Checking In

We’ve had a great start to our summer.  Once school FINALLY ended, we hit the road for a “go where the wind blows us” type road trip.  Initially the basic plan was to go to Boston, then head north into Canada through Montreal and Ottawa, and eventually to end up in Niagara Falls.  Our trip ended up taking a slightly different track.

Our first stop was Philadelphia for cheesesteaks and The Science of Pixar at The Franklin Institute.  It was a great exhibit, and I learned a lot – much of it explained to me by my budding computer scientist kiddo.  Boston was our next stop where we did the regular touristy things.  Grant and I had a pretty hearty laugh over John Hancock’s grave marker.  Parker was reasonably embarrassed and kept her distance from us.  (If you Google it, you will probably understand why, although the back view of it is what really cracked us up.) After Boston, we headed to Burlington, Vermont by way of Ben and Jerry’s in Waterbury.  Yum! I loved Burlington.  It had such a great feel, the people were friendly, and Lake Champlain is beautiful.  I felt the most relaxed there.

Our plan was to head into Canada at this point, but the weather forecast of rain, rain, and more rain, kept us on the US side.  After some research into places on the way to Niagara, we made our next stop Rochester.  This is home to hands down the best children’s museum I have ever been to.  It appeals to all ages, from kids much younger than mine through adults. We were there until it closed.  If you know my family, you would realize the magnitude of this. We are not a read all the cards and look at all the exhibits type family.  I would say we are more of a drive by museum display type family.  This place was amazing.  http://www.museumofplay.org

From there we headed to Niagara Falls where we enjoyed the stunning views from both the US and Canadian sides. We also wandered over to Niagara on the Lake which is a pretty little town.  We enjoyed our time poking around there.  Then it was time to head home. Our only not new to us activity during the trip was our stop at Hershey.  But it proved impossible to drive by Hershey and not stop!

It was such a great trip.  I wish that Sam could have joined us, but I sure had a great time with my other two. They get along so well and we talked and laughed and listened to music along the way.  I am grateful for this precious time we had together.

This trip came about because we postponed our England trip until the winter holidays. Not only is the airfare significantly cheaper, it means that Sam can come with us too. It didn’t feel right doing such a big trip without her.  It all worked out as it should, I think.

Grant and I will be spending the next few days in Richmond for his college orientation.  We  won’t be spending too much time together as they send students and parents off in different directions.  Wishing Dave was here to experience this milestone and also to keep me company during this process.  I am very certain that I will be missing him tenfold when it comes time to drop Grant off in August.  He had some pretty amazing shoulders to lean on.

xoxo,

Robyn