Halloween Tradition

It has always been tradition to go to Grandma’s house for Halloween.
Grandma cooks up her homemade veggie soup and chili for everyone.
Even this year, pushing 90-years-old, Grandma is still cooking for us (she LOVES it – as do I).

Even as we became adults, this is STILL tradition for me and Ric and usually my parents.
This will be the first year that we don’t have a younger cousin that we can take out Trick-or-Treating. We only have one young cousin left, and he lives in Colorado. This year my BFF is coming to Highland with her family (she has three kids) and we’re going to take them Trick-or-Treating. Mom is excited because she bought Cupcake a costume and now she has somewhere to go in her costume. Cupcake is going to be a ladybug.

Do you have any Halloween Traditions?
Do you take any youngens Trick-or-Treating?
What are your Halloween plans?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!

And now for some Maxine comics. . .

Bye Bye Joaquin! :(

I opened up Yahoo to check my e-mail and came across this news bulletin.

I’m kind of sad to hear this news, as he was one of my favorite actors. Walk The Line was one of my favorite movies and I LOVED his acting in that movie! Not to mention he is easy on the eyes to look at! 😉

Joaquin Phoenix Shocks With Retirement Announcementby Matt McDaniel | October 29, 2008 Joaquin Phoenix, who turned 34 years old just yesterday, stunned E! Online reporter Jason Kennedy with the announcement that he would be retiring from acting. The two-time Oscar nominee stated this on the red carpet at a Monday benefit for the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, a charity founded by Paul Newman.
Phoenix said that “Two Lovers,” his upcoming romantic drama with Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw, will be his final on-screen role.

“This will be my last performance as an actor. I’m not doing films anymore… I’ve been through that. I’ve done it… I’m dead serious.”

Phoenix is apparently giving up acting to pursue music, a passion of his since he learned to play guitar to play the role of Johnny Cash in 2005’s “Walk the Line.” According to Billboard, Phoenix is working on an album with Tim Burgess, frontman for the UK group The Charlatans. Burgess said, “Once he learnt guitar he found that he had quite a lot of demons inside himself that he wanted to expel through music.
Phoenix appeared at the charity event on Monday with his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck. Affleck is married to Phoenix’s younger sister, Summer. In explaining his retirement decision, Phoenix said, “It’s Casey’s time now.”
Affleck confirmed for E! Online that Phoenix is telling the truth when he says he’s leaving the acting profession, saying, “I guess he’s getting into music. He’s putting out an album.” But both Affleck and Phoenix hurried away from the cameras without elaborating.
“Two Lovers,” Phoenix’s final film, premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival to mostly positive reviews. Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter writes, “Phoenix plays the romantic lead with great intelligence and enormous charm, making his character’s conflict utterly believable.” The picture is scheduled for release on February 13th, 2009. So far there is no word on when Phoenix’s first album will hit shelves.

Halloween Fun

The first year that we were in our apartment, which was 2002, we have had a Halloween party.  This party doesn’t just consist of friends/family coming over and chillin’ and having a good time. . .it also consists of a scavenger hunt.  The idea of having a scavenger hunt goes all the way back to when I was a kid.  I can remember my Mom and Dad leaving us with G-ma/a babysiter and meeting up with all the couples of my Mom’s sorority (not one of those college sororities, but a woman’s sorority).  They were always all dressed up in their costumes, and I can remember being at home watching a movie and in would rip my Mom and/or Dad (the sorority scav. hunt rules were that couples could not be on the same team).  They would come in the house with a list of stuff that they were on a hunt to find.

So, one day in October of 2002, I got a bright idea that Ric and I should have a party and invite all our friends and have a scavenger hunt as well.  My Mom made up the list and sealed it up in an envelope, so that Ric and I could participate too.  You have 1.5 hours to go all around Belleville, Fairview Heights, etc. to find the stuff on the list.  When time is up, you have to be back at the apartment with your items ON TIME.  If you are even one minute late, you are disqualified.  (And let me tell you, the prizes are AWESOME, so you don’t want to miss out on them!  ha)  Then we tally up the points and the winning group gets its awesome prize.  None other than . . . . . . . .

a bottle of Boones Farm!!!  =D
This is a new tradition as well.  People really do anticipate winning just for their bottle of Boones Farm.  ha

Halloween 2002 was a BLAST!!!!!!  So, we decided that every year we were going to be having our annual Halloween Party/Scavenger Hunt.  The only year that we skipped having it was 2005, which was the year of our wedding, which was not even two weeks after the hunt, so we figured we would be busy with other things.

