GAA: Niagara Falls

This is the last post for the road-trip across the U.S.!!! Now that we are getting into the holidays, I figured I better get this done before the New Year!
We spent a couple days in Niagara Falls to enjoy the incredible views and do some of the tours. If you haven't been there, I highly suggest you go!! Stay on the Canadian side - it was much nicer than the New York side where we stayed.

We did the Cave of the Winds tour where you get to feel some of the force of Bridal Veil Falls on the Hurricane deck! They outfit you with a poncho and sandals before you go but there's no way to avoid getting wet!

Hurricane deck!

Gavin wasn't sure what to make of the dousing. At first he seemed to enjoy getting wet when it was a slight mist. But he got increasingly unhappy the longer he was getting wet - and that water was cold!

Hurricane deck

We also did a tour that took us on a bus ride to see different viewpoints of the Falls and included the Maid of the Mist boat tour.

American, Bridal Veil & Horseshoe Falls

View from Observation deck

View from Observation deck

Ready for the Maid of the Mist tour!

American & Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Not so happy now that he's wet again!

Video of Horseshoe Falls from Maid of the Mist

Observation deck

Their first time to Canada!

Canadian black squirrel!

For dinner one evening, we went to a rotating restaurant on the Canadian side to get great views of the Falls. Skylon Tower sits about 800 feet above the Falls and gives a 360 degree view while you dine, so it was a wonderful way to see the Falls!

View of American & Bridal Veil Falls

Horseshoe Falls

American & Bridal Veil Falls

Observation deck

Bridal Veil Falls & part of Niagara River

Horseshoe Falls with tour boat

Skylon Tower

Horseshoe Falls

Gavin checking out the views!

Observation deck & American Falls

After dinner, we rode a Ferris wheel which gave us more views of the area including Skylon Tower.

Scary dinosaur at Mini Golf

Ferris Wheel

Getting ready to drive Indy cars

Kid at heart!

On our way back to our hotel, we took more pictures of the Falls - they light them up after dark!

Boys just having fun!

Horseshoe Falls

American & Bridal Veil Falls

All the Falls!

Some Canadian skyline

 We couldn't leave without having a couple cheesy, tourist photos taken. Of course we had to do the barrel over the Falls pic and then a "nice" one with the Falls in the background.

And that FINALLY concludes our road-trip across America!! Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!!

GAA: Family time in Ohio!

Only one more post after this one to complete our road trip posts!! Then everything will be more current! I can't believe it has taken me almost 4 months to post all these pictures but thank you for sticking with us!

So after TN, we drove up through Ohio to visit my family in the Medina area! IT was great to see them but also great because there were kids closer to Gavin's age! So Gavin got to meet his cousins: Jackie and Steve have Ryan, Madison and baby Austen while Brian and Amanda have Jackson and Izzy! Izzy and Gavin are only a couple months apart, so it was cute to see them play together.

Selfie with Izzy!

Gavin photobombing!

Most of the group!

Jackson and Madison are all smiles while Ryan hides

Jackie and baby Austen

Izzy trying to give Gavin a kiss!

Uncle Tony and I

Uncle Joe and G

Brian, Amanda, Izzy, Jackson, Me, Gavin & Carlton

Ryan, Jackie, Austen, Madison, Me, Gavin & Carlton

Joe, Kathy, Jackie, Austen, Me, Gavin, Ryan, Madison & Carlton

Aunt Kathy & baby Austen

Ryan hiding behind Gavin and Madison

Gavin hanging out with Ryan

Gavin's selfie with Joe and Madison

Izzy is very big on giving kisses, she is so sweet!! Gavin had no idea what to make of it! She would hug him too and at the time, he didn't give hugs so he didn't know what to make of that either.

Izzy trying to kiss Gavin again!

It was so nice to see everyone and we were sorry to miss my cousin Joey and his family. Hopefully we will see you all again soon!!

XOXOXO

GAA: Tennessee Family Time!

We dropped south from Missouri and headed to Tennessee to visit Andrew, Carlton's stepson, and his grandparents. Gavin had a great time meeting everyone and really started to walk more!

Andrew and Gavin

Jeanette & Linda

Baby in a cage!

Group photo!

Faith and Gavin

Group photo!

Gavin got to meet Faith, Joe and Zane (Andrew's cousins) along with Linda, Andrew's grandma and Jeanette, Linda's sister! Lots of family time hanging out with kids and working on his walking skills.


Recently, we were finally able to meet up with my friend Jen whom I have known since my undergrad schooling at Northern AZ University!! She moved back to the east coast the year after I moved to San Diego and we hadn't seen each other in about 15 years! So we drove out to visit them at their house and had a great time! We got to meet Jen's three kids, Caitlin now 15, James now 13, and Finley now 11!! So crazy since the last time I saw Jen, she was pregnant with Caitlin. It was so good to catch up with her, meet her kids, and hang out with them! Gavin had a great time exploring their swing set and getting to know everyone.

G & Caitlin

James demonstrating the bike

Gavin pilfering the bike bag

"Don't worry, I've got this!"

Jen squared!

The whole family plus G but missing Tom!

Recent Happenings!!

Taking a quick break from the road-trip blog posts, I thought I'd interject some pictures and news of what we have been up to over the past month or so. Those of you who use Facebook have seen some of my updates but I am including some that were not on Facebook!
We have been thoroughly enjoying one of the local farms, Holmberg, that is only 5 miles away and has the option to pick your own produce. So we have been there a few times this summer to pick raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and peaches!!

Ginormous apple!

Tractor time!

Our haul of berries!

Mmmm...blueberries!!

Yummy peaches!!

Enjoying the music

Water lover!

Gavin has been accompanying Carlton and I on our winery visits around CT. They have a passport program where you can get a stamp for each winery you visit and you can enter into a drawing. The more stamps you have, the greater your chances of winning the grand prize of a trip for two to Malaga Spain! But that requires either 35 stamps for the best chance or 18 for a mediocre chance. Other prizes are available for fewer stamps. The winery challenge has definitely helped us to explore areas of CT that a lot of natives haven't seen! We are loving it!

Water buckets!

Military housing has a splash pad, so Carlton and Gavin checked it out one day and Gavin had a blast!! It took him a little time to get used to the chilly water and figure out the different features but then he loved it!

Oh no!

Incredibles 2

Gavin had his first dental cleaning. We were not sure how it was going to go and since his morning nap was shorter that day, we were half expecting him to be super fussy. But he was really good!!

We also got to enjoy the Essex steam train and steamboat excursion. Andrew, Carlton's stepson, was visiting us so we had to do more exploring while he was here! The steam train was a nice way to see more of the area and the boat ride was cool too.

Andrew ready to depart!

Leaving the station

Gavin charming the ladies on the boat

Gillette castle from the boat

Bald eagle from the boat

Group selfie on the steam boat

Heading back to the train station!

One last video! Gavin loves the thrill of jumping up and down, so I improvised one day and went up and down our hallway to make him laugh. He loved it!!