Thumbs Up!

Yesterday was too cold to get in the water, so swimming lessons consisted of going over water safety. As you can see, Alstan and Elsie we're excited to have their lessons back in the water today!

Back to Ballet

Yes, this little poser is showing us that she had her first ballet class for the summer today!

Swimming Lessons

Today we experienced a beautiful thing: Both the kids really enjoyed their first day of swimming lessons this summer!

Catching up on a Lost Opportunity

Alstan asked if he could research early American farming since we weren't able to visit the Kline Creek Farm. We had told the kids that it was a farm that would teach us about early farming when we still thought we would be able to go. He was hooked!

Heading Home

We were supposed to either stop at the Kline Creeks Farm or the Indiana sand dunes yesterday on our way to Chicago, before heading home. We did not have time for either of those due to construction in Ohio and Chicago traffic jams. After spending eight and a half hours in the car yesterday, Alstan asked dad if we could have more stops today. Although we only had another four hours to home, dad made sure we stopped three times. This was our last stop in Madison.

Day in Cleveland

Although our day was rather rainy, we stopped at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. After the zoo, dad surprised the kids with a stop at Sweeties Candy Warehouse. This just happens to be the largest candy warehouse in the country.

Last Day at the Falls

We woke up early to check out the Canadian side one more time, without so many people, before heading across the border. We had our last, and probably best, Niagara Falls experience on the U.S. side. We did the "Cave of the Winds" tour.

Hurricane Deck was worth doing several times. By the time we left, Elsie and dad had gone into this corner four times. It was amazing how powerful even just a small side spray from that waterfall is!

Chillin' at a Beach

After a bit of shopping, per Elsie's request, dad found us this beach to chill out at. Alstan can only handle so much shopping, so this was something they both could enjoy.

Dino Golf

Check out the mini-golf course we found!

Experiencing the Falls

We took a boat trip to the bottom of the falls. It was pretty hot today, so the idea of getting wet by the falls seemed like the perfect idea. Both kids seemed to really enjoy this!! Mom and dad really enjoyed this breathtaking view as well.

We just had to come back to see the fireworks over the falls at night.

Niagara Falls

We walked down to check out the falls this evening. What a fantastic sight! It made the kids, especially Alstan, a bit nervous. I think they both still enjoyed it though.

Canadian "African Lion Safari"

On our way to Niagara Falls, we stopped at the African Lion Safari. We didn't tell the kids we were stopping here, so it was neat to see their realization as Alstan read the sign.

It was a wild life reserve that you viewed by driving your car through it. We had some really cool close encounters...

This photo was taken by Elsie. You can see she had dad's phone in the photo above. She took LOTS of photos, but some were a bit blurry :)

During this portion we rode a train through part of the reserve. Some of the animals were so close you could touch them, if it wasn't that we were asked not to.