I can remember our first scavenger hunt, like it was yesterday, and this is one of my most favorite scavenger hunt stories to tell.  One of the items on our list of things we had to bring back was a “Caution – Wet Floor” sign.  Well, one of the other things on the list was a brown paper sack from Jack-N-The-Box, so we stopped there to pick it up.  Well, while we were there, we noticed a “Caution – Wet Floor” sign.  So I proceed to tell the young kid working behind the counter that we were going to “steal” it, but he can’t call the cops on us.  They were cracking up at us.  So they wanted to do all they could to try to help us out finding other things on our list.  I think they helped us find a few more things.  Then it was time to hit the road to hit other places to find other things on the list.  Well, as we were walking out, a friend of the kid working behind the counter is running behind us with one of JITB’s HUGE high chairs screaming, “HEY GUYSSS, do you need one of these???”  We’re like, nope, and even if we did, I don’t know where in the heck we would put it.  ha  It was quite a funny evening!  For weeks after the party, we had at least five “Caution – Wet Floor” signs in our basement.  Yeah, that is the one downfall of having this at our place. . .we get left all the JUNK when people leave.

I’m not sure what year it was, but one of the years we started adding a photo scavenger hunt included with our list of things to find.  For instance: A kiss on the cheek from a Hooters worker or a picture of at least three members of your group in a shopping cart, etc.

Last year was quite a year with photo scavenger hunt items.
Here are a few pictures from that.
(Last year my group consisted of Chris, Cindy, Christi, Paul and I)
A picture of at least three people from your group in a cart.

This is a picture from one of the other groups. (BTW: That is my PREGNANT (at the time) BFF in the bottom of that shopping cart. She must be flexible.)

A picture of your whole group in a pyramid.

Another group.

A picture of your whole group in front of a McDonald’s sign. These are tricky because people sometimes don’t realize it says THE WHOLE GROUP, and don’t have the whole group in it, so they don’t get the points. You have to know how to work your timer on your camera. 😉

Another group.

One of the list items was to bring back a menu from a restaurant, and you got bonus points if you got a picture of one of your team members stealing it. Paul doing the dirty work.

A picture of two people in your group with construction cones on their head.

A picture of three people in your group in front of a real estate sign.

A picture of four people in your group doing the conga in a parking lot.

A picture of one person in your group “praying to the porcelin God” in a public restroom. (We were in Arby’s.) (I think I remember that if you got a stranger to point and laugh while you did it, it would be extra points. Though, looks like we didn’t do that.)

A picture of one person in your group acting like a dog and “peeing” on a fire hydrant.

A picture from a different group. (This is my little sis.)

A picture of one person in your group proposing to a stranger.
A picture from a different group.

A picture of one person in your group tying a stranger’s shoe.

A picture of two people in your group mocking a street sign.

A picture of one person in your group giving a stranger a piggy back ride.
If it is a girl group member giving a guy stranger a piggy back ride, you got a few extra points.

For the life of me, I can’t remember what was on the list for a picture like this. . .I think it had something to do with a “stranger’s underwear”. But this was too funny NOT to post. ha

Now, here are just some general pictures from the party, after the scavenger hunt.
I loved Ric and Peter’s costume last year. They were Gilligan and Skipper. (Ric has a pillow in his shirt and died his hair gray. Now I know what he’ll look like in about 20 years. haha)

Here’s Paul and I. (I call him “Hottie Paul”. ha)

“Brown Man” and I.

These guys have been coming to our party since the beginning. (Sso have a lot of others, but this is the ONLY time throughout the year we see most of these guys! They just “use us” for our awesome party!)

Ricky and I. (I was lame last year and just dressed up as a cat. I ran out of time.)

Silly Aimee and Ric

Our friend Chad was a “snake charmer”. This is just evidence that later in the night the party gets a little wild! He’s so crazy!

Ummm, yeah. . . Like I said. . .

2002
These fun pictures are going all the way back to 2002, the first year we had the party.
Our friend Jim is an awesome costume making, drawer, costume creator, etc. (Obviously, look at this awesome costume that he MADE.)

