Niagara Falls Vacation

After the successful Papke/Knight wedding we headed the short 45 minute drive up to Canada and crossed over to Niagara Falls. We had spent the late morning with Andrew & Rebekah and had lunch with them so we conveniently traveled while the girls napped. The border patrol line was not long either so that went quickly. Other than the Canadian gave us wrong directions to our hotel, we should have trusted Garmin, but we figured it out either way.

This was the view from our room when we checked in. We could see the American and Horseshoe Falls very well.


A close up from our room - they had windows that opened right up with a guardrail so you could take really good pictures.
The American Falls
We decided to stay close and walk around the hotel area so we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. There are monkeys close by that "came alive" every now and then and a tree frog above Abby so she was staying close because they were going to get her.
Our one tourist item for the evening was the Sky Wheel, we thought we would get a good view of the area. As you can see Abby has no issues with the heights.
Surviving the Sky Wheel


Here is the Sky Wheel at night. We stayed by most of the tourist attractions and everything was lit up at night.
This was our hotel Sheraton On the Falls, we were on the 19th floor.
Yes ice cream in Canada tastes the same as in the US, but we had to make sure.
Next day, having breakfast at the Fallsview Restaurant. It's on the 14th floor of our hotel, very nice view of the falls of course.
Our activity for the day included the Maid of the Mist. So here we are - I think we're in front of the American Falls. It got a little bumpier in front of the Canadian falls.

These are the Canadian Falls

We survived and didn't get that wet, behind us are the Canadian Falls
We were walking to a restaurant called The Keg (not a microbrewery apparently) and there was a rainbow in front of the American falls so I had to get a picture of that.
The afternoon was spent at the waterpark connected to our hotel. This was Abby's area.
The slides were for Tim and I. Abby was only tall enough to ride a couple slides because they won't let you go down with an adult. We had a good time though.

A stop at the Hershey store of course. At Andrew's wedding some of his friends asked me how it was to have a mini-me just following me around. Sometimes I think Abby is changing so much she doesn't look that much like me - however with this picture, there is no doubt she is my daughter.

Tuesday morning we headed to our last attraction for the falls - Journey Behind the Falls. This takes you behind the Canadian Falls to two lookout portals and then down to an observation deck that is 25 ft from the base of the falls.
The observation deck.
Just an impressive attraction all around.
Of course we had to check out the top of the falls as well.


Then it was back to the US and on to Buffalo so we would be close for our flight the next morning. So we checked out the Buffalo Zoo. Abby is feeding - or has already fed a giraffe a cracker. She did it without any help from me.
Digging for dinosaur bones.
Riding the carousel. These ponies didn't go up or down and were shorter to the ground to get on so I think she liked them best.
There was a Little People section of the zoo and it had a train so of course we had to ride that as well.
And here is Megan at the zoo, she was having a good time too as soon as we got her out of the carseat.

That pretty much wraps up our vacation. We survived the flights back and were pretty tired all the way around. This past weekend we went to the Boone County Fair so if I ever catch up on our activities you'll see photos of that. This weekend we head down to the Lake again for another girls weekend with the GBS ladies.

Andrew's Wedding Weekend

We have had a large whirlwind of activities! My brother Andrew was married on 7/11 up in Albion, NY so entered in to our first family vacation as a foursome that involved a flight. This was Megan's first flight and Abby has flown 3 times before however gets more "challenging" every time. This was her first flight where we had to pay for a seat for her. We enjoyed the extra room and she now has embedded in her head that "ding ding" means put your seat belt on. The flights out went well, we cut it a little close on time with our airport arrival and short layovers, but made it without any issues.

Megan slept pretty much the whole time.

Abby was awake pretty much the whole time.
Abby continued her "I'll do it myself" mentality and took care of her own carry on luggage.
Friday evening was the rehearsal dinner at the Stone Yard Bar & Grill in Brockport, NY. The restaurant was located right on the Erie Canal which was nice.

Here is the happy couple Rebekah and Andrew, less than 24 hours left!


Here is my Dad giving his toast to Andrew and Rebekah.
Tim is multi-tasking.
Here is Rebekah's family.
The Papke Family - not a bad looking group.


Here is Abby feeding the ducks on the Erie Canal. One of the owners kept giving her bread to feed the ducks all night, I think they were well fed that night.

This is Andrew's group of high school friends that made the trip - minus Justin Kron who showed up on Saturday. They are a good group of guys that have stayed close. Then of course Abby was in the picture as well. She was attached to Rebekah for most of the night.

Feeding the ducks again with Grandma and Grandpa Papke.
The Papke ladies - Ann, Colleen, & Rebekah.
Here is the reception tent before the wedding. The flowers were beautiful and everything worked out just perfect with the weather. We had a little thunderstorm scare but the weather forecasts were wrong and everything cleared up and was a great night.


The wedding cake - simple and elegant (and tasty!).

The wedding ceremony site. Chad and Adana (sorry if I spelled that wrong) are on the left and Tony and Joe LaBrecque on the right.
Andrew is waiting patiently.

Rebekah being escorted by her step-father Neil.
The Vows, - the sun came out through the trees on them right as they started their vows.



The rings.

This wasn't the official first kiss - but the better shot of the two. Here's to the newest Mr. & Mrs. Papke.

The Powers side of cousins that made the trip.
Megan - just chilling. She napped through the ceremony.
The wedding party.


The newlyweds with their parents.

My parents, Andrew, and Uncle Joe. The wedding and reception were at his house.
The Papke Family.
The first dance.
Mixing it up with the parents.

That pretty much wraps up the wedding pictures due to a low battery situation. The wedding and reception were very nice. Great food and drinks, and the Regina crew kept things rolling until after 2 AM from what I heard. The Schmidt family on the other hand called it quits around 10:30 after Abby had crashed. We came out the next day to spend a little more time with Andrew and Rebekah before we headed to Niagara Falls and Canada. That is another blog though.