Wonderful Weekend Away

We are back from an amazing trip to Niagara Falls with our friends Elaine and Steve and their twin boys, Kyle and Lee (who just turned 3). We got to Niagara Saturday at noon and headed straight to the indoor water park. The kids had a blast! They went from the water slides to the splash pad to the wave pool. Our girls wanted to spend most of the time in the wave pool. The problem was, they thought they could swim and kept wanting to walk on their own. It got to the point that Madison was being so stubborn about it that I let her walk out on her own (I followed right behind, her, but walking on her own meant not holding my hand), thinking that once she swallowed water she would be deterred by that and hold my hand again. Even after getting her head dunked under water by the waves and deeper water this girl didn't want to hold my hand! So we had a few tantrums from her, but she soon learned she had to hold my hand or else we would leave the water park. She didn't understand that she had to be with us because it isn't safe for her to be in the deep water by herself. Anyway, other than that it was a great time. The kids didn't nap that day but they were all fine. Emma and Maddie slept in a bed for the first time and it went over well. Emma went right in and didn't bat an eye. Maddie cried for about 5 minutes but she was so tired that she went to sleep. We slept in another bed but in the same room and the girls were so cute in the morning when they woke up. I heard them talking to each other and I popped my head up and waved at them and Maddie said "mummy, you in here! Mummy, you seep with us!" And she laughed and laughed. She thought it was very funny!

Day 2 we got up, had breakfast and went to Marineland. The girls were so excited about all the things to do. We saw two shows; killer whales and dolphins. They went on rides, they fed fish and we had a picnic lunch. Madison loved the shows the best. She giggled each time the animals would flip or do a trick. She would scream (a good one) first and then laugh and say "dolhpin upside down. Dolphin funny!" The people sitting around us couldn't help but look at her and a few people commented on how they found her just as entertaining as the show. One older lady said "your daughter is delighful." Emma enjoyed the show but she was much more serious. You could see by her face that she was really concentrating on what they were doing. She didn't take her eyes away for a second. They loved the rides even though I was worried that they would get on them and then start crying! We were able to go on with them, but they were in their separate seats. They went on boats that went around and up and down, they went on rocket ships that went up in the air and spun around, and we went on a ferris wheel. Emma was really funny because everytime I took her on a ride she would be calling out to everyone and telling them what she was doing and where she was. When we were on the ferris wheel (Maddie rode with Elaine and Kyle) John was staying with the strollers, and each time we would pass him Emma would squeal "Dad, I over here, I on ferris wheel!" It was a great day with very few meltdowns considering all the activity.

We got back yesterday after visiting the Falls in the morning and Emma can't stop talking about the dolphins and whales. I asked her what she wanted to eat for dinner and she said "I want go back to see dolphins and whales." It was a great trip and we will definately be going back there!