Niagara Falls

After Toronto, John and I headed over to Niagara to see those famous falls.  Much like the Grand Canyon, words and pictures don't really do them justice.  I found they really are worth the hype.

Before I get into it though, I feel I have to mention that sometimes I feel a bit braggy when I am talking about the cool places I occasionally get to tag along with John while he works, but then I remember I am a single mom most of the time and this is pretty much the silver lining to that whole deal.  These are my "dates."  Most married couples get to go out regularly to dinner and a movie or whatever, but John's not around much so it's more like we save up all those little dates for one big one a couple times a year. And sometimes this arrangement of ours sucks and sometimes it doesn't.  Like this trip. This trip was fun.  Especially this little leg of it.

Right from the start everything was perfect.  It started when we walked into the Marriott and walked up to the counter to check into our room.   While the guy was pulling up our reservation information, I pointed to a picture on the counter of a room with an amazing view overlooking the Falls.  I (semi-jokingly) told the guy I wanted that view.  He smiled at me rather condescendingly, as if to say "I'm sure you would lady, but more than likely you will be on the back side of the building with a nice view of a couple other buildings." 

Then John's profile popped up on the screen, and he was all "Oh! Mr. Berrett! Thank you for staying with us!  I'm happy to tell you we will be upgrading you to a suite, no extra charge, with a Jacuzzi tub, fireplace, and you'll be getting that view Mrs. Berrett!"  I kid you not.  Marriott LOVES John.  And they should, John gives them more money annually than we pay in our mortgage each year.

So, yeah, the view was awesome.

View from our room.  On the left side are the American Falls, and the US of A in the top half of the picture, and the Canadian (horseshoe) falls on the right side with Canada in the bottom half of the picture.

Our plans were to eat dinner, then go on this walk behind the falls.  We got the scoop on where to eat in town (the whole town is full of your standard American chain restaurants) or your cheesy over priced touristy places.  Apparently there's a rotating restaurant at the top of this big needle that is not worth it at all.  While the view might be great, supposedly the food sucks. So we went to this little place all the locals go to one street over from the main drag. It was a good choice.

Almost before we finished dinner, this major storm rolled in and we pretty much raced the dark gray clouds to our hotel.  The wind picked up, and the temperature dropped and we barely made it to the hotel before being drenched.  Just like that.  It was crazy.  At first I was a little disappointed to not be able to head over to the falls right away, and was a little upset the storm would probably stop them from shooting off the fireworks over the falls like they do every weekend night.

But then the lightning started.  And Holy Cow.  I have never in my life seen anything like it.  This whole lighting storm centered itself over the Canadian side of the Falls, and the combination of the mist, and the changing colored lights the city illuminates the falls with at night, and the raging electrical storm over head was phenomenal.  John and I turned on the fireplace and just sat on the couch and snuggled under a blanket and watched the show through our giant wall sized window. 

I didn't want to go to bed. I knew I would probably never see anything like that again.

But eventually I did, because I knew we had a busy day the next day.

So we totally did the Maid of the Mist boat trip.  That was cool.  And very wet. 

Here we are in the midst of the mist.  You seriously couldn't see a thing.

I had to take my glasses off because they were more of a hindrance.

I had always heard that the "Canadian side was better" but never having been before, I never understood that comment.  In my head the "Falls" were merely the horseshoe shaped falls you see in pictures and one side was American and the other Canadian.  In my head they each had an opposite, but equal view.  Now I get it.  There are actually two sets of falls, separated by an island.  And the way it's situated, the American side doesn't have much of a view.  

My guess is those are mostly Americans without passports.

After that, we did the walk behind the falls thing.  That was cool. And crazy.  And wet. 

What's that old Disney Jungle Cruise joke? "The 8th Wonder of the World!  The Backside of Water!!" Or something like that.

And the sheer power of it all was unbelievable.  And then you hear stories like the 63 year old school teacher being the first person to survive going over it in a barrel.  With her cat. She survived with only minor scratches.  A cat?  Really?!?

I was fascinated by this boat. Why is it there? How long has it been there?  Why do they leave it there? (It's called the "Old Scow" and it's been there about 100 years. It's too dangerous to try and salvage it.)

Smack dab in the middle of the picture you can make out the "Old Scow" just up stream from the horseshoe falls.