Ric was Elvis that year.

Elvis and Elvis (the cat).

A small group photo.

The scary guy was scaring me.

We’re doing the “time warp.”
Um, check out my AWESOME pants – WOW, am I sad I don’t still have those. LOL
(This was the year that I was LAME and didn’t dress up.)

2003
Here are a few from 2003.
Peter

Amber (Flapper) and I (50s girl).

One of my sister’s friends and I.

Tonya (Miss Congeniality) and I.

This was the one year that Ric and I did matching costumes.
Me in my poodle skirt and him dressed in his rolled up jeans and white T-shirt.
Notice his T-shirt is soaking wet. . .this was the year we bobbed for apples. 😉

Group photo.
Notice my CUTE spider on the ceiling. I can’t find one of those for this year! 😦

My Baby Boy and I. Notice the CUTE poodle skirt that my awesome Mom made for me. And my CUTE “saddle shoes” that I got at Payless. 🙂 (Oh wait, you can’t see the saddle shoes.)

2004
And for 2004
This was the year that we started the photo scavenger hunt.
A picture of three people from your group with the fountain in Belleville.

A picture of your WHOLE group in front of the Maxwell’s sign.

A picture of your whole group in front of the Lincoln Theatre sign.

A picture of two members of your group in front of a McDonald’s sign (sound familiar?).

Not quite sure what is going on here.

Just a few general pictures.
Here is our neighbor Jesse and his girlfriend (at the time).
Their costumes were so cool!
(Note: See the spider again. . .I just loved that thing!)

Sister and I. Yes, I was a cat this year also.

Mario and Luigi.

Ric and Don – wrestling guys.

The second year of apple bobbing.

Aimee and I.
That year we both showed up as black cats. Totally unplanned.

2005
Again, 2005 was the year we skipped the party for the wedding.

2006
Pictures from 2006.
First we start with the very FEW photo scavenger hunt pictures that I have.
A picture of a guy in your group with at least one Hooters girl.

A picture of at least four people from your group in the pool on 159. The most creative picture gets extra points. I think this is the group that won that challenge. ha

This was the year that my BFFs Tonya, Aimee and I grouped up with Peter for the coolest costumes ever. We were Barbie and the Rockers. Tonya was Barbie, Peter was Ken, Aimee was Dana and I was Diva. It was awesome. This year the four of us are doing group costumes again, but I’m not telling what yet, you can find out after the party!
Barbie and the Rockers.

Paul

A group photo.

The girls of Barbie and the Rockers. LOVE our make-up. ha

I loved my eyelashes that night.

Ric and Katie – wrestling people again.

Leah looked SO cute that year!

The Rockers again.

Mike being. . .well. . .Mike! ha

This year is our 6th year. Every year it gets bigger and better! I can’t wait until November 1, for our 2008 scavenger hunt. This year we chose to do the party on the day after Halloween because Halloween is on a Friday and if we do it ON Halloween I’m scared that a few of our crazy guests will run over little trick-or-treaters, with as crazy as we get!

If anyone is interested in coming this year. . .just e-mail me for some more information. 🙂

Ridiculousness. . .

I may have just made that word up myself. . .not quite sure though.

So. . .I haven’t been on STLWed in a long time, I hardly ever go on there anymore, just because I don’t really have the time anymore. (This job is a LOT more stressful than the last place.)

Anyway, so I get on only to find this PM from the “power tripping” Administrator. . .

The following is a warning which has been issued to you by an administrator or moderator of this site.
This is a warning regarding the following post made by you: viewtopic.php?f=9&p=200116#p200116 .

This violates the forum rules for vendor brides:
1) Vendors who happen to also be brides are welcome here as long as they keep their business and their wedding separate.
2) Vendor/Brides are not allowed to give out professional advice or self promote on the boards. When a bride wants a professional opinion she will post it on the Q&A vendor boards for technical answers from the experts, so giving your pro advice is not wanted or needed in the “brides only” boards. Remember they are called brides only boards – no pros allowed – when you spend time on the brides only board it is because you are there to plan your wedding, you are NOT there to do anything related to your business.
5) If you happen to read posts about your business (or your field) on any board, you must keep out of it (don’t post replies).

This was in regards to the post made by “redroses.”
She posted about places to get albums made.

