Niagara Falls - Animal Encounters

Today was the day that we FINALLY got to go to Marine Land!

This is the day that started our whole maybe we should go on vacation idea last month.

 

Everyone was so excited for today. Every time any of the Marine Land Ads came on the TV Katheryn will jump up and down and say "This is my favorite song!" And I was saying "This is my favorite song too!" And Nickolas says "This is mommy and Katheryn's favorite song!"

 

We talked about the rides, the animals and the shows. And we were up ready for some fun first thing in the morning. I had heard that the line ups got long.

We got a special wrist band for Nick. Marine Land has a accessibility feature that lets you go in the back line of the rides which is wheelchair accessible. Our plan was for one of us to go through the front of the line with Katheryn, and the other will meet up with Nick.

But Katheryn took one look at the rides...

And said NO WAY!

 

So Nick and I went on  2 of the rides together.


I had researched (of course) all of the rides and the height requirements so that I knew exactly all the ones each kid could go on. I even got everyone's height before we left!
We were so excited to get the kids on their first amusement park rides!
Of course (as we'll learn I'm sure over the years) kids will sometimes have their own ideas of what they do and don't want to do.

But Nick was still willing to try out 2 of the rides.

I think I did get some dirty looks from people who were waiting in line and we got ahead of them. I felt like I needed a sign attached to the wheelchair that said "I do it to jump line"

Katheryn and Kyle just sat and watched us!

Katheryn was holding out for the teacup ride, but we couldn't find it.

So we gave up on the rides and went to look at some animals.
We found some beluga's and killer wales.

Nickolas couldn't take his eyes off of them underwater!

Katheryn really, really didn't want to have her picture taken. Even though she was having alot of fun

 

 

And Nick just loved doing everything!

 

 

And getting up really close

 

 

So we thought, hey this is going well. Lets wait in a couple of lines for an hour so we can actually go and touch a beluga! The kids would love that! Right?

 

 

Well, someone LOVED touching a beluga (which feels like over-cooked hard boiled egg) and feeding him/her.

Notice how impressed Katheryn is, and how far Nick is trying to get from the whale?! (hiding behind the trainer-guy)

 

 

But we did get one family picture, and I picked the one where Nick is not crying. Afterwards Nick told us that the "whale scared me"

 So we finished with the touch a beluga, and I got to feed it fish too. We go out of the area and  wash our hands (apparently this was much more fun than actually touching a whale). Katheryn starts crying, "I wanted to feed the whale". No Katheryn, we just did that, you did not want to touch the whale, or get close to it. That  was your chance to touch the whale. "NO! I want to feed the whale".
Katheryn did not get a time-out, but she also did not get to touch the whale. I guess that is what it means to be 4.


We were able to distract them by watching this ride in the middle of the park called the Sky Screamer, where everyone goes up, up, up and then down, down, down. Really fast. Defiantly not a mommy ride.

We did find my favorite ride!
And Katheryn's favorite ride too.
We found the tea-cups!

And we went around, and around, and around in them!

 

Katheryn was just tall enough for them. So Kyle and Nick sat at the sidelines and watched us (and took some pictures)

 

Because Katheryn and I went through the ride 4 times!

Katheryn would have gone on that ride all day! But the day wasn't over yet! We still had lots more things to do!

Including meeting some black bears (? I have no idea what bears have to do with marine land - but they were there. Nick thought they were great!)

And they have a deer petting zoo (again deer - marine ?? I don't know)


Kyle and I both have heard the stories (and seen the pictures) from the deer feeding when we were kids and visited Marine Land. Including a deer trying to steal my blankie, and deers swarming Kyle and his brother.
So we were all prepared for the kids to be afraid or overwhelmed and that they might not like it
Wrong again!

 

Nick thought they were great, but they were a little uneasy about his chair. And Katheryn was very gentle and would try to get them to eat out of her hand.

 

No stealing, no swarming.

Then we had to rush, rush, rush for our last part of the day!

The show.

They LOVED it!

I loved watching the look of awe on their faces as they watched the marine animals swim and jump around.
I might have been watching the kids more than I watched the show!

Then it was time to check out the gift shop (and of course get something) and we were all ready for an early night!
Everyone had fun at Marine Land!

 

Because the fun isn't over yet! We have more planned for tomorrow!

Vacation Fun

When you think vacation,  what do you think of?

I always think of those hotel rooms, and how you can do all the things we say not to do at home.

Like jumping on the bed and pillow sights.

