We just returned from our much anticipated vacation -- and boy was it ever eventful.
As many of you knew, I planned a very aggressive vacation with the intention of modifying it as we went if necessary. Little did we knew we would need to modify two hours into it.
We started out with a drive to Niagara Falls, NY. We left Friday night and drove several hours to Lexington, KY for the night, giving us only a 8+ hour drive to NY the next day. Well, even though our boys (7, 5 and 3) have driven to Phoenix, AZ and Daytona Beach, FL among other long drives several times, this time, every few hours Wyatt would yell from the backseat asking if we were going home. He was "all done vacation" before we even left. Needless to say it was a LONG drive to New York the second day. Of course, the fact that almost all of Ohio was filled with road construction didn't help.
But we made it and enjoyed (well, I'm not sure how much Wyatt enjoyed the Falls) a couple days at Niagara Falls both on the New York and Canadian side. This is the river as we crossed over into Canada looking away from the Falls.
It was beautiful and awe inspiring and a gorgeous day!
Here, Jack and Wyatt are looking at the Falls.
We got a few smiles out of him.
I was completely in awe of the view and loved every minute of it.
I don't know why, but I just love pictures of the boys looking at things. And I love when we can get all three boys together.
The spray from the Falls was perfect on such a hot, sunny day.
This is the smaller Falls that we walked to the night we arrived. Wyatt was freaked out then and it took quite a bit to get him to get to want to look at anything else.
We took the Behind the Waterfall tour and boy was that an adventure! First, Wyatt was just freaked out and crying that he didn't want to go, then Ethan was crying because he didn't want to wear this rain poncho. It took everything we had to get the boys in them and out to look.
Ethan actually seemed to enjoy it after he got over the long elevator ride down (he HATES elevators).
Wyatt, on the other hand, was completely freaked out and didn't stop crying the entire time. He kept saying, "I'm scared, I'm scared."
Jack loved every second of it and wanted to do EVERYTHING!
Jason took Jack and Ethan back out while I stayed inside trying to calm Wyatt down and convince him that we were almost done.
I love this photo of Ethan and Jack - look at those smiles!
Back up top we just walked down along the pathway, enjoying the view, the spray and the rainbows!
Jack got hold of the camera to take a few photos of Jason and I.
Ethan photobombed us - I love it!!
Wyatt did NOT like being up on the railing for a photo - even though I had a hold of him.
Jack and the rainbow he spotted.
Trying to get all the boys to get a photo but Ethan and Wyatt were not cooperating.
This was the best we could do.
While in Niagara, Jason and I decided that there was NO WAY we could drive all the way out to Maine for the beach and then back home again. It would be way too much car time for kids who couldn't seem to go more than 4 or 5 hours without melting down. But for the life of us we couldn't figure out what to do between New York and Georgia that the kids would like.
Luckily we had friends in Buffalo that we stopped to visit with on our way out and Maddy saved the day. She told us about her trip to North Carolina and how they stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge on the way. And indoor water park was just the thing to save the tail end of the vacation!
The boys LOVED it and how great to have it right there so you could go play for a few hours, go back to your room to rest and then go back and play again later. And the second day we were there (we stayed at the one outside Cincinnati) it rained almost all day but we didn't notice because we were inside playing in the water!!
The first day we put Ethan on one of the kiddie slides but didn't realize how fast it would pull him down the slide and he went under the water and it scared him, so it took him awhile to want to get back in the water. But by the end of the second day he was enjoying the slides again.
Wyatt was quite the little daredevil and really took to the slides. He didn't need much encouragement at all. The only slide he didn't like was the big family slide. We walked to the top of the park (one of the lifeguards said it was 94 steps up) and then, even though we were on a raft altogether, it went down pretty fast, which seemed to scare him. Ethan loved it though!!
Jack and Ethan loved to race down these slides together.
Jack LOVED the lazy river and Wyatt eventually enjoyed it but Ethan never did.
The little kid play area. Wyatt loved those slides and would just slide down, swim over, climb up and run over and do it all over again.
Look at that smile!
This stop totally saved the vacation. It was the perfect place to take the boys and we all had so much fun. We cut a few days off our trip but it ended up better, as now we get a few days at home together without the stress of Jason working. We can't wait to take the boys back again - either to the one in Charlotte, NC or Williamsburg, VA.
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