Beckie then posted that she loves her album from Zookbinders.
Oh, Oh, Oh Me! Our album has hard pages with the pictures in the pages. It was done by Zookbinders. We LOVE our album!

So in response I say:
Ditto this place. They’re awesome!

After letting Admin know that the reason I posted that they’re so awesome is because that is who my photographer from THREE YEARS AGO used for our album, which I also happen to think is AMAZING, this is the response I get:
I understand your interpretation of the rules, but that’s not the way they were intended. The problem is that I have asked vendor brides not to reply to any posts related to their field. I understand that you were just posting about the album you got from Alisha. However since some brides may know you shoot weddings, any advice you give related to photography will make those brides question your motives… that could effect your business and the forum positively or negatively, but either way it’s best not to go there.

The rules state:
If you happen to read posts about your business (or your field) on any board, you must keep out of it (don’t post replies). Getting involved can make your business look bad so it’s just not a good idea – even when you have the best of intentions.
This doesn’t just mean you can’t post about things from your perspective as a vendor, it means you can’t post in any photography related thread simply because you are a photographer.

Hopefully that clears up the misunderstanding. It’s the same rule/interpretation I’ve applied to other vendor/brides and I have to apply it the same way to everyone to avoid playing favorites.

HELLO. . .I didn’t write that someone’s pictures were hideous because their photographer didn’t have them in focus, doesn’t know what depth of field is, etc. (“Expertise” from a photographer.) I stated that my album was awesome, and this is a good place to get your albums from. I guess if I think your wedding photos that STLWedders post are awesome I’m not allowed to post that either.

So, I’m not over re-acting, I promise. I’m not mad, I just think it is ridiculous.

I have talked to others before and I’m definitely NOT the only one who gets aggravated by the “power trippiness”. . . (I made that word up too. ha)

So girls, if you are in a field that has to do with weddings, don’t respond to ANY posts, even if it has to do with who YOU used as a vendor. . .otherwise you will get the, oh so lovely *WARNING* message! 🙂

Niagara Falls ~ Day 3 and Day 4

The next morning was Sunday. Ric and I woke up and let Mom S. and Amanda (who had a rough night the night before) sleep while we had a small breakfast and then went to the Guiness Book of World Records Museum.
This, my friends, cost nearly $25.00 to purchase. A tiny sandwich, danish, tiny OJ and Starbucks coffee. YIKES!

At the GBOWRM.
That guy is tall.

Just a silly picture of Ric.

Outside the museum, sitting in RW’s chair.

After we were done with the museum, we met Mom S. and Amanda who were hungry, so we went to breakfast at a place on the Strip. After lunch we decided that we were going to get in the rental car (Mom S.’s) and head over to the American side of Niagara Falls. So we cross of the boarder and head over there to see the sights.

Driving over the bridge, looking over to the Canadian side.

It was just gorgeous!

We had never seen a black squirrel before.

Here we are on the bridge going over the “bridal veil” water fall.

Ric doing his duties.

This was on the American side, looking over to the Canadian side of the horseshoe.

Berries in the park.

After we got done on the American side at the Falls, we headed to a small restaurant in Niagara to have some real Buffalo Wings (which are just called wings there). It was a “wild goose chase” to find the place, but we found it. I sat this one out. . .I was still full from breakfast/lunch!

Then we headed back to the Canadian side, to our hotel, to get ready for our dinner that evening. We had 8:00 reservations at the Skylon restaurant. We got ready, got in the car and found our way to the Skylon. This is that tall place with the round top that you see in a lot of the “downtown” pictures. There is a restaurant at the top that rotates. It is really good.

So, I have to admit, while reading the menu, I lean over to Ric and say “I’m having ice chips and water for dinner.” OMG, the menu was OUTRAGEOUS. Mom S. reassured me to “not worry about it” and order what I wanted. So, I went for the filet mignon and shrimp (Yep, another dinner including shrimp. Every dinner I had in Niagara involved shrimp. YUM). Sure, it was about a $60.00 meal *gasp*, but gosh was it GOOD!! THANKS MOM S.!!!!
We all clean up well! 🙂

Here are a few pictures from inside the restaurant, while we’re moving.

After dinner we went up one more floor to the observation deck to take a few pictures.

Then we went back to our rooms to change into more comfortable shoes, because we were going back out to do some more walking. We went back to the strip and went to the Glow in the Dark putt-putt golf place for some golf.

