Wednesday March 23 - Thursday March 24

We had big plans on this day.  Drew was going to school, I was going to volunteer there for the morning, was going to come home, pack, then we were picking Drew up from school and heading to Niagara to spend the night in a hotel and have some fun.

Our plans were changed slightly by the weather.  I got a phone call at 6:30 am from my mother telling me not to bother getting Drew up that it was a snow day....the buses had been cancelled.

Hmmmm....if the buses are cancelled, maybe we should not drive to Niagara falls....

My husband, not ever being one to shy away from a vacation, begged to differ.  The roads aren't that bad, we'll be fine.  And he was off to feed the cows so we could get out the door even earlier than expected thanks to the cancelled school.

We left at 10:30 am, stopped at bulk barn and the superstore and headed to the QEW.  The drive was terrible.  I was tense the entire time.  Every few minutes, we'd see a car in the ditch.  We took it very slow, the boys were content watching DVD's and eating the snacks from bulk barn, so it wasn't terrible being locked in a van for hours.  We got to St. Catharine's at around 1 and decided to stop for lunch.  Hit the McDonald's there, where we found an awesome play place and spent a little time playing and eating.  Our fun was ruined by another crazy boy who kicked a ball and knocked out a light....oh well, it was time we headed out anyways.

Once back on the roads, it took us another hour and a half to get to the falls.

We are nuts.

Once there, we pulled into the casino parking lot.  We had my dads player card, so we were entitled to free parking.  Following instructions from my father, we parked on the 5th level, which gave us direct access to the covered bridge from the hotels to the casino, allowing us direct access to the Four points Sheraton Fallsview, which was where we were staying.

Yes, we are the crazies, bringing everything but the kitchen sink for a one night stay...don't mind us!

Our room was great.  James surprised us and booked a 2-bedroom suite.  Drew was thrilled to have a room for just him and Hunter.  I was thrilled to be able to watch a movie once the littles went to bed.

Honestly, how cute is this??

Our room

The view.  If it weren't for the casino, would probably be pretty great.

The bed in the boys room.

Hunter's cute little crib.

We settled in, unpacked and went straight to the pool.  It was a little cool, but the boys had a blast.  By the end, Hunter's lips were blue so we decided to break for the evening and get ready for dinner.

We were surprised by a visitor before dinner.  Uncle Ryan popped by for a quick visit while on his way to visit a really sick friend in the hospital.  We were thrilled to see him, and had a great time catching up with him.  Drew was so excited to show Uncle Ryan his trains.....so cute.

We love you, Uncle Ryan!!

We walked Uncle Ryan to the door and headed to East Side Mario's for dinner, which was right inside the hotel.  As part of our package, we were given a gift certificate to eat there.  It was fun, as it always is there, but was much more expensive than a normal East Side Mario's...hate when restaurants do that.  Oh well, we were on "vacation".

After dinner, James took Drew swimming and Hunter and I went for a little walk around the hotel and then I put him to bed.

Drew wasn't long falling asleep once he got back from the pool and then James and I settled in with some wine to watch "Letters to Juliet"(he was thrilled).  We didn't make it through the whole movie, as we were both exhausted.

First thing in the morning, we headed down to the pool....swam for quite a long time and then quickly realized our mistake.  We had 2 cranky boys on our hands, we had to get their blood sugar up quick!  Not about to pay 10$ for a bowl of cereal at the hotel (I am not exaggerating, a bowl of rice krispies was 9.99$), we headed to McDonald's for pancakes and a play in the play place.

which way to the pool??

My two very handsome boys.

Once we got back to the hotel, Hunter was asleep, so James took Drew up the Skylon tower and Hunter and I headed back to the room.  He slept while I packed up.  Thankfully, we had managed to get a late check-out of 2pm.  

Drew at the top of the Skylon tower.

The boys came back, and H was still sleeping.  Drew was so excited to tell me all about his adventures to the top of the "really tall tower".  James left to have a drink with his friend Dan (he used to work with him at the Rainbow bridge, they went to Rigaud together).  I was only a little upset.  I was actually really looking forward to seeing him, as it had been so long.  Ah well, the boys and I had fun back in the room.  We played and watched a bit of Mickey Mouse clubhouse.  James arrived back at a few minutes to 2, requiring us to frantically get all of our stuff out of the room.

James took the stuff to the van, and I took the boys to the pool.  One last swim.  We had a great time, and Drew was quite upset when we told him we had to leave.  We walked over to the casino, where I wanted to play a few slots.  I had visions of "winning big".  My dreams were quickly dashed, when I lost my allotted 20$ in a mere 5 minutes.  Oh well, c'est la vie.

We had a late lunch/early dinner at a burger joint within the casino.  It was surpisingly reasonably priced, and made really good food.

After our meal, we went to check out the hotel that was next door.  We are planning on staying there the next time we go, as there is a water slide.

We caught a shuttle bus and headed to Dave and Busters.  Another part of our package included 40$ to spend here.  It took us a little over an hour to spend it, and we had a great time doing it.  The boys earned a ball and a "Toy story" match box car with their jackpots.

The bus ride there and back was awesome.  It took us along the road beside the falls.  We had some great views, Drew saw the boat that is stuck at the top of the falls (we had read the story about this in the hotel, so he was very interested).

View from the bus.  The falls are so pretty in the winter.

Jackpot!

This was Hunter's jackpot...500 tickets!!  Woohoo!!!

Once back at the hotel, we headed to McDonald's for one last play in the play place and for some ice cream.  We wanted to time our drive home so that we were driving around their bedtime.  On our way to McDonald's, we drove past the sleazy motel I worked at after university, the sunset inn.  Ah, the memories...lol

Our drive home was great.  We had such a good time.  I'm actually surprised at what a good time we had.  Who knew taking kids on a vacation to the casino could be so fun?!?!?  Maybe Vegas should be on our list of places to visit with them???  LOL  

The boys were awesome throughout the trip, and Drew was begging to go back again very soon.  "The next time though, mommy, Nana and Papa have to come with us".  Sigh.