Arriving at Niagara Falls

Today has been an awesome day! We just got to Niagara Falls and already we are having a fantastic time. Jesse is squeezing in a quick vest treatment, so I have time for a short update on our day.

We left the farm early this morning to hit the road for our six hour drive to Niagara Falls. It was a pretty drive with lots of Fall colors and views of Lake Erie.

Road to Niagara

We arrived at the Canadian border right around 2:00 and were greeted by a border guard with a very Canadian accent. He asked a few questions and let us right through.

Crossing the border

We had no problem finding our hotel. Since we arrived much earlier than check in time we weren’t sure if our room would be ready yet. But it was a good thing we were early, Jesse scored us a great room upgrade by telling the clerk it was our anniversary (my Dad has taught him a few hotel tricks… good training).

Our hotelHallwayOur room

We had decided to be frugal and not pay for a room with a falls view, but what can you do when they give it to you anyways??

Room view

Since we got here earlier than expected we decided to head down right away to get on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. That’s something I didn’t do last time I was here, and something Jesse really wanted to do. It was SO worth it!

Maid of the MistWet people

I can’t even describe how awesome it was to be at the bottom of the falls. It was quite a long ride too… they drive to the bottom of the falls and sit there for a while. It’s something I’ll never forget.

In the Falls

We were absolutely soaked by the time the ride was over. We each gained about five pounds of water and I had to roll up my jeans for our long and freezing walk back to our hotel. I’m glad we did that today so we don’t have worry about changing out of wet clothes in the middle of the day tomorrow.

American FallsCanadian FallsElevator

Completely awesome, AWESOME day… can’t wait to explore the falls more tomorrow!

Nuggets: Cold Rainy Day

The light rain started last night, continued all through the night, and all day long without stop. Needless to say we didn’t get to spend any time enjoying the outdoors today. At home it’s usually warm when it rains, but here it was quite chilly. So instead we stayed warm and dry with some indoor activities.

::Grandma did some more canning first thing this morning. She was given some grapes that she made into grape juice. I’m still pretty fascinated with the preserving process. I did freeze plenty of fruit this year, but I haven’t been brave enough to try canning on my own.

More canningGrape juice

::The men worked on manly things together in the barn this morning. They got our car ready for the next leg of our trip, changing the oil and the wiper blades.

Changing oilMen working

::I spent more time looking out my favorite, big kitchen window. I just can’t get tired of seeing Fall outside. It’s so pretty, and this is the first time I’ve been here at this time of the season. I’m really hoping the beans get harvested before we leave. We’ll have to wait and see if it gets dry enough.

Favorite viewWindow view

::We brought a huge pile of jackets… the one I want is always at the bottom. They are all different thicknesses for however cold I am at the moment. I’ve been wearing two at once to be warm enough outside since I don’t have a super thick jacket.

Jackets

::We have a high volume of pills in this family. Everyone has their own pill containers, I even have mine for my daily allergy medicines. Mildred noted today that we all happen to have different ones, which is good thing so that we aren’t trying to take the wrong pills.

Pill containers

::Family meals have been interesting this week. With each person having their own dietary restrictions I don’t think there has been a meal yet where we’ve all eaten the same thing. It’s worked out just fine though. We’ve each had plenty to eat.

Family dinner

::Tonight ended with a game of dominoes. We always play dominos when we’re here and we only play when we’re here. Mildred won by far. We tried to gang up on her at the end, but it didn’t work. It’s been a while since we’ve played all the way through each number, but we had started early enough tonight that we had enough time to finish.

Dominos 1Dominos 2Dominos 3

We leave in the morning to head to Niagara Falls. I’m so excited for the next couple of days that we will spend there. I’m sure we will be taking tons of pictures to share. Time for bed now to be ready for our early morning.

Apple Picking

As soon as we had decided to plan another trip to Grandpa and Grandma’s farm in Ohio, my first question to Grandma was whether we would be too late for apple season… since they weren’t quite ready when we left here several weeks ago. She said we would probably be too late, but it turns out there were just a few left. Grandma said she had been watching them, hoping they would stay on the tree just a little longer for me.

Apple picking

Thankfully, I had my first opportunity to pick apples today! We used a nifty tool to get down the ones all the way at the top of the tree. It was a little tricky until I got the hang of it. And I definitely had an apple fall from the tree right onto my forehead. It was so worth it to brave the cold to experience some Fall activities.

Jerry picking applesPicking 1Picking 2Picking 3Picking 4Bucket of apples

We also enjoyed walking around a little and seeing what the farm looks like in the Fall. Even though we were here so recently, the farm sure looks different with the change in the weather. It’s pretty so see the seasonal changes. I spent quite a bit of time today just looking out the window.

Colorful treeField in the fallTall treePlaying in leavesKicking leaves

Later on we cooked up some of the apples we had picked. Mildred made an apple pie and I made some cinnamon apples for myself. I’m pretty excited that I am the ONLY person to have touched the apples before I ate them. I picked them, peeled them, cut them, baked them.. and ate them! Talk about minimal processing… love it!!

Apples on tableApple toppingApple to bakeBaked apples

They sure were yummy! Yay for participating in another farm activity!