Day 174........Happy 21st Birthday trip to the frozen South.

Day 174........Happy 21st Birthday trip to the frozen South.

3 Girls and 4 Suitcases.

Happy sigh when thinking about yesterday and a very lovely family day.
It started a wee bit frantically because I had to meditate, decorate, finish a wee Angel book for Jen and wrap presents. You'd think that with all of my non-activity here, I could have got her book finished well in advance but nope. Good job Bill was here to help Alison make a surprise Traybake and also make the breakfast pancakes.
I was up at 6.45 as usual but may have had to have skipped sleep altogether if he hadn't been here.
Andrew got delayed on the subway and was later getting here than hoped but it just meant that everything was behind the schedule that we planned. The plan did not change.
Everyone else had pancakes (me no likey) and then we did birthday present opening. Ali had made a fab wee video of birthday greetings from various friends and family and we all watched it on Youtube on the tv. Isn't technology great. We then headed out and down to Niagara Falls. It was -13 when we left and -16 by the time we got to Niagara. Seeing Lake Ontario 75% frozen was pretty amazing and beautiful but the reality of standing outside for photographs was not as much fun as when it was done during Bill's last visit in September. Windchill at -30 will do that I suppose.
The trees facing the falls were stunning, with the frozen snow down the trunk and branches facing the falls. It happens because of the spray from the falls freezing on contact and looks amazing. We parked at the visitors centre and probably were out of the car, in total, for less than twenty minutes. The time spent outside was only a couple of minutes at a time. Fingers did not appreciate gloveless hands during photo-taking but the photos were worth it. Andrew took some good ones of the girls under the trees and the girls took lots of each other whilst Bill and I stayed warm in the car.

We headed over to America, after the photo-stop and it didn't take too long to get across. We had to go into customs because of Bills UK passport (the rest of us have Canadian ones) but luckily there was not much of a wait. Too cold for most folks to travel, I guess.

Dinner was well worth the trip and Olive Garden may have to be visited again. Buffalo don't seem to clear their snow away as well as Ontario and they seemed to have had more snowfall  than us but we managed to get where we were going without getting lost. The boys did a great job.
I was in the back, snuggled under blankets with the girls because we didn't have the most efficient heater in the car.
Each meal in Olive Garden comes with unlimited breadstix and salad or soup and whilst Ali and I weren't fussed on the breadstix her soup and my salad were lovely. My main course of rosemary and Garlic chicken served me lunch today too, due to the large size portion. Jen had enough of her pasta to do her lunch today as well.
No stopping at the border coming back into Canada and we were home for 8.30 to watch a favourite movie of Jens, from a few years back, called Stick-it. Fun and easy to watch, especially with a couple of glasses of wine. We had an intermission for birthday cake and Andrew set off home after 11pm in the very bitter cold. Brr.
So, all in all, I think Jen had a lovely day. Apart from me feeling a bit grouchy with myself for being grouchy, I had a fab day too.
Much Love, Lxx