An Easter Vacation

We went on a little mini vacation this past weekend to Ithaca, NY and Niagara Falls, Canada. I know, it sounds like a lot for a weekend, but it was wonderful! Ragan took a half day on Thursday and we picked Sawyer up from school early and took off. For those of you that don't know, my dad has only one sibling and my Aunt Cathy has lived in Ithaca all her adult life. She has one daughter, Gretchen, who has one daughter, Jana. Gretchen is married to Michael that I met for the first time this weekend, even though they have been married for quite some time. I have long wondered if I would ever get there, always seemed a million miles away. As kids, she brought my sisters and I, "Ithaca is Gorges" t-shirts and I never understood what that meant. Now I do!! Ithaca is definitely gorgeous! Not having been upstate before, from the moment we crossed into NY, the scenery was noticeably more beautiful by the mile. It was almost like Colorado in that you are climbing altitude steadily. The mountains were picturesque and we drove by a ski resort we'd love to check out some day. Then about 5 hours after we started our little adventure we arrived, ate Wendy's (against Ragan's wishes) and headed back to the hotel for a late swim and some sleep. Friday morning we began with a wonderful breakfast at the Ithaca Bakery downtown with my Aunt and hung out there for probably longer than the other patrons would have liked. That morning Dawson had begun having some serious bowel issues that continued at the bakery. I remember his pronouns getting a little foggy for him when he pushed me out of the bathroom and told that entire side of the bakery, " mom! get out! your just going to stink the place up!" WHAT? After turning several shades of red, I coerced him into shutting his mouth and moving his heinney into the BR. Three year olds are so not predictable!

Anyway, we finally left, and toured (by car, it was chilly) Cornell University and saw where my cousin, Gretchen works. She is a horticulture expert and breeds wheat and other plants for university research. I know she does a lot more, but I know I won't get it right if I try, so I will leave it at that. We drove by a few gorges and then we saw a really awesome one that is the tallest gorge in North America (actually, it isn't anymore, because the top of it fell off).

It was quite treacherous getting down and we all had some scary moments and we wondered if we would get down to the bottom on our tushes. But, we made it only to then see a jogger that appeared to be over 60 jog right down the same path, down to the bottom of the gorge, and back up the the same way. We found a better way back up that didn't involve danger.

We ate lunch downtown (very neat area!) and then went to the Sciencenter where we met Gretchen and let the boys play for a while and we chatted and caught up a bit. That night we headed to Gretchen and Michael's house where we ate the most amazing Mexican meal! Poor Jana was sick and stayed in her room most of the time. We met again with everyone for lunch on Saturday and then took off. Ithaca is right on a lake that is 42 miles long!! So we enjoyed the scenery on the other side of Ithaca as well as we drove North toward Niagara Falls.
We're here! A lady at the hotel told us this was a family friendly restaurant! Clearly she didn't have children! It was actually a really neat place that looked as if it had a million stories to tell. The only thing our waitress could tell us was that is was haunted! She said that there is an old couple that comes out and dances in front of the fireplace. Interesting.

The boys were super tired and pretty good for us, luckily. I put the wine glasses in the piture so you could see my point, however, like any realistic mom, I placed them out of everyone's reach. What happened next made my little incident at the Ithaca Bakery no big deal. There was a couple sitting next to us, that looked admiringly at the boys the entire time and then as we were leaving, the lady asked Dawson his name. He told her it was Spider man Dawson! She told him that he and his brothers were the sweetest boys she'd ever seen! Then she told me I should be very proud! She said she has a few grandchildren that her daughter would never take to a place like we were and she was impressed with the boys! I was trying very hard not to grin so big that I looked like a circus clown. I said thank you and busted out as soon as we walked out the door. YES!! She thinks I am doing good! Why does it matter what this Canadian woman thinks of our parenting skills, you might ask? I don't know, but it made me reassess my frustrations at the somewhat choatic car ride, and made me very proud that in their tired state, they chose to be sweet instead of sassy!

Sunday morning we had a little Easter Bunny action, ate breakfast, and brought up a cup of juice and a smashed piece of bread and had Easter communion and prayer time in our room before check out. Then we drove across the border and saw God's incredible work of art. We paid $12 for parking for about 40 minutes or so. We ate lunch and then headed home about 2 pm.

A fantastic trip! We are glad to be home, only for Ragan to head out Monday am. We missed being with grandparents for the holiday, but our time here is limited and we could not pass up the opportunity in front of us. I am so glad we were able to go!