Niagara Falls

We tried Niagara Falls again this year. Last year we were rained on and didn't get much sight seeing done. This year it was perfect, so beautiful! We met my pen pal Brenda and her husband Scott along with their two daughters, Kaity and Paige there. They drove up from Pennsylvania which was about a 3 1/2 hour drive which was the same for us from Brian's Grandmother's cottage. Many of you know the story of how Brenda and I met, but for those of you who don't or weren't at our wedding I'll share. It's a neat story!

Brenda's mom and my mom wrote in to a children's T.V. show called the "Big Blue Marble" (it was kind of like a Sesame Street/Romper Room show). Anyway you could write in and they would pair you up with a pen pal of similar age and sex. So our mom's did and we were matched up.
This was when we were four, so our mom's did dictation, I'm sure, for a while, and then when we were old enough we took over. Anyway we wrote and talked on the phone this way for years. Occasionally, we would lose contact for a year or so, but someone would always start the writing up again. When I was in junior high Brenda's parents came out to Ca. on a business trip and visited our home. So I had met her parents in person but never her.
When I became engaged and set a wedding date Brenda told me she was coming out for it. So the week before my wedding was the first time we met in person after 23 years of correspondence. It was so great. I was afraid we wouldn't have anything in common and that it might be awkward, but it was anything but. We got along so well and had a great time.
The following year I got to return the favor and flew out to Pa. to see Brenda get married. We both had our kids close together. Paige was born in June and Braden in November, so it was nice to have someone let me know what was in store ahead of time. It has been a great trip on our road of friendship and we were so glad to get to spend some time with them on our trip to Canada.

Here are Braden and Paige at Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum. They are sitting on a chair especially made for one of the world's largest men. It was so fun to see the two of them interact. Paige is like a baby genius and Braden, well, is Braden. They were adorable together.





Here they are at the Lego's Brick City. This place was amazing. There are tons of structures made to scale out of Lego's. They are unbelievable! They had tables with Lego's of all sizes for the kids to play with. They were really concentrating on their creations.





It wasn't until after lunch and naps that Paige and Braden really hit it off. Here they are planning their escape from the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant. They both got shirts that said, "My First Hard Rock Cafe Shirt". How can a parent pass that up?