We also had to try Tim Hortons.  (donuts and hot chocolate) I thought they were pretty good donuts.  I won't go out on a limb and say "Best EVER" but definitely better than most. (Hot chocolate too.)  I

LOVED the little cakey Timbits.  (donut holes) and I usually don't care for cake donuts.

They don't do "dozens" in Canada.  I mistakenly asked for a dozen.  Personally, I think this is the one time when the metric system is not better.

And that's pretty much it.

On our way home, since we had a little bit of a flight delay in Buffalo, NY we were able to grab some wings from the Anchor Bar, the establishment where Buffalo Wings were invented.

When in Rome, right?

Canadada

No, I didn't accidentally misspell 'Canada'.  That's how it's said around here.  With the 'da' on the end. Canadada. That's what Christopher called it for a little while there a few years ago and it stuck. 

Christopher- "Where's daddy?"
me- "Canada." (traveling for work as usual)
Christopher- "I a go a Canadada"
me- "Me too, buddy.  Me too."

I had never had the opportunity to visit either of our neighbors to the North or South (Canada and Mexico) and I really wanted to go to Canada. I've heard good things.  Especially the non-winter months.

Anyways, John was heading to Toronto for a business trip, and Grandma offered to watch the kids (since we were up there anyway...) and so I got to go with John!

Pretty clouds.  (My view from the airplane window)

It was fun, except they were having this massive heat wave back east, and it was hot and humid, and so gross. I was taking two showers a day. Living in Arizona people might say to me "Oh, I could never live in Arizona, it's too hot there."  And then I somewhat jokingly usually reply "But it's a dry heat..."  There is some serious truth to that statement.  I will take my dry heat any day.

But we had fun.  John worked.  I navigated my way around Toronto by myself during the day, then we met up in the evening. 

It's been so long, I think I will just upload a bunch of pictures and then just label them, instead of trying to stick pictures in with my narration of thoughts and events.   I need to go through them anyway to even remember what I/we did there.

Entrance to the Royal Ontario Museum.

Oooh! I remembered a story!  Okay, so I walked into this museum, I think it was like the number one thing to see in Toronto, and it was a pretty impressive place.  But I walk in, and there's this older gentleman standing there with maps of the place, and asks me if he can direct me to anything in particular.  Knowing hardly nothing about the place, I ask him what he thinks I should see.  He tells me all about the crown jewels of the museum, their big dinosaur exhibit.  I thank him kindly, make a mental note, and move on.   When I get to the dinosaurs, I take my time, read the plaques, even watch the little videos about excavating the dinosaurs, and that's when I'm like "Wait, what? Where did these bones come from? Vernal Utah?!?! We were just IN Vernal.  We spend like a week there every summer.  I've been to the very quarry they were highlighting in their little video.  How funny is that?" (I thought it was funny.  Other people may not, but I did. I just found it a little funny (ironic?) that I've been wanting to go to Canada for a long time, and I finally get the chance and then when I get here, I go to the number one spot the book tells me to and see the number one attraction in the number one spot, and it's actually from Vernal.  Utah.)

Obviously the dinosaur above isn't a Stegosaurus, but I didn't have a good picture of him.

A real mummy.

Sorry.  I found this pretty humorous.

Ancient Chinese temple (I think)

Believe it or not, this is a coffin.  In some country (I forget which) apparently it's a 'thing' to commission specialty coffins. This guy was probably pretty fond of his Mercedes when he was alive.

Casa Loma.

This castle was pretty cool.  Sir Henry Pellatt built this extravagant mansion on the top of the hill with all sorts of cool details like secret passageways for himself, and a secret underground tunnel which during the second world war was used to develop sonar.  Unfortunately Sir Henry lost the home after only 10 years due to financial ruin and had to move across the street.  His three lane bowling alley and swimming pool in the basement never got finished.  I wished I would have been able to spend more time here, but although he was quite the innovator with central heat, a central vacuum and an elevator, the only air conditioning was in the gift shop in the basement, and the place was sweltering. 

Stained glass ceiling in the conservatory.

That pretty much sums up my time in Toronto.  It was hot and muggy.  It was a big city.  The people were super nice and polite.  You hear about that, but I was still totally shocked when the concierge guy refused a tip after spending 10 minutes helping us and calling and making dinner reservations for us because he just genuinely wants to be helpful.  Next (and last) stop in Canada- Niagara Falls!

well, I'm sure no one has ever done that before

So, Christopher is a little anti-church. 

Always has been. 

And you know, seeing as though we're Mormon, church is kind of a big deal around here.

