Niagara Falls

While Julian is away at a conference in Iceland, Zoe and I took a little trip of our own to Niagara Falls where we met one of my college friends and her family.  Here Zoe is posing with John (L) and Sara (R) and their three children, Mariah, Noah, and Joel.

Zoe instantly hit it off with her new "big kid" friends.  Noah and Mariah were happy to oblige with frequent hand holding and attention.

There is sometimes an updraft close to the falls.

Day #2 was spent at Marineland.  It was Zoe's first visit - and a big enough hit that we returned for part of day #3!  Zoe loves rides and we went on a few, but it was the animals that stole her heart and made it a magical visit.         

We walked around singing Baby Beluga all day after our encounter with this inquisitive cutie.

The other song we couldn't (still can't) get out of our heads is the "Everyone Loves Marineland" jingle.

In the deer enclosure they give you an ice cream cone filled with small pellets to feed the deer.  Zoe was doling hers out one individual pellet at a time.... until one of the deer finally reached out and took a bite out of the cone.

This little guy was as determined not to eat as Zoe was insistent that he have at least one pellet.  She followed him around for several minutes before moving on to the next deer.

Back in town we reunited with our friends for swimming and dinner.

The next morning (day #3) it was time to say goodbye to our friends who headed for New York while we paid a visit to the Butterfly Conservatory before swinging by Marineland again on our way home.

Zoe had requested that we visit the Butterfly Conservatory.  Her one and only goal was to have a butterfly land on her. After watching butterflies land on other guests (including me), Zoe became upset that they did not seem to like her.  So we decided to sit and pretend we were flowers.... until, finally, she got her wish!  It was fleeting but it was all she needed. 

Click here to listen to "Baby Beluga".

Click here to listen to the "Everyone Loves Marineland" jingle.  (Caution: replaying a couple times permanently imprints it on your brain.)