Tea for Two

After Mikayla's first day of school she and I went and had a tea party!! This restaurant is so cute and is set up for kids to have some "pink" tea (aka - pink lemonade). She had SOOOOOO much fun - next time we go, I am getting my drink in a tea pot too. I absolutely love doing things like this with Mikayla - to see the wonder through her eyes. We have been having "tea" every day with dinner in the miniature tea set we have but this really rocked her world! LOL

So we came here after her 1/2 day of school - I thought she needed a special treat, she has asked multiple times to come back. We will little girl...we will!!!

Ms. Sassy Pants

Well we are going to tour back to New York for awhile because I still have so many pictures I want to show, here is Little Miss in front of the house giving me some Sassy Poses :)

This little girl cracks me up!!! Definitely model material to my way of thinking!

Good times!!!!!

First day of school!!!

Welp the time has come, my baby girl is officially in Kindergarten at the "big" school. She is PUMPED up about it. I hope and pray that she'll have a great experience and will get a strong love of school and learning. I'm so proud of her.




She found this picture on one of my work tables and decided she needed to give it to her teacher... :)



Here she is with her teacher :)



I'm so excited for her, she already knows three of the kids in her class (one of four Kinder classes at her school) the kids are from her Primrose class and she's gone to school with them for the last three years.

of course last night we had a celebration, I made a cake (forgot to take a picture of it..whoopsie) and we had a nice dinner (complete with rose petals on the table) and Papa came to celebrate with us too. Naturally little miss had to "dress" for the occasion. :)

I can't believe it's here already!!

Build - a - Bear

Mikayla had her first Build a bear experience. I thought it would be fun and maybe start a new tradition for a "school" friend.

She picked out a super cute bear with a lot of love.



While she was being stuffed, she added her heart (the bear's that is) along with a heartbeat heart. She had so much fun making it, the lady really made it great for Mikayla. She had her spinning, jumping, and really engaged in making her new friend.



Here she's taking a trial run hug. To make sure she had the right amount of squeeze.




The fluff and brush station was a huge hit!!



Her new friend is dressed and ready to go :)




Making her birth certificate. She named her "Mikayla Flower Heart" Ms. Heart for short.





So much fun!!! I think I'm going to make one next time!! :)

Boldt Castle

We took some time and went to the 1000 Islands, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it there. There is no place like it anywhere (well anywhere I've been). We went on a tour of Boldt Castle on Heart Island.

"Beginning in 1900, Boldt’s family shared four glorious summers on the island in the Alster Tower while 300 workers including stonemasons, carpenters, and artists fashioned the six story, 120 room castle, complete with tunnels, a powerhouse, Italian gardens, a drawbridge, and a dove cote. Not a single detail or expense was spared.

In 1904, tragedy struck. Boldt telegraphed the island and commanded the workers to immediately “stop all construction.” Louise had died suddenly. A broken hearted Boldt could not imagine his dream castle without his beloved. Boldt never returned to the island, leaving behind the structure as a monument of his love."

So besides the tragedy of the death in the family the castle was abandoned. The house was 3/4 finished, the linens, furniture and glassware was even delivered and ready to be put up. It was grossly destroyed on the inside, vandalized, the furniture was either stolen or burned for bonfires and it was left in ruins. People didn't just write their names on the walls...they etched them into the walls. I mean serious destruction in there.

The Bridge Authority acquired the property and is now planning a full restoration to bring the property to what it was once designed to be. The first floor is nearly finished and they've started on the second floor. There is a lot of work to do but it is really coming along.

When touring, you really can get lost in the splendor of what it is and imagine yourself attending a ball there - in grand style!

The story of this house makes me so sad. I am so happy to see some life coming back into it. They hold weddings now on the property and have fabulous picnic grounds. A descendant (great great grandson) is getting married there next year.

Niagara Falls!!!

I love going to the falls. They are so majestic and powerful and amazing!!! It's really an incredible experience.

We crossed over the bridge into Canada- wow the line was incredible, it took at least an hour from this sign, until we were on Canadian soil but we had fun looking around anyway.

After we were "in" we found our little B&B and then found some dinner, after dinner we went to the falls....I have never seen the night falls and let me tell you, AMAZING!!!!

They use massive spot lights to color them

We hung around there for awhile and then went back "home" for the night, the next morning after breakfast we started our tour on the White Water Rapids. There is a boardwalk that you can go on and walk alongside the raging rapids!!

Again the water is just amazing!!

Beautiful scenery.

We rode the "maid of the mist" boat ride. Again, amazing to be so close to the falls..... absolutely an awesome experience. (see the boat in the picture below)

Here is the view from the boat.

So we were able to go "under" the falls, now we went behind the falls.... this is the most artsy picture I've ever taken, probably couldn't reproduce it if I tried but I liked it :) Here is one of the tunnels we went through.

the white area - straight ahead - those are the falls...it is so loud in here we have to scream to be heard. The roar of the water is....just... WOW

I have so many pictures.... We actually took pictures from four sources...my camera, MIL camera, Michael's phone and my phone...LOL we are thoroughly pictured :)

Here are two short videos - I really wish it was possible to capture it. Both videos are on the Canadian side of the "Horseshoe Falls" (vs. the American falls).