Niagara Falls....Slowly I Turn

So today was basically a huge drive. Almost eight hours of driving... sheesh... and I had the maniacal idea that I didn't want to stop at all. We started our long drive with one last attraction, The Bird Kingdom. It was resplendent with zillions of birds. I kinda have a thing for birds... But they aren't as awesome when in captivity. Henry liked the poison dart frogs, Nora was generally happy about the whole thing. Not a bad quick stop. Oh, and I made friends with this Victoria Crowned Pigeon. He apparently decided I need grooming.... a common enough thought... And we were off.

We did stop, several times, for bathroom breaks and one very quick lunch, but that was that. I rigged up my iPad, with a bungie between our two seats, as a portable movie theater, complete with surround sound due to the port into the car speakers, and the kids got to enjoy, and we got to "listen to" two movies. um....Tin Tin and Disney's Hercules. I gotta tell you, that worked even better than I thought it would. They were lulled into a time-travel type of incubated sleep and we were able to fly down the New York Throughway without pause. Not too bad.

I am happy to be home.

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Niagara 2

Today we hit the attractions. The restaurant in our hotel was flooded with people all scrambling after their scrambled eggs. Huge masses of people all vying for their morning sustenance. I managed to grab some pretty awful eggs and some pretty great home fries. The restaurant, in keeping with the hotel's seeming thesis, had incredible views of the falls. A white washed tomb of tourism. All show and no go.  But we ate and were off for the day into Clifton Hill.

Clifton Hill is a street devoted to kitsch. Ripley's believe it or not resides there, as well as many many other touristy type of attractions. It all seemed to me like a county fair on steroids. The first place we went, Bronto's Adventure Playland was pretty awful. It was basically a McDonald's Play Place with a very small Veggie Tales thing way in the back. I was scared for what the rest of the day would hold. But we managed to forge through all the muck and get our hands on some solid attractions that held up to their price tag, more or less.

We hit the dinosaur mini-golf, which was kind of awesome and would have been more so if the kids could have held it together through the entire thing. Jenny gets pretty competitive during these kinds of things and I was really wanting to devote most of my attention to putting her in her place... She, of course, won. The dinosaurs were actually really well done and the volcano spouted fire from the top... what more could you ask for. Note the golf ball that some body threw in the T-rex's mouth... nice shot!

We then went to the Sky wheel. This was everything it promised to be. We went around and around, stopped at the top. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I am very VERY afraid of heights and manmade contraptions, but I held my mouth shut, clung to the seat and enjoyed the view. Henry, who is really like me in all things but looks, actually enjoyed the ride and found it in his words "peaceful". Thank God.... one of my weaknesses to scratch off of the list.

(Me looking especially Glimli-ish)

However, the next ride we went on, the ride that I thought he would love most of all, the Ghost Blasters ride, was not one of his favorites. I mean come on, you shoot through this "G" rated haunted house and blast the crap out ghosts with laser guns!! But, the haunted aspect of the things proved too much for my little guy, and he pretty much just clung to me the the whole time. :(

Nora and Jenny went on this XD Theater thing. Its the kinda thing that makes me want to show the world what I have just eaten. So Hen and I sat this one out, Henry out of trauma recovery and me out of preservation of nutrients. Last but certainly not to be ignored was the Movieland Wax Museum. Henry posed for his best Rambo face and Jenny sat with the president. Nora got completely freaked by the end due to some sort of horror themed ending, which we balked on before it got too traumatizing. That about did it really.

 We walked around for a while. The trip to and from Clifton Hill was about a half an hour walk each way, something that we all enjoyed as it would its way past incredible views of the falls. We ate at an Italian place that had really good food, but Jen wasn't in the mood for Italian, alas, egg drop soup. As we were walking back a retiring tight rope walker decided it would be a good idea to walk from the top of the Skylon Tower to a neighboring hotel. He, I guess, is going to be doing this for the next couple of weeks and then fading into retirement. He was pretty high up there.
Back to the hotel for a European Tourist packed dip in the pool and one more night of high priced and high up views.

