Saturday, March 30th we headed to Niagara Falls. It was a rainy drive through Canada and the only excitement was eating at McDonald's where the cashier was surprised to find out that we were Americans. Our give away was when my mom tried to use a McDonald's gift card and when I asked for a yogurt parfait- apparently Canada doesn't believe in those. We also had the fun of Google Maps not cooperating (even after I agreed to pay $5/day for the foreign country data). Thankfully it was a straight shot there so we made it despite Google Maps failings.
When we finally arrive in Niagara Falls on the Canadian side it was still raining so we decided we would visit the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum first. We encountered a fun dinosaur themed miniature golf on our short walk to the museum. Once at the Museum the kids had a blast with all the fun facts and hands on exhibits. I honestly think the kids liked the Museum more than Niagara Falls.
Steven with the wax figure of the tallest man on record. They had a video playing of this man on a TV show interview which was really cool to see. Below is Lucy with the wax replica of the shortest recorded man. She was taller than him!
Tyler enjoyed looking like a fat man and the he had to pose with the replica of the man with the longest nose because he thought it looked like a Villager from Minecraft.
Above the kids were posing in the eye of a needle. This exhibit showed tiny things that a man made. Below you have Ben with a dog made from old toys. It was fun to see the different toys on him up close- I thought it was really cool.
Above there was a giant Lite-Brite and Lucy had fun making her name on it. Below Steven and Ben trick you into thinking Ben is a giant and Steven has grown tiny.
When we got out of the Museum the rain had abated so we decided to walk down to the falls. The weather was in the 50's and was supposed to drop that night so it seemed like the best time to see the falls. It wasn't too bad of a walk- 15/20 minutes. Part of the walk involved going over a sign that told us not to walk on the trail because it isn't maintained in the winter. Since there was no snow we figured we'd take our chances and walk on the trail. The kids felt like we were doing something extremely unlawful and were sure we'd get arrested. Lucy still talks about how we walked where we weren't supposed to. Pretty sure she'll share that one with everyone.
The Niagara Falls were amazing. And going off season paid off because it wasn't crowded at all. We saw the American Falls first and it was cool to see the chunks of ice in front of the falls and still see them flowing behind. With lack of crowds we were able to take lots of pictures.
Next up were the Horseshoe Falls. They seemed to have such a pretty blueish color to them.
There are not a lot of things open off season in Niagara. Too icy for boat rides and for the Cave of the Winds Tour. Too cold for the zipline. But Journey Behind the Falls was open so we decided we should do it. Journey Behind the Falls took us down an elevator and into some tunnels where we could "journey behind the falls." It was neat to hear the rushing of the water- almost like an open car window on the freeway. This picture is of Ben with the falls rushing behind him.
There was also a great side view of the Horseshoe Falls.
When we finished journey behind the falls we did a little Souvenir shopping. Everyone but Steven got a stuffie. They all chose Canadian bears. Afterwards we made the journey back to our car- this time walking around the sign so we didn't have to look rebellious going over it. When we got back to our car we decided to walk to a nearby Burger King for dinner. This was a pretty cool looking Burger King.
Once our bellies were full we headed to our AirBNB in Niagara Falls, NY. As we crossed the Canadian border we got confused and thought we were paying the bridge tolls instead of proving citizenship so Tyler gave Border Officer a twenty dollar bill by accident. The Officer was real confused and then real suspicious of us but thankfully he ended up letting us through.
This was our first experience with an AirBNB and it was a good one. They were just a short drive from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls which was super convenient but it also meant it was kind of in a rough part of town. Thankfully the house itself was well kept and it had an alarm and nest doorbell that helped us feel pretty secure (even if I still had a nightmare about someone coming into our room- so real feeling and creepy). Really though, it was so nice to have our own rooms. Grams got one, we got another and the kids got share the third one. Then there was the joy of not having to go to bed when the kids did but getting to hang out in the living room watching cable tv. I think I am pretty sold on AirBNB's for our giant family vs hotels.
When Penny went to bed that night she was complaining that her ear hurt. Thankfully I had packed Tylenol for kids and earache drops so I gave her both and she slept well. I prayed hard for her ear to be ok and miraculously come morning she complained about it no more. I am so grateful for that tender mercy.
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