Tkach Family: Niagara Falls

Our family vacation started out with a trip to Niagara Falls. We traveled through Canada to head out to New York to visit Trevor's aunt and decided it was a must stop along the way. The kids were really excited to see the waterfalls and were even more excited to visit another country! Our vacation was full of "firsts" for our little ones and it was such a joy to watch their faces as they experienced things for the first time. Obviously being in a foreign country was a first for the kids. After we checked in to our hotel we took a taxi to the main street where all the action was. First time in a taxi for the kids. We went on the Skywheel which is a giant Ferris wheel that overlooks the Falls. Then we ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Not a first for the kids, but definitely a favorite! After dinner we went down to get a closer look at the falls. Lauren and I were really excited to see the Falls lit up at night. On our walk down there it started to sprinkle, but we didn't think much of it. While we were observing the Falls a storm blew in very fast and we got soaked! We headed for cover as it started thundering and lightening. We stood between two buildings as the wind blew rain all around us and continued to get us wet. Once it seemed to have let up we headed for a bus stop to take us back to the hotel. As we were walking it started pouring again with 40mph wind gusts which made it hard to stay upright, especially in flip flops! We were almost to the bus stop when a tree branch fell on my head! It was a pretty good size branch too, but luckily it didn't knock me over as I was carrying Carson. He didn't get hit by it because I was shielding him pretty good from the rain already. The bus was not able to take us all the way up the hill to our hotel so we had to find another way. It had finally stopped raining by then and warmed up a bit too. We found a people mover that went up the side of the hill to get back to the hotel. Lauren and I were super bummed that we didn't get to see the Falls illuminated, but we were glad we were safe because there were a few moments when we were all scared. The next morning we were able to get close to the Falls and take some pictures. It was overcast and windy, but at least it wasn't storming! We decided to skip the Maid of the Mist boat ride as we had already had our fill of getting wet! We had a great time in Niagara Falls despite the weather. Maybe someday we will make it back to enjoy it more and see it at night.