We spent 4 nights in Niagara Falls with Dad and Carol and had a really lovely time.

We arrived there last Monday afternoon having booked a campsite with a few motel rooms so they could stay on site with us. We were slightly anxious about how ‘comfortable’ it would be for them and that the ‘facilities’ would be ok for us all for 4 days.

As it turned out it was lovely. Right on the River side with a little pool and mini golf and probably only about 10 – 15 other ‘units’ on site. The Niagara Recreation Trail was just out front so offered walking and biking opportunities on our doorstep.

This was going to be our longest stay so far so we got everything out and set up ‘properly’. Bunting and fairy lights got their first outing this trip. We spent the first afternoon pulling out everything we had decided to ‘ditch’ and bag it up for Dad to take back to Connecticut with him. We will pick it up again on our way back round in spring next year. Reckon we managed to lighten our load by about 60kg – which can only help with the very bumpy roads!

I can’t describe how it felt when Dad and Carol arrived and they just wandered onto our site – so lovely to see them and to share our adventure with them for a short while.

We had one day down at the Falls. We did the whole tourist bit. The Hornblower boat trip that takes you right to the bottom of the falls. The Wild Water Walkway which lets you walk alongside the Grade 6 rapids downstream a bit. The Journey Behind the Falls which (yup you’ve guessed it) takes you through a tunnel with viewing points behind the falls. Lastly a 4D cinema experience / ride where you get absolutely soaked by ‘snow’ then the Falls themselves. A great day of photo opportunities and silly plastic poncho wearing activities involving us getting pretty much soaked while laughing at Dad trying to protect his beloved camera!!

The next day Pappy and Oma took the boys off to Bird Kingdom and we had a few hours to ourselves. Much though we are loving our time with the kids I must confess it was nice to have a few hours of peace. John and I took a really lovely bike ride along the river. The kids had a great time – Charlie delighted to have held parakeets and lorikeets even though he came back sporting a few nip marks!

Thursday we drove down to Niagara on the Lake. Which was a pretty town with stunning views out onto Lake Ontario.  (Including the Toronto skyline in the distance which was quite something!)

Lots of touristy shops but the most exciting part was that there was another Cows Ice Cream shop so we got to introduce Pappy and Oma to their delicious ice cream. Only other remarkable shop was the English shop where we got English Mustard, Digestives and the kids bought curly wurly’s and polo’s – all at vast expense!!  The kids found a fountain to cool down in.

I had read in the Canadian Bucket List book about Ice Wine and one particular place that makes Wine Slushies. Ice Wine is apparently when they leave the grapes on the vine through into winter and then harvest them when they are frozen then press them into a slightly more concentrated and intense flavour wine. As luck would have it our route to town took us right past The Ice House where we stopped and passed a very enjoyable hour sampling the wines and trying the slushies – yummy. We obviously couldn’t leave without purchasing some to take home – very pleased with myself for packing my hand blender as we now get to make our own Ice Wine Slushies in the van!

The kids have had such a lovely time with Pappy and Oma. They introduced us to a great board game called Sequence (which they very kindly ‘donated’ to our games cupboard – well the children stole it from them in truth), which we all enjoyed. We toasted endless marshmallows on the fire. We managed to avoid the mini golf by letting Pappy and Oma have that special treat with the kids.

We are now the very proud owners of several bird books, binoculars and bird spotting telescopes – as William put it “We are birded up now!”

Teasing aside, Dad has inspired the boys over their many early morning walks and hours sat looking out over the river. As I write this ‘on the road’ the kids are sat in the back of the van with their bino’s on spotting and ticking off all manner of feathered friends (not sure ALL their identifications are 100% accurate!).

It was lovely to share our ‘home’ for the last few days, tell stories about our adventures so far and pore over maps and potential destinations with someone else. We feel very much a tight family unit in Frankie but it was really special to be able to share this experience. So if anyone else were thinking of joining us we would love to see you!!

Friday morning we said our goodbyes and they headed off back to Connecticut and we packed up to head to Toronto. It felt strange to know that Dad is heading to the UK next week and will be seeing a lot of you. But also nice in a way that he will be able to fill you in on what we are up to.

Thank you for making the long trip up to see us Pappy and Oma – we love you and look forward to catching up with you in a few months time in Arizona!! It’s hard to imagine all that we will have seen and done by the time we next meet up. For now we are off to Toronto as we have a date with the Blue Jays!