After golf Amanda and Mom S. went back to their room because the next morning they had an EARLY morning to get to the airport. Ric and I decided to go over to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. I took a few pictures, but they’re boring. . .so I’ll just post the two of these.

The next morning we got up a little early because we still had a few things to do before we had to leave Canada (1:00 p.m.) to get to the airport on time. We went back to the Strip to see the Movie Stars Wax Museum, which was pretty cool. I won’t bore you with those pictures either. Here we are just hanging out with the Simpsons in the Wax Museum.

Then we went back over to the Rainbow Park (I still can’t figure out what the real name of that park is) and took some pictures of ourselves. Thank goodness for tripods. We got a couple really cute ones! Then we headed back over to say good-bye to the Falls and to capture this awesome picture.

And then it was time to walk to our car that was parked in the parking garage and head back to the US of A. It didn’t take TOO long to get over the border, which was great, and we took a more “scenic” route to get to the airport as well, because we had a few extra minutes before we had to be back at Alamo to return the Mom Van!

While we were in Buffalo, since we were pretty early to the airport, we made a stop at one of the bar/restaurants inside the airport so that Ric could have some REAL Buffalo wings IN Buffalo. (I was boring and had something else.)

(He’s being goofy. Probably tired of me taking pictures. ha)

Then. . .it was time to go to our gate and wait for our plane. We flew out of Buffalo, to Atlanta, though this time we had a three hour layover in Atlanta, and then we got to STL; where Katie picked us up and brought us back home.
Here we are at the gate. . .our true feelings of having to leave Niagara. 😦 😦

Niagara Posts

I realized that 1. The first post that I posted isn’t showing up on Google Reader (mine at least). So you have to come out of GR to read it. 2. The whole thing of post #2 about NF doesn’t post, so you still have to come out of GR to read that one too. What a pain. I guess I have to make my posts smaller from now on.

SO, just come on out of GR and read the two posts below. Tomorrow (maybe), I will post the rest of the NF trip. 🙂

Niagara Falls ~ The rest of Day 2

After that we went out and looked around some more and then got on a bus that took us a few miles down the road to the White Water Walk. Stroll along a boardwalk at the very edge of one of the world’s wildest stretches of whitewater! They say it is as close as one can get to a level 6 white water rapid (which is the highest and most dangerous).
It was just a gorgeous sight!

Now looking the other way to Rainbow Bridge

Amanda reading all about the rapids.

Beautiful fall colors. We really did pick the BEST time to go there!!!!

Party like a rockstar.

Slippery when wet.

Rapids

Mom S. and Amanda

“Danger, stay off rocks!”
Amanda being a bad girl!!

Amanda and Mom S. strolling along.

Gorgeous!

They’re outrageously large!

Stoping to take a few pictures.

Group photo.

After walking by the rapids, we did some more walking. This time to the liquor store. For the liquor drinkers. It was a LONG walk. Amanda wears a podometer and it registered 8+ miles this day. So, our “hike” to the liquor store (for after dinner drinks).

Photo in motion of this awesome lady.

Back in our room again. Time to change for dinner.
(We were still a little damp from the day.)

We declared Saturday “my birthday”, because Sunday was Amanda’s actual birthday (1977).
So, Saturday I got to pick what we did and on Sunday Amanda got to pick what we did.
Saturday I chose to have dinner at Planet Hollywood.
On our way to dinner we stopped for some more photo ops.
If you don’t look at any of these other photos, I hope you see this one, because it makes me giggle a LOT when I see it! EVERY time! haha (Look closely.)

At Planet Hollywood I had another shrimp dish, which was SO yummy! After dinner they brought me out my free b-day dessert, which they didn’t know, but is my FAVVVVVVVVVORITE!!! Warm chocolate brownie, hot fudge, ice cream and whip cream. It was DELICIOUS. (Of course I shared too).
Inside Planet Hollywood. Amanda and her “boyfriend.”

Then I chose to go back to the Falls to take some night-time photos.
They shine lights on the Falls to make it different colors, and the colors change.
These are the pictures I had to use my tripod for.

Looking over at the horseshoe.

Downtown.

With the moon above.

Horeshoe again.

To take this picture you have to remain perfectly still. Ric didn’t do such a good job! (ha).

Two headed Amanda and Mom S.

