This is my journal from our family vacation...I'll warn you it is a bit long. If you'd rather skip it....the photos follow.

This is my journal from our family vacation...I'll warn you it is a bit long. If you'd rather skip it....the photos follow.

Our RV trip to Niagra Falls June 11 - June 18, 2012

Day 1: Dad, James, and Noelle and my nephew Jake headed to pick up the RV this morning while my mom, Greta, and I packed up the final gear. My mom and nephew were visiting this weekend...so we put them to work! My goal was leave by 10:30am....not a good idea to plan with a baby...of course just then Greta has a blow out diaper. When all our gear was packed up we hit the road at by 11am. We made it 20 minutes down the road and stopped in Janesville at Subway for lunch and best buy for a last minute charger purchase. We hit our first tollway and James asks if we are at the border :) He is used to the I-pass we forgot and isn't familiar with the toll booths. Another cute James comment.....something is wrong with the electricity---dad the light is flickering on and off in the bathroom! Noelle and I go in there to discover it is the sun going behind the clouds making it dark in there :). Dad is enjoying the driving piece thus far...we've bypassed Chicago and are aiming to drive far today. For this trip we've decided to wing it...no reservations made...we'll drive as long and far as we feel like each day. We did a dinner stop of crescent dogs in our RV at Walmart parking lot in Kalamazoo. Matt still had energy so we made it as far as London, Ontario. We got to our KOA by 12:30am.

Day 2: This morning we were all anxious to get to Niagara Falls so we left our campground pretty early. Noelle and i were able to fit in a little 1/4 mile run around the campground before hitting the road. We stopped to fill up gas and wondered what Matt was was doing outside our RV....we peaked out the window to see him chatting away with a local stranger. The man was dressed in filthy clothes with more tattoos than teeth....i eaves dropped on their conversion...he was telling Matt how it was great to be a born again Christian. If you know Matt he'll listen to anyone! We started on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. The falls were amazing!!! Even Greta was memorized by the flowing water. If you check out our photos of the trip you'll see how i always have bows in her hair. Now in my way of thinking bows = girl. I still heard tourists walking by saying how cute our boy is! Oh well.

We parked our RV at one end of the falls & walked & walked & walked! We stopped at a Rainforest Cafe for lunch and then walked across the bridge to The American side. We got to walk through customs. Boy did that bring on the questions.

James, Noelle, and dad got soaked at the base of the falls. We opted to skip the maid of the mist boat ride to the base...a bit to wet for little miss Greta. After walking back over the bridge to the American side we were ready for ice cream. We found a dairy queen on a touristy street much like Wisconsin dells. Afterwards we strolled along some walking paths through beautiful flower gardens to our RV. Next we drove to a town called Niagara on the Lake. It overlooks Lake Ontario. The kids & Matt skipped rocks at the beach while Greta and I strolled the shoreline. The town was very high end with lots of cute shops. James was bored out of his mind---wondering why we are wasting our time walking outside all these shops. Good thing Jill's not a huge shopper...the only shops we went in were a chocolate shop and a liquor store.

Since we ate out for lunch we decided to eat in for dinner. We drove to a park and cooked up some ramen. Matt still had energy so we drove to the South side of Toronto. We found a Walmart to park in and called it a night.

Day 3: I couldn't believe we all slept till 8:30am! James came with me this morning on a quick 1.5 mile run around a pond while dad cooked up some cinnamon rolls. After breakfast we did some shopping in Walmart. Today was a driving day....for Matt. For the rest of us it meant journaling, reading, games of apple scrabble, and DS. We did lunch while driving down the road and stopped mid afternoon some chill time on a desolate sandy beach. We had the beach to ourselves. Greta felt the first sand between her toes and even got wet in the lake. The kids made sand castles and Jill swam. We got back in the RV and made it to a park with the largest snowmobile bridge in the world. It can hold up to 100 snowmobiles at one time. It crosses over the French River in Ontario. We opted not to hike the trails. There were warning signs for rattlesnakes. We cooked stakes on the grill for dinner. We drove as far as the Manitoluin islands and stayed at the providence bay RV park.

