Impressed

My daughter loves to draw. She often does it after dinner, when the screens have been shut off and everyone is settling down for the evening. She also loves to read. Recently she has started free-hand drawing some of her favorite book covers. I may be a little bit biased, but I think she's pretty darn good...

Bliss

My husband took the kids camping, near Cheboygan MI., this weekend. They had a blast fishing and paddling in the inflatable kayak. My daughter had such a zen moment out on the lake, she remained completely unaware of the nuclear devastation happening in Detroit...

Home

Both kids got home from camp yesterday. Yeah! 

One guess what I'll be doing today. Yup, about six loads of laundry. After hearing about the great week they both had though, it's 100% worth it.

Bird Kingdom Niagara

Bird Kingdom was on my son and daughter's "must do" list for Niagara Falls, and we were not disappointed. It was a splendid place to spend the afternoon. There were delightful displays of birds in their natural habitats as well as birds you could handle. The best part was, there was no additional charge to hold the birds. The kids were thrilled!

 

My favorite part was feeding the lorikeets. As soon as we were given the little had the cups of nectar, we were swarmed. It was great fun.

I Think We're Gonna Get Wet

As we got ready to board the Hornblower (the Canadian version of the Maid of the Mist) they gave everyone red poncho raincoats. They were going to help a little, but it didn't matter because we came prepared with full rain gear, including boots.

Heading down into the mist seemed like the perfect thing to do on a dreary rainy day at the falls. (Our only rainy day.)

The power of the water coming over the falls was even more evident when we viewed them from below.

 

It amazed me just how much wind the falling water created. I was very glad we packed our rain gear. If we hadn't, we would have been completely soaked. The mist combined with the wind, made it seem like an October storm. A wonderfully fun storm. Most of the other people were drenched from the knee down.

The Hornblower was a great experience. It made me think back to when I rode the Maid of the Mist when I was about 10. Good memories...

And actually, except for our hair, we stayed dry.

Watch Out

Beware of the wild dinosaurs roaming around Niagara Falls. The T-Rex especially; he tends to get quite testy if you refuse to share your Beaver Tail with him.

Delicious

If you visit the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and have a sweet tooth, be sure to stop at Beaver Tails. They make delicious pastries shaped like, what else, a beaver tail.

We had hoped to enjoy one for breakfast, but since they don't open until noon we had to settle for a mid-afternoon snack instead.

It was so big, the kids and I split one. It was delicious and well worth the wait.

Poetic Visions 2019

A month or so ago the Mackinac Island Public School students got a chance to exhibit their poetry, art and photography at the Poetic Visions of Mackinac exhibit. Both of my kiddos were happy to participate. Each piece of art and the corresponding poem revolved around the this year's theme - "The Seasons of Mackinac."

Both S and K chose winter as their favorite season; and they both won awards. S for his photograph and K for her poem. I was so impressed with all the work entered in the exhibit. The students' writing abilities have really grown over the past three years.