Looking up the hill at the Sky Wheel.

Our silly pictures (with the other camera that had the flash).

She thinks we’re crazy.

We just might be!

Then we had some fun. Again, have to stay still for these. Which made for some goofy pictures. Check Ric out in this one.

Back to the strip.

This is inside the Guiness Book of World Records Museum.
Just Ric being silly.

Mom and Amanda with Robert Wadlow, the tallest man, sitting in his chair.

Back to the strip.

After some more sight-seeing we went to The Beer Garden to watch Amanda sing some karaoke, have a few drinks and dance the night away. We closed the place down. Amanda had a REALLY good night (after all, at midnight it was her actual b-day). 🙂
“Let’s Give Them Something To Talk About”

Brother and Sister

Amanda and I out dancing.

Again, we closed the place down, went back to our rooms and went to sleep.

Niagara Falls ~ The [late] night we arrived through half of day 2.

I’m finally getting a chance to write all about Niagara Falls.  This is the first of I’m guessing what will be three of four posts.

If you don’t already know the story. . .
At my birthday party on September 20th (one month ago today), I opened a card from my husband.  Inside that card were some papers.  One had airline reservations on it, flying into Buffalo, NY.  (I wasn’t quite sure where were going at this point).  The other papers had hotel reservations for Niagara Falls, OR and a car rental agreement.  Now, let me be honest real quick, when I first opened up and found out that is where we were going, it wasn’t that I was disappointed really, it was just the “I don’t quite get it” feeling.  Niagara Falls just wasn’t one of those places that I had heard too much about, and never really knew anyone that had visited there before, so it wasn’t “all the hype” and I didn’t really know too much about it.  It wasn’t until I did some more research and posted about it here, that got me all excited about going!

That being said. . .this was one of the most fun vacations I have ever been on!
Ric did an AWESOME job picking this one out!!!
I have him to thank for getting this all together and my awesome mother-in-law as well, because part of this trip was a b-day present to me from her as well.  (I got lucky in the in-law department!!!!)

It started Thursday evening.  I left work an hour early, got home and packed up the car (luckily I packed the suitcase the night before) and Ric, Katie and I headed out to the airport.  We got to the airport, unloaded and Katie (the good friend that she is) drove Ric’s car back home.  Our flight left at 6:40 p.m.  First we flew into Atlanta, GA.  We literally RAN to our next gate and go into Buffalo, NY around 11:45.  Ric had to run to the car rental place (because they closed at midnight) while I waited for the luggage at baggage claim.  When the luggage came I went and met Ric who was still in line at the car rental place (Alamo).  It was the only one open and there were about 9 people in front of him.  We finally got our car (well, or MOM VAN).  Ric and I and our luggage all packed in a Mom Van and headed to Canada.  It was only about a 40 minute drive from the airport to the border.
This was before we got to the border, getting ready topay the toll.

NOW it’s time to go across the border.

As we crossed into the border, I was the “not-so-good” navigator while Ric drove.  I helped find everything until we got here to take this picture and that is when I got “yelled at” for paying more attention to the camera rather than the directions.  It’s okay though, we found out way to the hotel!!  🙂

Ric chose The Sheraton, which is the same hotel we had our wedding reception in.
While we were checking into the hotel and the hotel guy was getting information from us, I whisper to Ric, “We should get this room for free for all the money that we gave this place for our wedding.” (Well, you know, all the money MOM and DAD gave them. ha). So, he does his thing, gets our room keys ready and says, “Since it’s your anniversary, I gave you a free upgrade on your room.” Great, super, awesome. So we unload the Mom Van, get up to our room, Ric leaves to go park the car and comes back and we go to bed. By this time it was 2:00 a.m., so of course the whole town was pitch black.

It wasn’t until that very next morning I realized just what an awesome person that hotel guy was that checked us in for giving us our free upgrade. I woke up (we slept in since it was pretty late when we got there), looked out the window and screamed, “RIC, get up, you have to see this view.” So he did. This is what we saw:

Yeah, just what I said, AMAZING!!!!!!!

