Spring Break...much needed!

The last week in March was Spring Break for the kids and part of Dave's vacation block so we headed out on our last road trip in the East before this baby comes.

Day 1

Our first stop was Niagara Falls, about a 7 hour drive away. We stayed on the U.S. side the first night and had beautiful weather to walk around the park and see the different views of the Falls.

loved the rainbows

There was still a lot of ice and snow so we couldn't get as close as you can in the summer to feel the mist, but it was still amazing!

Pop rocks in the park

we had to take a few minutes to actually feel the sun again-- it was a LONG winter!

Days 2 and 3

The Great Wolf Lodge in Ontario

If you've never been to a Great Wolf Lodge and have one within driving distance I would highly recommend it, especially if your kids are around our kids' ages... it is like heaven to a 4 and 6 year old!

It is a huge, beautiful lodge hotel with an indoor water park

the lobby has talking animals and howling wolves--- what could be better?

The Water park is HUGE with slides, tube slides, lazy river, wave pool, water shooters, hot tubs etc. and we spent two full days playing and swimming

The kids said "This is the best place ever!!!!!" and since they LOVE to swim it was the perfect vacation for us... I even felt great in the water and could go on the slides and hang in the lazy river, so everyone was happy :)

The food was tasty, but a little pricey so we just did one lunch buffet and ate out for the other meals.

I've never seen such SWEET treats piled with sugar, marshmallows, and topped with icing and more sugar and candy!

The cool thing about staying here is that you pay for one night, but you get two full days of swimming. Check-in is at 4pm, but you can come and swim as early as 1pm and after you check-out you can stay until closing (8pm) and just swim the whole day and use their showers and changing rooms when you leave.

There is a Great Wolf Lodge in PA, but since it was so much more expensive we chose to head to Canada and combine it with Niagara Falls and was a blast!!

And, just a side note...you can get in and out of Canada with an expired passport. The night before we left I realized that Dave's passport had expired 10 days ago and I had a little Freak-Out moment where I thought we maybe wouldn't be able to cross the border and our whole vacation would be ruined, but after many phone calls and much worrying it all worked out!

Day 4

After swimming all day we were going to stay in Niagara one more night, but decided to get the drive to Vermont, our next stop, over with while the kids slept so we drove until 2am and ended up in a little motel in Montpelier, VT

the motel's restaurant was named "Suzanna's Restaurant" so I guess is was meant to be

Our first stop in Vermont was the Cabot Cheese Factory in Cabot, VT

we hung out at the sample table for a few hours :)

We went on a tour of the Factory and are now convinced to only buy Cabot products for the rest of our lives

not really, but it was neat to see how the company was started from just a few dairy farmers and it really is DELICIOUS cheese!

heifer :)

We then headed over to the Ben and Jerry's Factory in Waterbury, VT (about 30-40 min away)

It was a beautiful drive in the Vermont countryside and I'm sure in the Fall it is spectacular.

The tour showed a movie of how Ben and Jerry started the company and I just have to say they had some luck on their side to become so successful!

They gave us yummy samples and we had definitely had our fill of dairy for the day after all the cheese, yogurt and ice cream!

Next we headed down towards Sharon, VT to visit the Birthplace of Joseph Smith.

We stopped for lunch and a soccer game in the park in South Royalton.

We saw the missionaries walking down the street too and they said they were going to come and share a message with us...but we already knew their message :)

There was a gorgeous display of sculptures in the Visitor's Center and I wish I could remember the name of the lady who made them...they were so detailed and the features of the faces etc. were just beautiful

We had a great visit with the Missionary couple working there and it was neat to be the only ones there and take some time to hear about the events and surrounding areas of the time Joseph was born.

The story of how this monument came to be is also fascinating (you should look it up) and it really was a great place to visit and so BEAUTIFUL

even the Spring flowers were starting to pop up

The Chapel on the grounds of the monument.

We headed home after this (about a 4 hour drive) and loved the time we got to be together as a family and see more of this part of the country. We love the East for how easy it is to see so much with minimal amounts of driving and were lucky to have such a fun vacation week together.