"It's Nick's church and Daddy's church and Mommy's church and Maddie's church and Zachey's church, but NOT Christopher's church."

If someone else in the house is sick, he's the first to volunteer to stay home and keep them company.  Sometimes he pretends to be sick too, and sometimes he doesn't bother with the pretense.  And I usually let him stay home.  I know it sets a bad precedence, but I also know he will be a nightmare for those three hours at church and make life miserable for me and everyone else around him, so he usually stays home. 

And when he does go to church, he can't get out of his church clothes fast enough when he walks through the door.  I am seriously surprised he hasn't popped a button off of one of his shirts trying to rip it off in his best Superman imitation.

The other day I found this "math problem" on the white erase board in our pantry.  He and I had been working on math word problems for homework, and he came up with one of his own.  FYI- the circles at the bottom represent people. 

He left out a little bit, but I will translate-  "If there are 6 people in a family (the 6 circles) and four people go to church (4 of the circles are crossed out), how many people will stay home?"  (And of course it doesn't matter who the other circle is, but in his mind he is DEFINITELY one of the circles that stays home)

And, if he makes it to church, there's no guarantee he will behave himself.  A few weeks ago, the Primary President stopped him from trying to leave the building.  Halfway through class he decided he was done, and was going home, so he got up and walked out.  He was headed to the car when he was stopped. I don't know what he was going to do seeing as there was still 30+ minutes left.

And then there are his behavior issues.  I finally resorted to bribery. I said if he is good he can play Minecraft after church.  (I'm anti-computer games on Sundays, but my kids are good at "forgetting" this rule, and sometimes keeping the peace is more important to me so I end up turning a blind eye to their "forgetfulness". )  Minecraft is Christopher's very favorite thing right now, it's like virtual Legos.  The one Sunday when he did lose computer privileges was a very long day for him indeed.  As far as I know he's been good ever since.

Another thing he's been doing lately is planning out his life. 

"When I am 15 I will get a cell phone."  "When I am 16 I will drive a car."  "When I am 18 I will drive a big bus."  "When I am 21 I will drive a little bus."  "When I am 28 I will drive a fire truck and park in the red No Parking Fire Lane."  "When I am 35 I will fly an airplane."  "When I am 45 I will go to space." "When I am 64 I will drive a big truck."

We've also been talking about his birthday lately.  (Because he's 7 and birthdays are of utmost importance.)  "My birthday is on May 31.  I will be 8.  I will get a blue scout shirt and scriptures. (standard 8 year old boy birthday presents around here) I will take my ipod (my old cellphone) to church in my scriptures". (I'm wondering which kid gave him that idea?)

When asked if he's also going to get baptized at 8, his response varies.  It varies between "Ummm, No." to "Maybe when I'm 9." Or all the way up to "Maybe when I'm 64."  (But NEVER does he say yes.)

This morning his answer was this- "Ummm, maybe when I'm 20.  I will get baptized in Space."

That would be a sight to behold indeed.

Annual boating trip with Pa

Ok, so I really only have one more story to talk about our summer in Utah, only it's been so long, and it was such a let down that it's almost not worth it, but here goes anyway. 

Every summer the kids love to go with my dad up to a little lake in the mountains and paddle around.  My dad usually packs up the canoe, kayak, and raft. 

The canoe is the oldest and weighs a ton.  My dad has had this thing as far back as I can remember.

(If you look closely one of the blurs in the back seat is me)

The raft is probably pushing 30 years as well.  Which is a stinking miracle that it's still around.  I looked and looked for a picture with me in and the raft, but all I could come up with was my two brothers.  My guess is that this picture was taken at the Great Salt Lake, which explains why I am no where to be found.  I always thought that place was ugly and smelly and gross.

The kayak is only about 15 years old.  I know this because this picture of Nick was taken the day my dad brought it home.

ANYWAYS.

We always go up to this one particular lake.  The kids love it.  That lake was the first place my dad ever heard Zach speak.  Poor kid was so anxiety riddled on a daily basis, but we got him out there on the lake and it was like you could see the anxiety melt away. I saw this picture and started to cry.  I hadn't seen such peace on his face in so long.

So, we make plans to spend the day at the lake, but Nick had so much chemistry to do that he had to stay behind.  (He had to do an entire semester's worth of chemistry in 4 weeks. He had very little time for fun that month.)  I felt bad about leaving him behind, but it had to be done.

