Visit to Buffalo and Niagara Falls

This last weekend we took a long drive over to Buffalo, New York. Adam had a talk to give on Monday so we took the opportunity to make a visit to Niagara. We stayed with some great people. The Hemmer's have 2 kids, Meghan (4), and Ben (1). They were instantly welcoming and of course, our boys loved the kids in minutes. We left on Friday night, drove 4 hours and stayed overnight in a surprisingly nice motel just off the turnpike. On Saturday, after making an 40 mile trip back home, we realized that we had gone the wrong way on the turnpike. Of course, when you have to be in the car an extra 1.5 hours with 2 kids this just made our day. We made it to Buffalo at 3pm and spent the rest of the day just relaxing. On Sunday we left early to visit Niagara Falls. Here are some of the pics:

This was the first pic of the day, which is always a "this is what my child looks like officer" pic. They sure made it easy to get a good view of their natural faces.

The only family photo we could get and the boys were too shy of the strangers taking it.

We got pretty close to the rapids and Jonathan loved to look but the sound was a bit much.

After seeing the American side of the Falls we headed over to the aquarium. We made it just in time for the sea lion show. Jonathan just loved this trip. He wanted to see everything twice and sat so still for the show. It was amazing to see.

After the aquarium we needed some outdoor running around time. Well, Adam and I walked about 8 miles that day, so the boys needed the running time.

More pics of the American side of the falls.

We walked over to the Canadian side. This totally freaked Alex out. He did not want to leave the US. It totally scared him. Luckily, both boys decided to take a nap so Adam and I had a little bit of time to walk around and enjoy the show.

On Monday while Adam was at the university, Jen Hemmer and I took the kiddos to the Buffalo zoo. The day was perfect, although a little windy.

No trip to the zoo is finished without some time at the park.

Juice box break.

This tree was the best to climb for their age.

We had a wonderful time. The weekend was topped off with some spectacular negotiating skills with the rental car company which gave us 50% for the weekend and another weekend free since the car they gave us was a beater.