After getting up, we got moving, got ready and left the room to go see Niagara Falls, OR, Canada. Sight-seeing is what I do best (as long as I have my camera along to take pictures). 🙂
The main road, which I was calling “The Strip” all weekend, is Cliffton Hills Road. It has all the “main attractions” on it. But FIRST, we had to stop for breakfast, and the only think we could find was Perkins. So we had breakfast there. WOW, Canada is NOT cheap! It cost $43.xx for the two of us to have breakfast that morning. GEESH!!
After breakfast we did some sightseeing. Here is Cliffton Hills Road (well part of it).

While we were walking around, we saw this. (Ric wanted me to take a picture.) He reads it and says, “WOW.” Like, really. . .does it take a rocket scientist to figure that out???
“If this machine is out of service please use other machine.”
Thanks for the info!

This was at “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” A dress made out of starburst papers. Pretty cool!

This is the Sky Wheel. You will see throughout this post that I was a little obsessed with it and loved taking pictures of it! ha

Frankenstein eating a Whopper.

See what I mean?!

I wished I had an ice cream cone that big.

Well, it wasn’t THAT big, but we did stop at Dairy Queen on “The Strip” to have a waffle bowl sundae. YUM!!!
Onward

FUDGE

This was at the wax museum on “The Strip”

This is one of those “go up and then all the sudden drop” rides.
We didn’t go on it, but it was by WWE, which Ric loves.

After walking around and sight-seeing on the strip, we walked down to the Falls to check it out.
This is looking over towards Rainbow Bridge, which is the bridge connecting Canada and the USA.

This is looking the other way, more towards downtown Niagara Falls.

You will also notice that I was a little obsessed with taking pictures of the Falls as well.
After all, that is what we were there to see!

The horseshoe.

This is standing in front of the Falls looking at our hotel and towards Cliffton Hills Road.

Canadian Flag

Getting more up close and personal with the Falls.

The Maid of the Mist

Flowers in Niagara

After that we walked up to the Welcome Center to find out about tours and such.

Then back towards the strip again to walk around some more.
We saw this AWESOME car.

Then we went to do a little shopping and went back down to the street our hotel was on.
YES, Ric did buy one of these hats. ha

This is cute! On the wall outside Hard Rock Cafe, which was right next to our hotel.

Stopped to take a picture with the Mountie.

Hershey store. . .tried to stay away!

With the Hershey guy.

Then walked down a few more blocks to look outside Planet Hollywood.
This was outside Planet Hollywood.

My BFF is obsessed with zebra stripes, so I thought of her when taking this.

“That sign says duty.” (Inside joke – think “doodie”)

Then we walked over so I could try to get a better picture of the “Welcome to Ontario” sign that you read about above, but there were signs all over not to cross, so this was as close as it got.

Then we walked back towards our hotel and stopped in a few more shops.
This is a shirt that we were going to buy our good friend Robbie. Another inside joke, but the shirt is “bedazzled” so that is why we were going to buy it for him. 😉

At that time we were waiting for the arrival of Ric’s Mom and Sister, who were flying in from VA (D.C. area). So we just went back to the hotel room to relax and wait for them.
Here are some pictures of our room.

Notice there are TWO beds, and YES, we did sleep on separate beds and YES we did enjoy it!! (Can you tell we have been married for a while?? ha)

We even had our own fireplace.

Here is our mini-patio. You can’t really step outside on it, but there is a door that does open that looks outside. Here’s the door.

Here is what you see when you walk up to the door.

And here is what you see when you open the door and look out.

We were in HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!

This is looking out to the park that was below us.

Then I noticed this. . .10 brides and grooms all in a row. So Ric and I stood there for a little bit and watched 10 Chinese couples get married. Aww, how sweet!

Here I am, in our room with the Falls in the background.

What this illistrates is a little piece of Heaven.
Lying on the bed, reading my book, with the door open, the BEAUTIFUL fresh air coming in, and hearing the waterfalls right outside the door. I honestly can’t describe the awesome feeling it was!!!

This is taken from our room looking out more towards the other part of Niagara Falls.

Ric looking out to the world below (and video recording).
When we go on trips I’m in charge of the camera(s) and he is in charge of the camcorder.

Ric taking it all in.

Me taking it all in.

The “S” pillow on the bed, which my Mother-in-Law and I both wanted to steal (S = Seelen), but there are warnings written on the back that your room will be charged $35.00 if you do. ha (Guess it has happened a lot.)

After relaxing in the room for a big longer, Ric’s Mom and Sister arrived, so we met them in their room. Chatted with them for a bit, took them to see our room and then we went sight-seeing with them some more.

