Niagara Falls

Dustin had another business trip. This time he was in Rochester, NY. We decided that I would fly up with the girls at the end of the week and we would make it into a little vacation. 

I headed to the airport with the girls on Thursday and met Dustin in NY. This was the first time the girls had both flown together and they were great on the flight.  Getting into the airport with 2 carseats, the stroller, and our bag and carry-on was the hardest part of the entire trip.

As soon as Dustin was finished on Friday we made the 1.5 hour drive to Niagara Falls. We walked around the American side for a bit.

The girls spotted a gray squirrel! In our part of the country squirrels are brown.

On the American side we could get pretty close to the falls.

 Olivia checking it out

 

Grace had fun trying to catch the falling leaves. She really got to see how leaves change colors and fall off of the tree in the fall.

 

Then we found the bridge and walked to Canada.

 

Our first stop once in Canada was the Hershey store. I think this was Grace's favorite store ever! 

 They picked out some candy as a souvenir.

 

From Canada you could see the entire waterfall! It was really pretty and I think it was probably a great time to be there because we got to see the fall colors as well.

After we saw everything we wanted to see it was time to hit the road.

Willkommen!

We made it to Germany!

We started off on Wednesday in Oklahoma City. The people at the check-in counter were probably the nicest we have ever encountered while traveling. Dustin and Grace got to go through security and wait at the gate with us. Grace and Olivia had a good time watching the planes while we waited for ours to get there.

 

And they both wanted to break into the snacks I had packed in my carry-on :)

We had a window seat for our first flight. 

 

 

These are the only pictures I took on all of our plane rides or in the airports. We had two layovers. The first was in Atlanta. We got off the plane, got the stroller, and then headed to our next gate. We got to ride a train to our terminal! I grabbed some dinner on the way and then found a place where Olivia could play at our gate. I got her ready for bed since we had an overnight flight and then packed up the stroller and we boarded the plane for Paris. After we got settled into our seat a flight attendant came and asked if we wanted to move to bulkhead and get a bassinet. I couldn't pass up the extra leg room and two empty seats! Olivia didn't like the bassinet - it had a mesh/plastic cover over the entire thing. She slept quite a bit on the flight in my lap though. We got to Paris and discovered it is probably the craziest airport I have ever been to. Last time I was there I just thought the craziness was due to the construction but that was not true yesterday. We ended up having to LEAVE the airport, wait on the curb at a taxi stand, and get on a bus to go to our terminal. Then we waited for about 5-10 minutes (we had a 1 1/2 hour layover and only about 5 minutes to spare) in a lounge before we were told to go to our gate and board. A short flight (Olivia slept the entire way!) and we were in Germany. And it was SNOWING!! We walked through customs (yes, you just walk through and nobody stops to check your bags) and there was CHELSEA!!!!

We got in the car and she told us we were making a stop at IKEA on the way to her house. 

Olivia was excited to be out and about.

When we left I took a picture of the snow in the parking lot.

And Olivia loved the snow falling on her head. This was leaving IKEA but she got to experience her first snow as soon as we got off the plane in Nuremberg.

She was worn out by the end of the day!

Stay tuned to hear about our first day in Deutschland!

Traveling

Olivia is going on a trip! She is taking her very first plane ride today.

Grace gets to stay behind with Daddy (and Grandma since Daddy has to work). She is going to have so much fun! I think she is going to Nations of Fun, rock collecting, and having picnics and tea parties.

Olivia and I are going to a place where it is very cold. She will probably get to see snow for the first time. We are going to visit my best friend, Chelsea, who is recovering from shoulder surgery. We get to have lots of fun playing with Elly!

We'll be home in 2 weeks but I am going to try an update the blog often so everyone back home can see what we are doing. I am guessing Olivia is bringing back a mouthful of teeth :)

Very long day....

Friday was a very long day for us. We left Okinawa on Friday morning and then had all day Friday in Hawaii (since we arrived just before midnight on Thursday). Grace had a lot of fun playing on the playground at the air terminal. Her friend (who was on our flight) would help her get to the top so she could go down the slide!

{Playing at the terminal}

We finally made it to my parents house around 12:30 and we found LOTS of new toys! Grace had a good time going down the big slide and playing with the puzzle.

But by dinnertime somebody was VERY tired!

Cruisin' Down Under

We finally picked a cruise and booked it! After the cruise we found that Grace was not old enough for everything just didn't seem as good. But, we finally came to a conclusion and decided we would go to Australia and New Zealand.

We leave in January and will spend 2 weeks on the boat. Our plans are to spend a couple extra days in Sydney before the cruise so we can see the Koala bears and Kangaroos.

Then we will be off to New Zealand.

Stops in:

Bay of Islands

Auckland

Tauranga

Napier

Wellington

Christchurch

Dunedin

And cruising:

Doubtful Sound

Dusky Sound

Milford Sound

We are already planning what we want to do at each stop:

Swim with the Dolphins

Visit Cadbury World, a working chocolate factory with lots and lots of samples

Play with Penguins at the Antartic Center

National Aquarium of New Zealand

Mount Maunganui - Extinct Volcano

And, we may even make a stop in yet another country on the way back!