Niagra 1

Today we left our mid-way-stop Howe Caverns. It actually turned out to be pretty much a middle of the way stop! I woke up at about 5:00... typical... and went out into the field across from our hotel. The view was really beautiful. At that hour in the morning, the sun was just peeking over the rim of the valley behind me. Morning and evening sun are my favorite: yellows and warmth... beautiful. I even saw a rainbow, which would be a precursor to things to come. Eventually, Henry got up and stumbled out of the hotel room. I looked back at the sound of the door, and there he was standing, all squinty eyed and morning faced. "Dad.... could you help me across the street?" "Be right there Henry." It was actually a small parking lot, but this behavior is much improved over the non-acknowledgment of the existence or roads and cars in general. We walked down to a small herd of cows that left as we approached. As we walked back up, Henry careful to not step on the thistles hidden in between the grass tufts (he was wearing sandals) A small deer shot out of the woods and ran up to this yellow-shirted girl back up at the hotel. It must have come within a few feet of her. Then it took off behind the hotel. I had noticed the girl previously, actually, down near the cows, which had come amiably up to her. I think some people are just animal magnets.

We left pretty early as we had a four plus hour trip through New York up to Canada. The trip wasn't to bad. The Canadian border police were nice enough actually bordering on lackadaisical. I was told that the Canadian side of the falls was superior to the American, and I have to tell you, I agree. The big deal is that the Canadian side actually faces the wall of the falls. The American side sites behind it. It makes a pretty dramatic difference. Also, the Canadian side is so well manicured and filled with old parks and such. Very pretty. We stayed in a nice hotel, the Embassy Suites. It was pricey, but the view was pretty breathtaking. This is the view from our hotel window on the 37th floor. If you aren't into views though, go with something cheaper. Every amenity the hotel could throw at us, minus breakfast and a mid-day snack, was incredibly expensive and therefore not worth the trouble. A perfect example is the bottle of Evian water that was sitting on the top of the small bar in our room. An insignificant little, printed paper  sign said that if I opened the bottle of water my room would be charged $9.00's. IT was a plastic bottle of water. No kidding. There were also four "Complimentary" tokens left on our desk below which the sign instructed us to use in the pop machines in the hallway. Each token was for one soda, and each soda costed three dollars, to be billed to our room if used of coarse. It was enough to make me paranoid and to drive Jenn almost completely out of her mind. She didn't really enjoy the trip, and one of the reasons was because of the mindless cost of seemingly everything.

I enjoyed it though, inspire of the nit-picky things, because of the real grandeur of the falls. Today we got to our hotel room and stared at the falls till night, with a brief break for a less than average supper at Margaritaville. The kids got the bed closest to the window.
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Two things of note

Well, one mini-vacation accomplished. Of course in this house, mini-vacations are considered standard vacations, but, thus is the way of a teacher's salary. We went to Howe Caverns today. We have actually gone there before, a couple of years ago. It only takes a little less than three hours to get there... totally dooable for an, adventure-seeking, day-tripping, young family. The caverns are pretty amazing: over 150 feet under ground, carved out by a downward driving river. Its kitschy, and a bit old-world, like those old "Country Inn's" in New Hampshire that have no real reason for existing. You can tell that this was built in the 20's and was built around some strange anomaly. The town around it hasn't really grown in industry at all. So there is this one thriving spot, in the middle of some amount of poverty. The Schoharie Valley, in which the cavern runs under, is, in some places, breath taking. It is agrarian and feels as timeless as you could imagine.

Henry and Nora completely loved today. The cavern is always 52 degrees, so they had to wear sweatshirts. Jenny forgot hers, so she froze, I have....extra reserves of "insulation" and was fine in shorts and a t-shirt. Even if you aren't into kitschy, kinda zany, vacations, the cavern itself is nothing if not impressive. Real stalagmites/stalactites. Really deep under ground. Very fun for a family with young kids. They even have an adventure tour that allows for real spelunking in the less explored areas of the cave. (I think that was new this year). This was of course, a bit too much for our family, so we stayed on the brick walkway, but I know everyone really liked our time there.