So we my dad spent over an hour strapping down canoes and such to the top of his truck and we headed off.

But the second we got there I instantly stopped feeling guilty that we left Nick behind. The lake was so low, it was crazy.  Seriously like only 20% full.  Since it was a bit of a hike from the car through the dried up lake bed to get to water, we elected to not even bother with the very heavy canoe.  We decided to start off with the raft since it was the lightest, but we quickly found out it had a hole in it and unfortunately had seen it's last little lake trip.  (It really is a wonder it's lasted this long.) 

In the end, we ended up just hauling the kayak down to the lake (that sucker was heavy enough, I can't imagine trying to haul the canoe) and letting the kids take turns for a bit. And then we went home.

THE END.

I know.  Anticlimactic, right? 

The first time we went to the lake it was like one of those perfect afternoons.  The weather was gorgeous, the mountains were breathtaking, and there was just this moment on the lake, this peace, this tranquility, and I saw it in my kids faces, this wonder and awe at being there, surrounded by nature at it's finest.

And sadly though, each time we go back, that moment seems to slip farther and farther away. Who knows if and when we'll ever be back.  Odds of making it to Utah next summer are pretty slim.  Possibly next Christmas.  We want to give the kids an opportunity to hurl themselves down a mountain strapped to a couple of skis at least once.  But the kids are growing up and things are changing, and pretty soon Nick will be gone and who knows if that was our last summer in Utah or not?

Blogging Blahs

So much for my personal (if unpublished) goal of doing better at blogging.

I have a theory though.  I was just telling my mom about it today as she was saying "So, I'm going to be seeing my friend Kathy tomorrow.  You know she loves your blog and will probably ask me about it..."

My computer and I aren't exactly friends any more.

And this time it really is "It's not you, it's me..."

And it's not that I don't have stuff to talk about, because while I don't have TONS, I did want to write about stuff like-

Maddie's and my girl's trip to New York (which could easily be divided into at least 2 different posts- Church history, and New York City)

John's and my trip to Canada (back in July- also a good two different posts: Toronto and Niagara)

All the goofy stuff Christopher says

The orange creamsicle cupcakes I made for a women's church meeting (not here though, on my food blog)

The choir retreat I went on with Nick

I think there's even a post from our summer in Utah which is sitting unfinished, but months later it just feels awkward...

General updates on the kids

etc., etc., etc.,

Oh, and how much I hate Photoshop.

Cause, I really, really hate it. 

Ironically, I think that photoshop is one of the big reasons why I've been slacking here on the ol' blog.

So, the computer is no longer my friend.  I have to spend hours on it each week which leaves me frustrated, and feeling really stupid and with the strong desire to self medicate.  With things like apple fritters and Milk Duds and Coke from McDonalds.

And anytime I get on the computer I usually get off pretty quickly because I know that if I have time to blog, I have time to do my homework, and if  I don't, it adds to the general feelings of guilt I already deal with depending on which areas of my life are being neglected that week.

So yeah.  Avoidance.

Unbelievably I still have an A in the class.  I thought for sure I was going to bomb the midterm project.  Everyone else's was so much more involved and professional looking.  And mine was pretty basic and clumsy compared to theirs.  I think it's just cause the teacher is really nice and generous. Did I mention he was a Disney animator for years?

Of course this week instead of chucking my computer against the wall, I elected to turn in a half finished project, so I'm basically hoping for 50 out of 100 points this week.

And I am sad to say I can't see it getting any better the next few weeks.  Besides the fact that the course work will be getting harder, the Holidays are approaching, John will be gone for weeks on end a couple of different times in the near future, and then there's that whole bit where I try to take care of the house and kids...

I'd quit, but I think it's too late, and then I'd feel like a giant hypocrite cause I usually don't let my kids quit stuff cause "it's hard". Or they would rather do something else than put in the time (like practicing the piano).  So I'm sucking it up.

But on the drive home last night I was thinking about all this (school is about 30 minutes away) and how I feel stupid and I hate it, and when it comes to stuff like this I have no creativity or vision, then I started to think about writing and how I used to love to blog and create with words and pictures that way, and whatever happened there?

Anyway, I should go now before this desire to self-medicate just thinking about photoshop turns into me breaking into the Halloween candy.

Back to School part 2

Guess who else is going back to school this fall?

Yep.  Me.