Amanda looking through the binoculars.

Monkey See, Monkey Do!!

Mom S. and Amanda checking out the Falls.

As if you haven’t seen enough pictures of the Falls yet.
This is the whole perspective. The one on the left is the American Falls. To the right you can see the “horseshoe” which is actually the Canadian side.

Then we walked back to The Strip to do some sight seeing there.
This is outside the wax museum.

The talking snake. He actually sang too.

We walked up to the top of the hill and had dinner at a neat restaurant, which I forget the name of. Something to do with Olives. I had some Shrimp Scampi. YUM!!
Afterwards walked back down the hill, bought our “Fun Pass” for the weekend and went in the Sky Wheel.

Waiting for our ride on the Sky Wheel.

Deep in conversation.

These are the only pictures I was able to get from the Sky Wheel, since it was moving. But this is up, looking down at Cliffton Hills Rd. (aka The Strip).

More of the Sky Wheel.

I think I was camera happy (imagine that).

(From all angles.)

FUDGE (again)

Ruby Tuesdays, YUM.

Time to play.

A very large pink hand.

Time to play again.

Then we went back to our room, because we knew that we had a long day ahead of us.
I was playing. I bought my tripod, so I was teaching myself some new stuff.

The cool night view.

The next morning we woke up and Ric and Amanda went to buy our “tour passes” for the day while Mom S. and I got ready. I LOVED waking up to this view!!!

Time for a small breakfast.
We’re twins. 😉

Then we went over to the Falls and looked around some more.

Then it was time for the Maid of the Mist tour.

(Rainbow Bridge)

Here we are. . .all four of us in our ponchos.

A sea of blue “smurfs”.

I would only take a few pictures with “the good camera” because we were about to get SOAKED. Got a few. . .

Then put it away and used the other camera that had on the underwater “pouch” on it.

Rainbow

It was at this point that I had no clue what I was taking pictures of. We were pretty much in the waterfall (not really, but pretty darn close), and we were getting pelted in the eyes, I had on my glasses that had water spots on them and the camera had water spots on it. So it was pretty much just hit or miss with these pictures.

It was so crazy, Ric broke his sunglasses.

Flags

After the Maid of the Mist tour we went to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays on the strip. Then came back down for the “Journey Behind the Falls” tour. The sound is like thunder, the sight awe-inspiring! Take a journey deep below and behind the heart of Niagara and stand in the mist where the mighty Horseshoe Falls tumbles from 13 stories above!
You literally went underneath the waterfall (Canadian side) and got to go behind the waterfall.
This is looking out under and behind the waterfall.

Then you can go out on this walkway and go right next to the waterfalls.

Rainbows, rainbows, everywhere.
Rainbow with Rainbow Bridge in the background.

Amanda

Amanda and Mom S.

Time for “underwater camera” again.
Going out onto the walkway.

Ric and I – self portrait with the waterfall right behind us.

The four of us. . .you can hardly tell with the waterspots in the way.

Ric and I with a rainbow behind us.

Dear Jordin. . .

I NEED THAT DRESS!!!!

HI! I know I haven’t blogged about Niagara Falls yet. I was going to do that this evening, but I got on Myspace and got caught up on things going on over there. While I was there, I read the new blog on Jordin Sparks’ page, regarding all the cool stuff she wears and where she gets it.

This is the dress that she wore to the VMAs. I commented on her blog post that I NEEEED this dress. I wonder if she needs my address so that she can send it my way! (In my dreams.) Isn’t it gorgeous?!

The dress is by Betsey Johnson. I don’t think I could wear/afford even one of her dresses, but here are a few others that I found on her website while I was trying to find the one I REALLY want.

LOVE the polka dots. The only thing that would make this dress better is if it were fuchsia and black! 😉

Love the bow!

I love the color of this one (of course), and the back of it is adorable!

And, the dress I really would pay over $100.00 for (if I could afford it).
$340.00 to be exact. :O

We’re home!!! (Unfortunately–sorta). . .

We’re home – back to the US!! The trip was AWESOME. Like, absolutely AMAZING. I can’t wait to share stories and pictures.

As of right now, time to get some rest. I have jet lag, and have to get up early for work tomorrow.

I think we’re moving to Canada (specifically, exactly where we spent the last 3.5 days). 😀 😀 😀