Our Fabulous Vacation/Part 2

Wow - I let a week pass by until I got to blogging about the rest of our vacation. You can read about the first part here. The last big thing we did on our trip was visit Niagara Falls. I had been when I was a teenager and don't remember it that well. I told my sister we would really like to go and that sounded great to her. When I suggested "The Maid of the Mist" I don't think she was that excited (it is pretty touristy). I must say, however, that it was a great idea on my part because it was really FUN!

Here is the view of the American Falls from an observation deck:

My children were so taken with the falls. This is my favorite picture of the vacation - really a testament to how big it was and what a bond my children share:

Here we are actually on "The Maid of the Mist" with my brother-in-law, Doug. You really do need those ponchos because you get wet.

Getting a little closer to the Canadian side (Horseshoe Falls), which is definitely bigger than the American side:

I don't think you can grasp the vastness of the falls until you are really up close and personal. Something like 1.5 million gallons of water per second go over the falls, and 2/3 of the world's fresh water passes over Niagara Falls. Once you get very close to the falls you might get nervous - I mean the falls are so immense, the boat is so little, and what if that boat were to just tip over? I just kept thinking to myself that a spectacular God made Niagara Falls and that same God would keep me safe on my trip to Niagara Falls! I tried to get some video from the boat - wasn't easy, but here's what I was able to capture:

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After our day at Niagara Falls my sister and her husband took us to eat dinner at Oak Hill Country Club where my brother-in-law and nephew are avid golfers. It was a wonderful meal, but most of all it was so nice to enjoy time with our family. The kids did great at dinner (despite all of G Man's knock knock jokes) and I was proud of their manners. After dinner we went to see my sister and brother-in-law's office (they run a capital management firm in Rochester) and then headed home.

Our last day in NY was spent just hanging out and preparing for the trip home. We were able to spend time with my nephew and my sister taught my daughter how to knit. She and my husband also compared iPad apps (Don't you love the dueling iPads photo? We are a family of nerds, that's for sure!)

The boys also enjoyed some time throwing the ball outside, seeing as how it was going to be about 15 degrees hotter when we got home.

After some tears at the airport, we boarded our plane and headed south once again. G Man loved every minute of traveling.

We marveled at the ease of getting home. We had no flight delays, got our luggage right as we arrived at the carousel, caught our bus to the park and ride right as we walked outside, hopped in our van, and drove home. You never would have known we had just navigated the busiest airport in the world.

It's always hard to come back to "reality" when you've had a great vacation, but making memories and cherishing your family are well worth the minor adjustment period.

Our Fabulous Vacation/Part 1

We were so fortunate last week to be able to travel to upstate New York for our family's vacation. My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew live there and it had been a while since we had seen them. Miss B and I went a few years ago for a visit, but my husband and son had never been to that area. We also usually drive to our family vacation destinations (because we normally go to S. Florida where I grew up or somewhere close to our home in Georgia). You know how it is - it is a bit of a hassle (not to mention costly!) to fly cross country with little kids. Now that our children are nine and five it was so much easier! Here they are with their dad as we get ready to go to the airport. In preparation for our trip we had learned a lot about the area during the first several days of school, and I think this made the kids even more excited!

When we arrived in Rochester we were so happy with the cool weather - it never got much above 75 the entire time we were there. Coming from 100 degrees at home, this felt great! My sister and her husband took us to a jazz concert. The park system in their small town seems very good, and this concert was held at small band shell. We listened to "Paradigm Shift" - a group from Buffalo, NY. They were really good. I also tried sushi for the first time. It was just so good to be out of our normal routine! Here's my sister and my husband, enjoying a glass of wine.

The kids had fun, too - my sister had gotten my son coloring books to keep him busy, and my daughter just loved taking pictures and socializing. Very relaxing.

The two big highlights of our trip were The Erie Canal and Niagara Falls. One day we took a three hour boat cruise along the Erie Canal. We went through a lock (what an interesting process) and learned a lot about the history of the construction the canal. We are coming up to this point in our American History, so I know Anna found it very interesting. My nephew (a senior in college) could tell us a lot more than the boat tour guide, so I'm glad he was along. He will be graduating with a major in history next year and is a smart, all-around good young man. I hope my kids turn out like this. Here he is with my sister.