Kyle and I agree with this mentality.

 

When I was planning this trip, I wanted to leave alot of time open to just walk around. And when we walked around, I didn't want to have to drive anywhere.
So I found a hotel that had everything I wanted (free breakfast and free parking) and was right in the middle of the action!
Which is Clifton Hill.
This is the view from our balcony.

And we even had a little glimpse of the falls!

The first thing we did was load everyone up and get ready to show the kids a really big waterfall!

They were impressed for about 60 seconds!

 

Not enough to get a family picture

So we paired off
(ha ha, never even noticed that we are wearing matching orange/blue colours)

While Kyle and I are looking at Niagara Falls, the kids were most interested in the little water fountain.
THAT is all they wanted to look at!

I'm sure they were thinking why on earth are mommy and daddy so obsessed about all that water over the fence when there is cool stuff right here!

We went out for dinner. Nick picked what he wanted, and he want spaghetti. Something he hasn't wanted for a while. But he was adamant. Spaghetti, sauce on the side.
And he dipped every single noodle into the sauce or his ketchup, and sucked it back!
It was so funny to watch!

We did more of a walk-about after dinner and found this! It's a miniature golf course (which we aren't ready to play yet - maybe next year). If the kids aren't traumatized from the scary dinosaurs.

Nickolas started crying and saying "Mommy, mommy! Behind you!"

There was lots to see.

We also went to the midway. Katheryn loved it, but Nickolas found it really loud (I've noticed that he is very sensitive to loud noises - something that is common I think with hydrocephalus)

Katheryn found her favorite ride!

And Nick tried out some skeet ball.

 

Katheryn found a rock-band game and grabbed the guitar and started rocking out!

 

She really, really wanted to play a car racing game. We told her she couldn't play if she can't reach the pedals.

 

After all of this adventure (on only our first day) we needed to get lots of sleep to get up and ready early in the morning for our adventure tomorrow!

Family Vacation - with butterfly wings

Kyle and I took the kids on their first real family vacation. 4 days, 3 nights in Niagara Falls (Ontario). We - OK, I - had it all planned for some full (and fun) days.

The kids were very excited, we even had a count down on the wall in the kitchen.

Finally the day came, the car was packed. And we were off!

We are half way to Niagara, and Kyle turns to me "you packed his catheters and stuff right?" I said "Yes, you put the Halloween bag in the car, right?" "Umm, no."
Not again! But I learned something after forgetting all of Nick's catheters when we went to Ottawa in December. I have a backup pack in the car. 4 days worth, exactly. The ditropan was a bit of an issue. That was in the catheter bag (all neat and put together). I only had 3 doses with me. I collected my own information, contacted our nurse, got her advice (to go to a walk-in clinic, get a prescription, then to the pharmacy to fill it). But made my own choice to just go with what we had.

But after that little stress-bump, we arrived!
Our hotel wasn't going to be ready for a couple of hours so we went to the Butterfly Conservatory as our first outing.

 

The kids thoughts it was so neat! With all the butterfly's!
They didn't stay still enough for any to land close to them

 

But there was groupings of butterflies that the kids could really get up close and see them. They were so colourful! (Even though in the picture it looks like most of them were brown, the inside of the brown ones were bright blue.

We were able to get some pictures, with all the lush scenery.
This is Katheryn's newest pose-face. That tongues doesn't stay in!

And they were not that impressed when I wanted a picture with the kids. I didn't push it (thinking we'll have lots of opportunity in the next couple of days for a family photo).

Nickolas loved exploring, he liked the butterflies, but what really interested him was the turtle, and the waterfall! (Perfect for Niagara Falls)

They had a path, but also alot of places that connected the path by stairs. Katheryn of course always wanted to go up and down the stairs, and Kyle and Nick would just catch up.
But Katheryn really didn't want to be that far away from her brother!

When we finished in the conservatory, and the gift shop Katheryn really wanted to do some puddle jumping!

She soaked everything! But had so much fun doing it.
Her shoes were soaked for days. Luckily we brought an extra pair, because we were planning on alot of walking

Before heading to our hotel we stopped for some water-watching.
This is the whirlpool, and we watched a couple of boats full of people going through the rapids. Looked like alot of fun

Nick likes having his chair, but also loves when he just stand and move when he wants.

Katheryn LOVES her wings from the gift shop!

Except of course when she tried to fly between beds in the hotel room.
But in hotel rooms you are almost required to jump on the beds!