Day 4: This morning I ventured out for a 4 mile run and found a great boardwalk along Lake Huron leading to the most awesome playground imaginable! After my run I suggested we all go back to check it out. The playground equipment had weight lifting machines and an elliptical! All on a sandy beach facing Lake Huron! A parents dream come true...okay maybe Matt & Jill's dream come true. We got our toes wet in the lake and walked the shoreline back to our RV park. Next we drove to Bridal Veil Falls...still on the island. We ate lunch at a local Fish and Chips restaurant....basically a trailer turned into a restaurant. Next we hiked along a spectacular 70 foot waterfall! The kids got to splash around some and chased after frogs and minnows. We hopped back in the RV and drove to our next trail called cup and saucer....again still on the island. We climbed bluffs & boulders overlooking gorgeous views of Lake Huron. One of the trails was named the adventure trail...it is ranked one of the best trails in Ontario. We were all hiked out so we next headed to our campsite in Espanola, Ontario. The kids are now swimming at the beach, Greta's napping, and obviously I'm journaling thinking I'm wishing supper would make itself :) Salmon on the grill with rice for tonight. We finally got smores by the campfire tonight with guitar entertainment by dad.

Day 5: Dad woke up at 4:15am and hit the road. James surprised dad and set his alarm so he could copilot those several early morning hours. The girls woke up once we hit Sault st. Marie. We stopped at a gas station to start up the generator and make pancakes. Greta had a bath in the kitchen sink and we drove another hour to St. Ignes. We just made the 11am ferry...bikes, stroller and all. We took the faster of the two ferries. Greta wasn't too fond of the wind. Once on the island we biked around some and found a pub and grill for lunch. We all were freezing cold so we did some shopping looking for Mackinaw Island sweatshirts. Despite the cold the kids enjoyed ice cream, Matt and I our warm drinks and Greta just drooled over the whole fudge making process. After several hours on the island we were all beat so we returned to mainland and drove to our next campsite on Brevort Lake along the northshore of Lake Michigan. Poor Matt....after doing such a great job driving this 35 foot RV this whole way....he hit a boulder and damaged the side of the RV. He is pretty shook up....the kids and I are trying make light of the situation reminding him that we are all safe and no other vehicles were involved. After several phone calls with the insurance company and many trips outside the RV to view the dent, we put it behind us and decided to move on (remember this journal is from Jill's point of view....so maybe Matt's still kicking himself).

After setting up camp Noelle did what she does best. There happened to be a little girl 7 years old at the site right beside us. They looked at one another from a distance....the other girl waved....Noelle waved back....the other girl motioned for Noelle to come by her....Noelle skipped to the girl...and the rest of the story is history. James summed it up quite well...only 30 seconds and they are BFF (best friends forever). The leaves don't fall far from the tree cuz 1/2 hour later we are hiking with their family and Matt is talking away with the father....or maybe it was grandpa?? It was an older couple originally from Milwaukee who relocated up here only a mile or two from this campground. They referred to themselves as grandma & grandpa yet talked about their children being adopted? There was a 7 year old girl and 4 year old boy. James wished we were hiking alone....there were some awesome steep hills...not good for the youngsters. Instead we waited until our group hike was over and then went back for some straight up climbing. Noelle wasn't so interested at that point....she was busy playing house, dress up and story telling with her new friend Jordan. I had the bug to explore some more so I did a quick 3 mile run along some trails by the lake. Afterwards Matt, James, Greta, and I played some gin rummy. After dusk we fired up the generator hoping to catch the live TV footage of the stuntman tight roping across the Niagra Falls. Had we planned it right we maybe could have seen it in person. we had to follow campground etiquette and unfortunate shut off the TV before knowing if he made it or not. Good thing Grandma Erma called us the next morning to fill us in! He made it!

Day 6: No early morning today....we left our campground at 9:30am...on our way to Big Spring....the largest fresh water spring in Michigan. We first stopped along hwy 2 to check out the shoreline of the Upper peninsula of Lake Michigan & to get our feet wet. Our next stop was lunch at subway in Manistique, MI. Afterward we headed to what the Indians named "The Mirror of Heaven". We took a little raft out to the center were we watched trout swimming in 45 degrees temperature clear blue water below us. We topped that off with ice cream treats and loaded back into the RV. Our next stop & final stop is Greenbay....a night at grandma & grandpa's.

Our trip is coming to a close. I think we have all enjoyed our trip. The kids have discovered nutela on rice cakes to be a good snack, I've tried to master the meaning of each of Greta's noises, and Matt has a new hatred of large rocks.

Our next trip is yet to be determined....