Maid of the Mist

Maid of the Mist is a boat ride around the bottom of the waterfalls, both American & Niagara. If you go I would definitely suggest doing this.
I was a little nervous about the plastic & Katie but it wasn't as bad as I thought.
There was an upper deck & a lower deck. The upper deck was for the people who wanted to get wet, so Payton & Donald went up top & Katie & I stayed below. As long as I kept my back to the wind, which also meant the waterfall, then she was fine.
Apparently Payton was pointing at everything & was so excited about all of the rainbows that she saw. As far as I know there weren't any full double rainbows :)
The yellow dots on the lower right of the picture is the Cave of Winds. We didn't go & do that one because it was so late. It has a deck right up next to the falls & from what we heard the feeling of the waterfall is intense but fun. Maybe next time.
Below is the beginning of Niagara Falls.


Payton loved getting wet!
I know that you can't see anything in the one below but that is because they drive into the middle of the horseshoe that is where everyone gets soaking wet.
On our way back Donald & Payton came down to join me.

We were able to get some good pictures even though we were trying to be careful with our camera getting wet.
Payton's hair & shorts got wet. Donald was so good to tie the bottom of the ponch so that it wouldn't blow up & get more of her wet.
Another shot below of the Cave of Winds.
And one last shot of Niagara Falls.

Here we are, both Payton and Katie & I in front of the American Falls.
So much fun & worth every penny!

Here is the video Donald took while passing the American Falls. The text of what Payton is saying is below.

- We are on the boat.
-We are looking at the rainbows & soaking.
-The Steam
-Yes
-The colorful rocks too.

Niagara Falls.

We finally got to Niagara Falls around 5 (a lot later than we had planned but oh well). It was amazing. I've always loved waterfalls but this one definitely takes the cake!
So the waterfall directly behind us are the American Falls & the one in the back with the huge plume of mist is Niagara Falls.
My mom always told us to get pictures with people in them but I was just so amazed at the amount of water that went over the falls that I had to take a video. Sorry if it's boring. There will be one in the next post with Payton & Donald in it.

These were taking after the Maid of the Mist boat ride. There were stairs that went up close to the American Falls. Donald & Payton went while Katie slept in the carrier.
It was so pretty there & the sound of the waterfall was so loud.
Okay I promise that she can breath! She is leaving back against my chest & has at least 2 inches between her face & the carrier. These were taken on the Observation Tower deck.
It really was amazing & we are going to come back when my mom visits (unless she's totally against the idea) so we'll see.
Both girls slept on the way back. I tried but couldn't get comfortable enough. We didn't get back until almost 2 am which was brutal. I'm so glad we decided to go.

Palmyra, NY & the Sacred Grove

Before Donald started school/orientation he wanted to go out & 'see some stuff'. So we decided to go see some stuff that was a little farther away & required a whole day. We decided to go to Niagara Falls which was 3 hours away. We saw that Palmyra was 'on the way' so we stopped there (which was about 1/2 way there so a perfect pit stop). So first we went to see Joseph Smiths home & the Sacred Grove.
I really enjoy walking thru, especially with Payton she can be so funny!
Katie was in a good mood so that helped. Payton took the picture below after she discovered that there 'were babies that long ago'. Some of the things she said was as if she were talking about the cavemen or something.
This picture below was taken in the upstairs of the 1st Smith home. Payton thought it was cool that all of the girl siblings slept in the same bed.
We were able to see the temple on the short walk between the 1st Smith home & 2nd one that they built.
I really liked the 2nd Smith home.
It had some of the original wood & bricks which was really neat.
It was a really nice day. And we met an Elder & his parents on the tour. They were picking him up from the Carolina's & then were making stops as they drove back .
The mom asked if she could hold Katie & within 5 minutes of her getting Katie, Katie was fast asleep. She said it was the Grandma's Touch. She held her for the rest of the tour until we entered the Sacred Grove.

There she goes with my baby. She kept reassuring me she would give her back. I knew that part of having the Grandma's Touch was also knowing that they would hand them back when they were hungry, so I wasn't worried at all.
We all just loved these wild flowers in the surrounding fields.
They were so pretty!

The Sacred Grove was beautiful. It was so quiet & peaceful. There was a slight breeze & well, just nice.
There was this really old tree (now stump) & I couldn't help but think that it could have been old enough to have been present when Heavenly Father & Jesus appeared to Joseph.
Katie usually doesn't like being bounced around in her car seat but she was very good.
After we left the Grove we went over to the temple. Payton talked the whole time about going & seeing it.
She was so excited to see the same Angel Moroni that was on the LA Temple.
I fed Katie in the car while Don & Payton roamed around.
Payton took the picture below of Donald. She really is getting good with the camera!
The girls & I outside of the Temple.
I really enjoyed being able to visit. It'll be good to go back. The Palmyra Temple is our local temple so when Katie gets older I'll be looking forward to attending a session.

Blueberry picking

We were invited to go blueberry picking with some members of the ward. It was about 30 or 40 minutes away & it's a 'you pick'. As you can probably guess you pick what you want & get to take it home for a small fee per pound.
Payton found some friends & roamed the whole hill picking blueberries. Every time I saw her she came back with an almost full bucket.
One of the other moms had made these bucket necklaces that worked out really well. I didn't think that Payton would really get into it but she did.
I explained that she needed to pick only the dark blue berries & not any that had red in it. She was very good about not bringing back unripe ones. I tried to get her to taste them but she wouldn't... & still hasn't!
The patch was on a pretty steep hill but that didn't stop Payton from exploring the whole patch up & down.
When we got there Katie was still asleep so Donald stayed up by the car & picked close to the car. When Katie woke up she came out & enjoyed the day with the rest of us.
We left our house around 5:30 got there at 6ish when the sun was starting to set. It was really nice once the sun went behind the trees. I was expecting bugs & mosquitoes but they never came & it was very nice.
We filled up 4 of those pitchers.
See look how steep the hill is. Donald is holding the car seat level.
Come on daddy if you will just drop one & can get it & no one will ever know!
Here is a shot of the whole patch. Actually there is still a little more to the right. If you can see those 2 little dots down near the end that is Payton & her friend.
I zoomed in as much as I could & there they are again.
So we ended up with 12lbs. Here's house this works, you drive to this house where there was a scale, you weighed your loot & paid the $1.25/lb & placed it in the jar. There was some honey there too that Donald bought to make it an even $20 purchase. The honey is excellent!
So when we got home my work began! I washed & de-stemmed the berries.
Separated out the bad ones, which I was surprised at how few there actually were.
And measured them out into bags of 2 cups & 4 cups & stuck them in the freezer. There was about 1 1/2 cups of them left over that we ate through out the week. About a week later I made freezer jam.
I made a couple different kinds. The thought of only having blueberry jam didn't sound that great to me so I bought some strawberries too. So I made 4 jars of each. We now have strawberry (left side), in the middle is the blueberry & on the end is strawberry blueberry. 12 jars to last the year will probably be just fine but I plan to do more, but not any more with blueberry in it.
So the rest of the blueberries will go into muffins, pancakes, pies & just for eating. My freezer is getting full & I love it. Raspberries come back into season in the fall so I'll be adding Raspberries to the stash as well. There are a lot of You Pick patches around here. Apples & Raspberries are next. I think I might try to make Applesauce, I hope it doesn't require to be in the freezer or I may not be able to do it. But Raspberry freezer jam sounds to good not to try.