Niagara Falls (US side)

This morning, Andrew, Landon, and I headed to Niagara Falls on the US side while my family was driving to Canada from Ohio. It started out as a gloomy, rainy day, but it stopped raining for us to walk around. The falls were beautiful!
We decided to take the cave of the mist tour and venture down (175 ft) into the gorge. It was a great view from the bottom. Before we could head down, everyone is given a poncho. It's pretty windy and you can get soaking wet. Everyone is also given very stylish sandals to wear. Andrew was not too excited about wearing these!

On Our Way

We're on our way to Canada...

Since we have to go through Buffalo, NY, we decided to stop here for a night to visit with some of Andrew's family members. We went over for a bar-b-que and it was great for both Andrew and I. We were able to introduce Landon to some more family, plus I was able to meet some family members that I hadn't met and Andrew hadn't seen in awhile. We had a great time.

Landon loved playing in the yard

Andrew, Landon, & Aunt Diane

Everyone at the bar-b-que

Tomorrow we are going to the New York side of Niagara Falls then later we will meet my family on the Canada side of Niagara Falls to do some more sightseeing. We can't wait!

Picture Day

Okay...so this is our first attempt at a family portrait. Luckily it only cost $10! It's really not all that bad but now I know why my mom only did pictures of us kids. Children are much easier and you can see how things are going as the camera flashes. My neighbor goes to Portrait Innovations to get pictures of her children when there is this particular deal, so I thought we would try it out. You get one pose in all sorts of sizes for $9.95. Anything else was extra. Obviously I wasn't leaving without pictures of Landon, so we did spend more than $10.

*Note: these were scanned in so the dark sides are from the scanning

Welcome to the World...

...Abbey My friends Katrinarun and Pablitorun welcomed the newest addition to their family, Abigail Marie. Isn't she beautiful! She came into the world at 6lb 15oz and 20.5 in long. Congratulations!

Getting Adjusted

So...Landon and I are having a bit harder of a time getting back on schedule. The time change is having more of an affect on us then I thought. Last night was pretty rough. Landon was so tried yet he couldn't stay asleep. He kept waking up and waking up, crying the whole time. Since Andrew had to get up for work, I went into Landon's room for the night. I decided to get up soon after Andrew left for work this morning, in hope that I'll be tired tonight. I let Landon sleep a bit longer. When I went up to wake him, this is how he looked...

...so sweet!

Happy 4th of July

... a day lateWe hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. Ours was spent traveling back to the east coast. We left Hawaii at 1 in the afternoon and got back to Virginia at 6 am. It was a little disappointing leaving on the 4th since the hotel does a day long concert with fireworks at the end. Also as we were packing up, we saw lots of people setting up for cookouts on the beach. Leaving Hawaii was sad but it's nice to be back at the house. We won't be here for long since we leave for a week long trip to Canada with my family for my brother's wedding! It should be another great vacation!

Luau

Yesterday, we went to a luau at the hotel next door (The Hale Koa). There were a few others but this one was extremely close and less expensive. I was pretty sure it was going to be a little "corny", but figured it was something we should do while in Hawaii. I mostly wanted to go to be greeted with a traditional Hawaiian lei, but we were greeted with a shell lei. Oh well...it was a great time anyways.

Thanks to my friend Cher & her mom, Landon all ready for the luau in his hawaiian shorts and sandals.

All of us before the luau

The first part of the luau is cocktails and music, then there is the retrieval of the pua (pig) from the imu (underground oven). Dinner was then served.
After dinner, we were entertained with different traditional dances of the Polynesian Islands. During one of the performances, the female dancers came into the audience to pick out 10-15 males to go on stage and dance. I, of course, got the attention of one of the girls to get Andrew to go dance on stage. He was a good sport and participated. I'm so mad at myself since accidentally deleted the picture I had of him, but I do have video footage, which I'll post when we get home. When Andrew was done he was thanked with a traditional Hawaiian lei!!!! I finally got one...I'm glad I volunteered him.
Me (wearing the lei) and Landon (wearing one of the armbands Andrew wore in the contest).
Landon wasn't too interested in looking at the camera despite my efforts (as you can see on my face).