The Skarda Family: Ohio and then some

Sorry, this is another "vacation photos" post. We just got back from flying back to Cleveland to see my family, and we had a really great trip! Not to mention, it is always a victory in my family if no one pukes on the airplanes. Jasmine was a bit bored and tired, but we made it.

We didn't stay with my parents as much this trip, though. The morning after we landed, we got a rental car and headed up to Niagara Falls.

We went down and walked next to the falls, which was pretty fun.

And then the next day we went on the Maid of the Mist to see the falls up close.

They even had Jasmine sized ponchos!

The sunrise from our hotel room was really pretty.

And thankfully, my parents had just been there a week or two before us, so they gave us a lot of maps and booklets to get us started. Jasmine loved to eat them.

Before we left town, we went to a butterfly conservatory. The butterflies roam free in this big dome you can wander around, and the kids loved it!

We we so shocked when the butterfly landed on my arm - and then we noticed that one landed on Jasmine's car seat while we weren't looking!

From then on, butterflies were landing everywhere.

The kids got to see all the cocoons, too.

And butterflies kept landing on Tyler's beloved Maid of the Mist hat.

Which he thought was really funny.

Then he was pretty sure that the hat was the best way to catch butterflies, and kept waving it around.

From there, we drove on to Palmyra. It is a little town in New York where Joseph Smith Jr. was raised and founded our church, so it was really neat for us to see all of those sites. And our guide was a sweet grandma, who did a great job of keeping our kids interested.

Near Joseph Smith's home is a small forest where he went to pray and received instruction from Heavenly Father and Jesus. We call it the Sacred Grove, and it was one of the highlights of the trip for Christopher and I. And I guess for Tyler, too, since he took off running. When Daddy tried to call him back, he paused, looked at him, and ran faster.

It was a lovely, fall day to walk through the woods.

And when I was taking pictures of this mossy log, an obliging little chipmunk hopped in and peeked out for me. Hi fella!

After that,we went to a local cafe that our friends recommended (thanks Meredith!) and Christopher loved his "garbage plate".

And we even went to go see the Erie Canal. I remember learning all about it when I was in 7th grade - it was a really amazing and important development for the area! And when I went to take a picture of it, Kaitlyn ran in and hopped in my shot.

We headed home after that, and then after a day of playing there we headed off again. Coincidentally, two of my friends have blogged in the last few weeks about going go places called Great Wolf Lodge, and we went to one of their competitors called Kalahari. All of them are indoor water parks attached to hotels, along with tons of other activities for kids. Amazingly enough, both of those companies have two locations that are each a mile or two apart in different states. Can't we share the awesomeness around, people? Because my kid would love to have something like this closer to us. It was HUGE, and since it was the off season, it was practically empty and barely cost more than a regular hotel room. But since it is indoor, who cares what the weather is like outside?

There was a toddler-ish zone that my kids never wanted to leave. The orange and blue slides were small enough they could run up and do them all by themselves, but big enough to actually be a lot of fun. And I think the maximum number of kids in that area the whole day was maybe 10 kids.

Jasmine's life vest sorta swallowed her up, but she smooshed just right into these swings.

The wave pool, again, was huge and practically empty.

And Jasmine loved sitting next to the wave pool and catching the water in the bubbling fountain.

Of course, what would a water park trip be without a Flowrider for daddy?

And of course, we DID spend some time with my family. We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while my mom took the kids to the science museum next door. We had delicious birthday dinner for my brother, I enjoyed a great day shopping with my mom, and we had our (now almost traditional) wing night.

All of the kids loved my brother's sweet cat Soxx. Jasmine mostly loved his tail.

My dad bought a new motorcycle and hadn't sold the old one yet, so the three of them could all go riding together. There is a local restaurant that hosts "bike night" with thousands of bikes almost every week, so they went off to enjoy seeing all the bikes.

And while they were gone, we are went to see my brother's horses. Which may just be the absolute highlight of the trip for Kaitlyn.

She sat up there like it was the most important thing she had ever done, and listened intently to her Aunt's instructions on how to guide the horse. She loved being in charge! What a girl.

And Tyler even got into it too, which was great. Last time he rode a horse he wasn't all that impressed, but this time, he was all smiles.

And we even convinced Grandma to take a turn too.

We had everyone over for a family dinner the next night, and those are always fun. Normally, my brother Kevin is the one that my babies love. He has always loved the little ones, and Tyler and Kaitlyn would just laugh and laugh when he played with them. But hilariously enough, Jasmine wanted nothing to do with him.