Day 2...Fort Niagra and The Anchor Bar

We started day 2 off with a visit to Fort Niagra. Here is a very brief history...

The fort played an important role in the struggles of France, Great Britain, and the United States to control the Great Lakes region of North America, and also helped shape the destinies of the Iroquois (Six Nations) peoples and the nation of Canada.

Gilly at the wrong end of a cannon

Jeff showing Lilly where Toronto is...

A beaver

All the kids taking a break from the rain...

After that we hit the Anchor Bar. Never heard of the Anchor Bar? Well, ever heard of Buffalo Wings? This is where they were invented...(and this is me pretending to eat them. Come on, they have those veiny parts and I can't stomach that)

On a Friday night in 1964, Dominic Bellissimo was tending bar at the now famous Anchor Bar Restaurant in Buffalo, NY. Late that evening, a group of Dominic's friends arrived at the bar with ravenous appetites. Dominic asked his mother, Teressa, to prepare something for his friends to eat. They looked like chicken wings, a part of the chicken that usually went into the stock pot for soup. Teressa had deep fried the wings and flavored them with a secret sauce. The wings were an instant hit and it didn't take long for people to flock to the bar to experience this new taste sensation. From that evening on, Buffalo Wings became a regular part of the menu at the Anchor Bar. The phenomenon created in 1964 by Teressa Bellissimo has spread across the globe. Although many have tried to duplicate Buffalo Wings, the closely guarded secret recipe is what makes Frank & Teressa's the proclaimed "Best Wings in the World."

Day #1....Eternal Flame Falls

We got an early start in order to catch our plane....(I had less than 3hrs of sleep so I was looking forward to the plane ride).

Off to NY!!!

Of course Garrett fell asleep before takeoff...

We arrived in Buffalo..starving and soooo tired (no sleep for mama yet)

and Rachel had cooked up the best dinner yet. Homemade Rosemary bread with pasta. Yum. Just as I was getting ready to crash with a full belly someone suggests going on a hike. What?

Well this is where they took us...Eternal Flame Falls (its a small hike they say)

The sun was starting to go down so darkness was upon us..

And here we are...

(by the way, it wasn't a small hike. My legs were sore for two days after)
Here is a little info about Eternal Flames Falls...

The Eternal Flame Falls is a small waterfall in the Shale Creek Preserve, a section of the Chestnut Ridge Park in New York. A small grotto at the waterfall's base emits natural gas, which can be lit to produce a small flame.
It was featured in the book Secret Places by Bruce Kershner.

Awesome place

Marineland Canada

Here we are at Marineland in Canada. The kids loved this ride, thats me and rachel in the boat behind the kids...

Here...do you need a closer look?

Okay, we know that I was just kidding about that being me and Rachel. Do you think she is pointing at me...I was trying to be sly but maybe it didn't go over like I thought....
Em seem to know whats going to happen to me after I publish this.

OH NO!

Yesterday to entertain the kids and keep their reading skills up we got some old magazines and newspapers and cut out words to glue to a piece of posterboard to create a short story.

This is what I found this morning:

My advice is to not hang out with us today cause we are going to be struck down.

The Clacker Post

Since I've got everyone on pins and needles about my latest colonoscopy I decided to post. I can't find my cordless phone and I keep falling asleep after all the drugs this afternoon so I figure this will take care of the grapevine.

The spot where there are pre-cancerous cells is still there but it is less inflamed and, in fact, my entire colon looks preeetttyyyy preettttyyyyy (anyone watch Curb your Enthusiasm?) good. Dr. Canale is going to let me know in 7-10 days if I need to create a bum hole in my stomach, or in other words, if the pre-cancerous cells were a diagnosis of an overenthusiastic pathologist.

I will let you know.

Thanks for all the love and calls.

I am going back to sleep.

j

I'm feeling the need to blog......

the last 15 days....

We have been doing so much:

making volcano's (thanks for the idea Rachel)

Celebrating 38 years of life
Going to the cabin
and coming up with creative ways to get Chippy the Chipmunk
to crawl up Emilys body

And lastly, trying to get used to our siblings touching us during a long road trip.

On top of that we are celebrating every day we have with the couple from Down Under, trying to go at least 45 minutes without an argument, going to Cherry Hill, and getting our passports ready for New York.

Lies, Lies, Lies-they're gonna get cha....

This day sucks! Why is it that doing whats right feels so wrong? Emily cheated at school on a water bottle drawing...she was only supposed to put in 20 tickets with her name on them in the drawing pot, she put 30. She won the water bottle. When she told me about it I thought this a great character building moment so I made her tell her teacher that she cheated and she had to return the water bottle. We were both in tears. I hate that she is hurting and I keep wanted to drive by the school to see if she's okay. In fact I want to go to Target and buy her the same water bottle to make it all okay but I know that's not teaching her whats right. Is this how it feels to be a character building mom? Its for the birds! I hate that when our children hurt we as mothers hurt 10x worse. I'm going to go have myself a good cry and hopefully we'll make it through the day without a trip to Target.

Farmin....

Thought I'd give you an update on the farm....

Two new baby goats

new psychotic sheep who is transgender....

Shearing the psychotic sheep with kitchen shears....

And a taste of two guys who don't know how to shear that sheep.....art at its finest.....

(the old guy is the farming mentor...I'm sure he encourages this kind of stuff for entertainment purposes only. They are spraying the sheep with some sort of poo spray. I dunno)

The Birthday Table

My day started out with Emilys' book report presentation. They had to dress up like a character in a book. Can you guess without looking what kind of book she picked?Shortly after it was Birthday Table for the May Birthdays. Em picked Chinese food (General Tso's chicken and ham fried rice).
You might notice that Sadie isn't the friend she is sitting with. That would be because the night before Sadie puked ALL over my Pilot. It was so projectile that it hit the windshield.

There goes that new car smell.

Needless to say, Sadie was out sick the next day.

Its done!

These pictures don't really do this justice but I had to post them for all the people who don't or can't come over.

Now we are just working on getting the furniture back in.

Can you tell what we had for dinner?

HINT: Look at their shirts.

Emily Jones...the new James Patterson

This made my day...
The horse and the nice Bear.
A horse comes along and sees
the frendly bear and kills
the bear and the girls cry like
babys and the horse kicks the
girls in a pond.

Random Pictures...

Abby and Em wearing their Koala shirts for Jen

I'm sure they'll make me stop buying them look alike clothes soon.

Our FLOORS!!! Yay, we are almost done!

Em and Sadie.
We are very sad to report that Sadie (who is Em's best friend) will be moving to Idaho in two weeks. I have offered to adopt her but was shot down. Good thing we have a horse stable just down the street. I'm sure we'll be there lots.

Em and Gil before school. I love that my girls make sure to give Gil a hug and a kiss before they go into class. How much longer will that last?

sigh...

I have so much to post about...

Emilys birthday
Crohns run
Flight of the Conchords concert
Abby's program
my new floors
Garrett's last soccer game
new baby cows (again?)

but Garrett has misplaced my camera and I can't upload any pictures.
Stay tuned... I'll find it as soon as the painting is done.

Paying it forward...

Please help me!!!

Check out this blog : http://sugaryfrogs.blogspot.com/

and if you can sew or want to help please let me know...if you don't know the Maxwell story scroll through Rachels' blog and read it...PLEASE!