From the Heart Designs and Photography: August 2007

Well Mat left yesterday for overseas but then came home last night becasue his plane was broken down. Again he left today and I got a call a few minutes ago from him stating again that his plane is not ready and they should be leaving tomorrow. They did get a hotel so that it will not confuse the children anymore.

Mat Jr is a handful now! He is moving all over the place and getting into everything! He is standing up and holding onto the furniture and walking! I can't believe that we have come to this already! It took Paige so long to get this down and Mathew is learning so fast! He went from learning to sit last Sunday to standing on Monday and then by the end of the week he was cruising! We caught him standing by himself not holding on to a thin the other day!! He is going to be going soon enough!

Paige is 4.. attitude and all. She definately feels like she deserves all the attention and everything that comes along with it! She doesn't want to go to school somedays and can't wait to go others. Sh will start at the Elementary school in a week and I am excited for her. It is going to be hard though since Daddy is not here and she is already dealing with that! I hope that she transitions pretty easily though.

So we had a great vacation with my Father and his wife and kids to Niagara Falls. We stayed at a little motel on Lake Ontario for 3 days and then headed across to Canada to finish off our trip.

The hotel in NY was awesome. The people there were great. They owned the motel and lived right across the street from in. They were full of information. They enjoyed telling about the a rea and the differnt Canadian Booze lol. The offered my father and my husband drinks many times while we were there. They held a campfire for all of the people staying at the motel one of the nights. It really was home away from home. I'd highly recommend a visit to see them.

In NY we visited the American falls. We purchased the Passport to see the 6 attractions they are famous for there...Maid of the Mist, Cave of the winds, The Aquarium, The movie about the falls, The Gorge Discovery area and trails, the scenic trolley ride, and the observation tower (Part of Maid of the Mist tour). It was great to revisit the Falls. There is so much that I did not remember and some that I did.

While we were in NY we also went on the Lockport Cave tour and Boat ride. That was very neat to see.

When it was time to go to the Canadian side, we were worried we would not get through and back. My father thought that we needed our Birth Certificates as well as our photo IDs... but luckily just our IDs were needed and we were fine.

We stayed at the Skyline Brock and had a gorgeous view of the falls morning noon and night. It was great to see them all lit up at night. We were able to see the fireworks twice while there. We walked through some of the gardens they had there, ate at Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe and Hard Rock Cafe. WOW... expensive! Taco Bell was over $9 just for a 2 taco value meal! We went on the BIIIGGG Ferris wheel and had an awesome view. We also went to the Water Park that was above our hotel actually on top of the parking garage.

Paige Celebrated her 4th Birthday in Canada. We decorate the room after she fell asleep and then laid her presents on the bed in the morning.. woke her up singing the Wiggles song .. Have a Happy Birthday Paige... and then she unwrapped her presents. We went to breakfast came back and the housekeeping were coming out of our room giggling. When we reached the door it had been decorated.. we went in and the ballons that we had blown up were hung up and the room was decorated with those and toilet paper streamers! There was even a gift from them on the bed! HOW THOUGHTFUL!

Paige also learned how to swim while we were on vacation... I guess she thought that she should learn one more trick before turning 4! She got in the water faster than I could and off she went treading water for the 1st time! I was impressed. She did not even get nervous about not being able to touch. She got brave wnough to even jump from the step...go under... and come up treading! WHAT A BIG GIRL!