Coffee Break

Before our trip, I did a little research on Pinterest. Look up Canada, and you will find the best coffee ever. It's less expensive than Starbucks. It's better than Dunkin' Donuts. It has a great name. It's Tim Hortons.

I didn't discover Tim Hortons on Pinterest, though. I actually had it while we were in Halifax on our Honeymoon. Tim orders me T-discs online for my Tassimo, so I can enjoy it every day from home. Now that's love.

What I did see on Pinterest was something that made me laugh. It was a comparison picture of Starbucks and Tim Hortons in Canada. It went kind of like this:

Never a Line

Packed

So remember,

Keep Calm

and

Have Some Timmies!

I have to give a special shout-out to Tim here for letting me stop for coffee three times a day while we were in Canada. :D

- becky

Day 2 - Exploring the Falls

It was so exciting to wake up in Canada. What should we wear? Let's check the weather. 19 degrees?! You might be rolling your eyes at me as you read this, but we chuckled over the metric system our entire trip. 

This might just be my favorite picture from our trip. It's already in a frame on my desk at school, and there is another copy on Tim's desk at church, too. 

Skylon Tower - We chose not to ride the exterior elevator - see the little yellow car? - to the top and just walk around instead. Still a pretty cool landmark, though!

Apparently, "Big Becky" drilled a tunnel under the Falls. Who are you calling Big?! The tunnel? Oh, okay. Let's be nice and say that "Little Becky" thinks Niagara Falls is the coolest place she has ever had the pleasure of visiting.

We spent part of the day walking around an area called Clifton Hill. Think Panama City meets the Wisconsin Dells. We did a little souvenir shopping, walking around, and found some good food for lunch and dinner.

Lunch - Montana's Cookhouse

Dinner - Boston Pizza - so yummy that we ate at another location in Toronto later in our trip. The cactus chips rock. And rule.

Oh Canada - can't wait to get some yummy Poutine...soon enough.

What is Poutine, eh? A delicious heart-attack-waiting-to-happen in a bowl. 

Clifton Hill is called this for a reason. A great big hill of a reason. After walking up and down this hill about three times, we decided to sit on a bench in the park near the Falls and listen to the incredible roar of the water. As we were sitting there, this very nice Canadian couple sat down next to us and proceeded to feed the squirrels and birds peanuts. They were happy to share peanuts, so we could have some fun, too. :)

Yup - they took the peanuts right out of our hands! The little guy would run off and bury them in random areas before returning for more. It was so cute!

Here's what you've been waiting for - Niagara Falls!  Here's a look at some of my favorite pictures. 

Another fave picture from the trip. :) #selfie

Um, funny story. You should really know where the fire stairs are in your hotel. Just in case, you know, the fire alarm happens to go off at 11:30 P.M. Seriously?! There was a "situation" in one of the main floor restaurants, so the fire department was called, and guests of the hotel were instructed to read the emergency directions and stay in our rooms. Should the tone of the fire alarm change, get out. So the alarm tone changed, and we tried to leave but couldn't find the stairs. Safety - fail. Wouldn't you know that as soon as we found the stairs, the alarm stopped and all was well at the Four Points again. Whew!

Next post - more Falls pictures. Cause I only took like 200 pictures in one day. Ha.

- becky

Day 1 ~ Driving to the Falls

We're off! These blog posts are going to be really fun for me to write!

We made the decision to drive for this vacation. It was actually a pretty easy decision to make - not only did we want to visit two cities, but plane tickets were really expensive. Passport cards are also cheaper than passport books. Something we should have budgeted for? Toll roads. Yikes, Illinois and Indiana. We spent $14.40 in tolls to get to Ontario. On the way home, we used the GPS to avoid tolls; the only unavoidable toll was the $3.50 at the border crossing. I should also mention that avoiding tolls did not add any additional driving time AND we ended up avoiding some traffic in Chicago. Bonus!

We woke up early and left at 6:00. We tried to wake the kids up, so they could wave to us from the driveway but they were snoozing pretty good. All we got was muffled good-byes from little faces mashed into pillows. You're welcome for not posting a picture of you in your jammies waving to us, Mom! Thanks for being a good sport and getting out of bed to see us off!

We made great progress until the Chicago rush hour parking lot. Geez. Lost an entire hour here.

LOOK! We're at the border!!! I was Kid-on-Christmas excited. Seriously.

Love the maple leaf to mark the highway on the GPS. 

Hey, we can go 70 on the 402! Oh wait. It's not MILES per hour; it's KILOMETERS per hour. 

Accounting for the time change, it took us 13-14 hours to make it to the Falls. I'm honestly amazed how well this picture turned out. Tim was driving about 100 on the 402. HA - km/h people. Settle down. (Ignore the previous picture; the speed limit had gone up over 70 km/h.)

We were extremely fortunate on this entire trip. We had rain only once - overnight - and we rolled into Niagara Falls AFTER a big rain storm. (Pretty cloud!)

This was our first peek at the Horseshoe Falls after dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. (Gotta love Groupon!)

After dinner #selfie :)

Next post - exploring Niagara Falls!

- becky

Second Honeymoon

This summer, Tim and I are celebrating our 10th Anniversary. Our very special day still feels like it was just yesterday. We decided to do something we've not done since we became parents - take a trip without the kids. Oh boy.

Fortunately, my mom was able to come up to stay with the kids. Thanks, Mom!

Can we leave for the airport to pick-up Neena yet?! I'm all ready...well, my purse is packed. Actually, I have 3 purses packed, but I'm not dressed yet.

I can't wait to show Neena my light saber from summer school!

Okay, humans. I know something is up. I see your suitcase. I don't know what's going on, but I know something is different.

Almost to the Milwaukee Airport to pick-up Neena. First, we took a lunch stop at Cabela's. Delish!

Yay! Neena's here!!!

A bit nervous, but still excited...for both of us! Mom's first time alone with the kids for an entire week, and a trip without the kiddos for Tim and me!

Next stop - road trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario! (No passport necessary for blog readers.)

- becky