I wanted to take the next class in the digital photography series, but the only one available was at a really horrid time slot, like 2-5 pm a couple days a week. And that just wouldn't work.  Life just doesn't get any busier than that time slot.

So I went a different route.  I'm taking a photoshop class. I try not to think about it too much though, because I really am not trying to pursue any kind of career in photography, so it kinda seems like a lot of money to spend on a hobby.

I've come to the conclusion that taking pictures of your own kids is one thing, but taking pictures of someone else is quite another.

So Photoshop.

My teacher seems pretty cool.  For starters he's a retired animator from both Disney and Dreamworks.  But the class is already overwhelming and scary and I'm already questioning what I've gotten myself into.

And then there's the fact that I feel like a fish out of water.  For instance, everyone else in the class has a plan and a real reason for being there.  We had to fill out this little thing on line introducing ourselves to the class and telling why we are taking this class, etc, etc, and after reading everyone else's I was starting to feel a little inadequate.  Some of the other introductions read like they had just copied and pasted from their resumes.   They were already marketing professionals looking to further enhance their skills.  Some were "professional" photographers, some were art majors hoping for a career in design/animation/art etc.

This is what I wrote-

Hi! 

I'm just taking this class for fun.  I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.

 I'm a stay at home mom of four kids (ages 7-16) and an amateur photographer with a husband who is "highly encouraging" of my efforts to get a higher education and broaden my horizons and challenge myself in new ways. (some might say pushy) The last class I took was intro to digital photography and we used Photoshop Bridge a teeny tiny bit and my interest was peaked and this class happened to work the best with my schedule. So this is the one I picked.  Plus, I usually hate every picture I'm in, so the thought of photoshopping myself is really intriguing.  I just hope I am not in over my head. 

Wish me luck. I think I'm gonna need it. 

Alpine adventures

One of the kids' favorite activities while we are in Utah is to visit one of the ski resorts with an Alpine Slide.   There's definitely a decision to make here since doing BOTH generally isn't in the budget.   For about the same price they can go to Park City or Snowbird.  

At Park City, the rides are definitely funner, (The Alpine Coaster is about the funnest thing ever. Seriously.) but the lines are usually long and they get to do each thing only once. (and by "each thing" I mean just the Alpine Slide, and the Alpine Coaster)

At Snowbird for about the same amount of money we can by day passes and do everything as many times as we can stand. I mean, sure the Alpine slide is less than 1/2 the length of the one in Park City, but you spend a fraction of the time in line so it kinda evens out I guess.  And there's a bigger variety of stuff to do.

This year we picked Snowbird. 

John was out of town working, but my dad agreed to come along and help. 

By far, Christopher's favorite activity was "The Big Slide". 

Fortunately, you have to be 7 to operate one of the sleds yourself, and he had just turned seven only a few weeks prior.  He went over, and over, and over again.  After the rest of us began tiring and thinking we had about as much mountainside amusement park fun as we could stand, Christopher was negotiating for "Thirty more times."

We went up the mountain on the tram and walked around for a bit and took in the gorgeous scenery.  The kids were disappointed that there wasn't any snow left up there at the top (there was some the last time we went up there a few years ago)

 

There was also this other chair ride, similar to a zip line, but you are strapped into a chair, and then propelled backwards quite a distance to one end of the ride, and then shot back down the mountain, at which point when you reach the bottom, you come to a screeching halt. 

I didn't much care for this ride. Too much lurching.  Despite the fact that you are strapped in securely, you still feel like you are going to fall out of the chair at both take off and ending.

It was a mostly successful outing minus the part where Maddie flew off the Alpine Slide on her way down. She's not quite sure what happened.  One minute she's flying down the slide and the next she's sliding down the mountain with the sled on top of her.  She suffered scrapes on her elbows and knees,

a twisted ankle, a bruised ego,

and the loss of a shoe. 

Since she could barely walk, Nick did his best to be the knight in shining armor and made my dad help him with the "Boy Scout Carry".

Then he was able to locate and retrieve the shoe by sledding down the mountain at a snails pace. (They wouldn't allow us to walk up the mountain next to the slide)

The glory of his hero moment was only tarnished when he jumped up off the slide victoriously, holding the shoe high above his head, at which point the shoe flew out of his hand and landed only inches away from a stream.  Seriously, a slight breeze might have caused the shoe to be lost again.

We finally left in that afternoon in various states of crabbiness due to pain, hunger, fatigue, thirst, etc. A rather successful outing I'd say.