passed it again. We did not, but when we were leaving Rory ran back up to the door and snatched one. So, long story short I have encouraged theft and now own a piece of history. (It is probably part of the renovation and worthless.) 

With no pool at our new hotel, we found an escape room which Rory picked and then freaked out at the talking mummy and wanted to bail. Heck no! We spent $100 on this! It was a different type of room where you don't really escape, you just get points for how well you perform. We were in the 8th percentile. There was a match-the-tune part no one in our crew had any ear for. Then there was a follow the lights and hit the one that blinked last thing that went on forever. The lights were on every wall and you couldn't see them all at once, so I still am not sure how we could have done better. It was super well themed though and after Rory got past being petrified he probably talked about it more than anything else.

 

 

Day 5 we flew home. This time through Charlotte which had an Auntie Anne's and PDQ (yay) but also made us wait 3 hours to depart when the city itself is only an hour away (boo). We listened to The Eyes and the Impossible as recommended by my friend Amber and we aren't finished but it hasn't disappointed. Now finishing it at home will feel like a little extension of the trip. I was happy Nox was glad to see us. I thought he might never want to come home after making new dog friends at the Olivers'. I was also worried he would chew up half their house, but they said he was good! That is spring break in the books!