I was amazed by the amount of beautiful homes and businesses along the canal. This used to be an old grain silo, converted into an office building now.

Here are just a few of the homes we saw along the canal:

We also saw how the flow in the canal can be stopped in a section called "The Great Embankment". When the canal burst open in the mid 1970s a lot of homes were flooded out, so it's important to stop the water for maintenance purposes, etc... At one point along the canal we were right alongside a highway - I thought how amazed the DeWitt Clinton (the mayor of NYC at the time of the construction) would have been if he could have seen that sight!

The next day we took my sister took us on a tour of an extraordinary place for children, the Mary Cariola Children's Center. My sister serves as their board chair and is very committed to these special children. The center serves several school districts in the area and services children with special needs. At their one campus there were just over 400 children. Words cannot express how moved I was by seeing these children and the amazing progress they were making. I started college as a Music Therapy major and we got to see a music therapy session. Centers like this are not the norm, and from what I understand the State of New York leads in this area. What was so special was that Miss B could go with us on the tour, and she was sobered by so many children that were different from her. I know she has a huge heart for people with special needs.... she also met a therapy dog there that just won her heart. I walked away from Mary Cariola feeling so much richer as a person. I'm proud of the work my sister does for these children.

Later that day GMan and Hal got to attend the Buffalo Bills' training camp on a special family pass. Grant got to meet their center, Geoff Hangartner, because my sister had gotten passes from his grandparents. I think they had a great time; all of the football that happened in the front yard after that was proof. Here are Grant and Geoff:

While the boys were at the training camp, the girls headed to the Margaret Strong Museum of Play. What a fun place for kids! I think our favorite part was their walk through children's literature. I could have spent hours in it, but we really didn't have much time there. Miss B is currently in a Nancy Drew phase, and she learned a lot about that series.

We also had a reservation in the butterfly garden... hundreds of butterflies around us. This was a great followup to our studies of butterflies in the spring. Here is a picture of Miss B and I in the butterfly garden:

Here's just one of the hundreds of pictures we took of the butterflies!

Tomorrow I'll try to blog about the rest of our vacation - Niagara Falls!

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Prepping for our Big "Field Trip"

Soon we will be on our way to the ultimate homeschool field trip. Sure, most people would call it a vacation, but we like to view everything as an opportunity for study. We will be visiting my sister and her family who live in Rochester, NY. While there we are going to be taking a ride on the Erie Canal, visiting Niagara Falls, going to the Buffalo Bills training camp (well, that's just for the boys) and going to the Strong Museum. I have to thank my sister for coordinating everything. She just emailed me a schedule of events and I said "looks great" - how's that for service?

Here's some of what we have been reading to prep for our trip:

This book is the well known song about the Erie Canal - it has all of the lyrics and piano music as well. The kids love to sing it while I play the piano.

This book is actually a part of Miss B's Sonlight Core 3 curriculum. It is such a beautiful book (I've got a post ready to go about just this book, in fact!) and is about a canoe that makes the journey from Lake Nipigon (Canada) out to the Atlantic Ocean.... via the Great Lakes and Niagara Falls. It really cemented the geography for the kids.

Miss B. actually noticed this book listed on the back of one of her other Boxcar Children mysteries and brought it to my attention. We are almost finished reading it - it is of course another good Boxcar mystery and references the Maid of the Mist (which we will be going on) and lots of local Niagara Falls geography. I have the visitor's guide for Niagara Falls and the kids like looking through it while I'm reading.

We will be approaching the early 1800s this year in Miss B's history curriculum, so she will learn about why the Erie Canal was so important in the westward expansion of our nation. We've also learned that Niagara Falls is the second largest waterfall in the world (second to Victoria Falls) and that a huge amount of the world's fresh water passes over the falls. It is awesome to think about.

A great find on the internet is the site "American History for Kids". It has a section of American History coloring pages, and since GMan loves to color I'll print out the Erie Canal sheet for him this week. I'd like to take the kids' journals as well, so they can write a little bit about what they thought along the way.

We're all looking forward to a break from this oppressive heat and having the chance to see family and have lots of fun -- because once this "field trip" is over, we need to get back to WORK. Have I mentioned how much I love homeschooling?

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