The Sewing Mom

With all this talk about warm, sunny destinations lately, I find myself reminiscing about places we’ve traveled to in the past.  My husband and I can’t say that we’ve taken too many true vacations in the 21 years we’ve been married, we usually spend time off visiting family because they live all over the country and that’s the only way we can ever see them.  Every now and then though we work something out that allows us to visit family AND take a vacation to some place special, all at the same time.

One of my favorite family vacations was when we drove and met my mom, sisters and their families in Niagra Falls almost ten years ago.  It was over the July Fourth weekend and we all drove from different states and met in Canada for four days of nothing but sight seeing and having fun together.   We stayed in a hotel that was not too far from the Falls and it was so easy to take the bus most places we wanted to go to.  This made it so nice and convenient since we would have had to take multiple cars, and find multiple parking spaces for all of us if it hadn’t been so easy to take a bus.

I think the first thing we did after arriving was the Maid of the Mist tour.  It’s a boat that actually takes you right up to the bottom of the Falls.  Passengers wear lovely raincoats because the mist caused by the falling water would soak you otherwise! My husband was so nervous about taking our little 2 year old on the boat, guess he thought I’d drop her or something! I’ve never seen him hold on to her so tight. We also did the Journey Behind the Falls which takes you down via tunnels to an outlet behind the Falls themselves.  It was really amazing and a little scary too knowing how much water was thundering over the Falls.  My niece and nephews really liked that tour, all the tunnels were very creepy and cool at the same time.

I also remember going to the Butterfly Conservatory, it was amazing.  There were thousands and thousand of butterflies and beautiful flowers.  The butterflies landed everywhere including on us and on my daughter’s stroller, since she was just two, she thought this was the greatest thing ever!  There is also a huge shopping area in City of Niagra Falls, tons of shops all up and down blocks of streets.  At night we would return to the Falls to see them all lit up, it was so beautiful.

It is definitely a destination I would love to revisit.  If I did plan to go I would go through Trusted Tours and Attractions to get discounted tickets to all the sightseeing attractions.  I plan to visit their site to sign up for the Trusted Travel eNewsletter and just by signing up for their newsletter I’ll automatically be entered into a drawing to win iPod Nano.  Just sign up by December 31, 2007 to be entered in the drawing. Even though I don’t want the added competition because I want to win the iPod Nano, you should go sign up!

Technorati Tags: Niagra Falls, Canada, Maid of the Mist, Journey Behind the Falls, Butterfly Conservatory, Trusted Tours and Attractions, iPod Nano

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Well, everyone is gone, everything is quiet here at home, too quiet.  My husband left this past Saturday and is currently in Brussels on business.  My mom and sister headed out around noon today on their way to Arizona, and my daughter is at school.  I all ready miss them, all.

 I’m not totally alone though, I have Plinko!  She is keeping me busy.  The last few days her goat tendencies have really been showing themselves and she’s wanting to eat anything and everything.  I’m having to really keep an eye on her.  She’s found one of her stuffed toys, just chewed a hole in it and was pulling the stuffing out.  Then she eats the stuffing if I don’t get it away from her first.  I got the thing away from her long enough to stick it int he sewing machine and stitch it up.  We’ll see how long that lasts!  While I was sewing it she grabbed some fabric off the shelf and ran off with it to make it her new chew toy!  She’s so fast, I can’t take my eyes off of her for a second!

Think I’ll go turn all the t.v.’s in the house on so it’s not so quiet. 

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More insane weather has arrived here in North Texas. Over the weekend we were in the 80’s, Sunday afternoon and all day Monday we were in the 30’s. Today, Tuesday, we are at 70 and very humid. It’s so humid out that everything looks wet. You can see the moisture in the air, it looks like fog. The ups and downs in both the temperature and the barometric pressure are playing complete havoc on my sinuses. I’m thinking I would love to live someplace that has more consistent temperatures, or at least don’t go up and down on an almost daily basis.

My niece is in the Coast Guard and was just moved to her new assignment in Jacksonville, Florida. I can’t wait to go visit her! I just learned that Amelia Island is only 33 miles away from Jacksonville! If you haven’t heard about it, Amelia Island was voted one of the top 10 islands to visit in America by [tag]Conde’ Nast/tag]. There are so many things to do in warm and sunny Amelia Island such as golfing and other activities. Of course there are always my favorite activities, shopping and dining at fabulous restaurants.  Nothing like a great day of shopping followed by a great evening of eating and drinking!

I also just found this great Lodging Special that gives you your 3rd night free when you book two nights at any of 12 participating bed and breakfasts or hotels on the island now through February 29, 2008. I know that January and February are the coldest months here in Dallas so it will be the perfect time to take advantage of this great deal and get to visit with my niece too!  I’m certainly looking forward to this trip.

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