I also personally have had strep throat for the last four days. I also rocked out an "Under Oath" song publicly while having strep throat. The doctor called today to tell me that the strep test I had a few days ago came back positive. Super... guess I should start taking antibiotics. I think I was just beating it naturally, well hopped up on motrin to keep the fever down and the woozy feelings at bay. I think I also may have lovingly given it to Jen as well. :) I am a generous man.

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outathegame

I have been sick for the past couple of days.... I thought the flue flew north for the summer?!? I am feeling better, so I thought I should post the last pictures I took. (none for the past two days though)

I woke up Wednesday morning to Henry tented on the couch. This is the first time this has happened, and it led me to thinking about his teen years. Actually, before we start in on that at all, let me say that Henry didn't spend the night on the couch. He got up early and fell back asleep. No forgotten sons at night on the couch...

So, Henry is 8. That's edging up on teen years. OK... fine... it isn't really, but I am dreading... not dreading, that's too harsh of a word... sincerely wary? of them. I know that they can kinda go either way. I hope, with everything in me, that Henry's, and Nora's for that matter, teen years are smooth. I have had so many students and have seen about equal divisions of bad experiences and good. I think that parenting has something to do with that, but not everything. In my head, I know that rebellion is a good and natural process. It is essential in developing individuality, and without it, people turn out kinda weird. (I think we all have encountered a few of those types of people). And in my head, I am ready for that process when it begins. Right now, Henry still wants to like all of the same dinner foods that I do. (I love that) He still sees me as the judge of good and bad things. And while that is good, and I very much love it, if he remained that way through his teens, he wouldn't be his own. I just hope he doesn't hate me too much.

I hold on tight. I know I do. It has everything to do with my own experience. I see kids fly everywhere every year, and I desperately want Henry to choose the right paths. I want both of them to CHOOSE the right paths... and that is going to take some letting of his choosing. There are so many things that can go wrong here. Drugs, sex, violence, poor self image,  I have seen the effects of all of these things every year. Also, I have seen kids rise above it all, care about other things than themselves. Its almost a hero's errand in middle school to care about others more than yourself. I want both of my kids to somehow escape those years unscathed. We debated homeschooling for a while specifically for that reason. We eventually came to terms about sending them through the gauntlet, to let them change... to have them bounce socially through that  place, as long as things didn't get bad. I still reserve the right to take them out if I think it would benefit them. I must say that so far, Henry's experience has been great, and that is almost completely due to the excellent teachers and assistants that he has had. Still, eyes wide open, that is how we decided to allow them both to go through.

Both of my kids are getting older. I want, more than anything, for them to know how important they are, and to know that it is in finding the importance of others around them that will truly find all that this life can offer.

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Independence Day

I figured I would just load up a bunch of pictures from the parade today. Parades, cookouts... its all good.
Instead of throwing up (nice visual) a bunch of pictures, I decided to put them into a little movie... no big deal... nice and short.

the third of July

Up to the center of town, kind of early, around 7ish to sit casually in front of the band (country... and that's is ok) and watch the people mill around. I remember when Chuck and Mud, and the Jolly Coppershmits used to play at the center. I guess I kind of miss that towny feel, but it was great anyway. I sat and looked around, and for the first time really, was kind of shocked at the amount of people that I knew. I think it might have been the diversity of people that I knew really. I sat next to the librarian to my left, and several parents of kids that I have taught to my right, actually, kind of everywhere. I also knew a whole bunch of other people from Henry's cub scouting. I am not social. I don't go to parties... actually ever if I can help it. I don't even like to go to playdates or birthday parties with my kids. I am not social. So it is a very strange thing in my mind for me to know all of these people. It's...........nice...... a little. Maybe even a bit more than a little.

My family was all around and friends came later that night. Henry found his beloved Celia, who I think might be becoming his best friend as well as his cousin. The Silvas came later and sat near us. Fourth of July, for me, might be exactly what our founding fathers would have wanted, its about being close to my family and friends, along with an occasional flash and boom in the sky. David and Asima's (the Silvas) kids are so incredibly cute. Yasyn sat right next to Nora and Megan and they chatted and screamed and oooo'd throughout the entire fireworks.

Rutland's fireworks are short and a bit towny, but I love them for other, better, reasons.