Maid Of The Mist

Day 4
Niagra Falls, Buffalo
July 1^st

Our next destination was to Niagara Falls, NY.  I haven’t been there since college and even then, I don’t think I had a full experience.  The plan was to go on the Maid of the Mist and get a close up look at the falls!  I was so excited to do this.  I don’t think the kids had any idea of the magnitude of the falls.

The ride there was smooth.  We were checking the weather to see if the rain was going to be a problem and it looked like we’d make it there during a window of no rain.  Since we were driving through Buffalo, NY we wanted to stop by the birthplace of the buffalo wing!  Buffalo wings are very popular in our home and we needed to pay homage!

We made it to Anchor Bar in time for lunch.  We heard it may be crowded, but fortunately it wasn’t at all.  We ordered about 50 wings and a large pepperoni pizza.  It was a lot of food!  At home, only a few of us eat wings.  Joe & I always eat them.   Patrick is the only child that regularly eats them with us.  Bernadette occasionally eats them if I tear the meat off the bones for her.  After feeding Max his lunch of butternut squash, I gave him some of the wings (w/o the hot stuff) and he liked them so much he had around 2 or 3 wings!  The wings were really yummy and the pizza was really delicious, too.  We had plenty of leftovers to take with us.

 

We found our hotel right near the falls, got settled in and then proceeded to walk to the Falls.  Once we got there we found the place to buy our Maid of the Mist tickets.  We made our way to the boat and were given our blue plastic ponchos.

Since I was carrying Max with my baby carrier, I tore a hole in mine so his head could stick out and still be protected.

There were two levels of the boat we could ride on – we chose the top, of course!  As we approached the falls, it got windier and the mist started get heavier.  The kids were loving it!  As we got closer you could feel the power behind it all.  It was fierce and a bit scary at the thought of just getting closer.  It was definitely an experience.  The ride was too short because once we got there we turned around and headed back. 

We walked around some of the other viewing areas of the falls.  I loved the mist. 

The Canada side was so close, too bad we couldn’t cross over for just a while.  It was neat enough to be able see another country.

Back at the motel, we started munching on our leftovers.  We did so much walking that even Tommy decided to eat some wings.  He decided right there that he liked wings and ate a handful of them.  So far on this trip, Tommy has surprised me with the new foods he’s taking to – wings and burgers.  Wow.  That makes me happy.

Another great trip with new memories and experiences.  Thank you God!

The next day we were headed to Butler, PA to visit Joe’s brother Tom and his family!

Grand Canyon, PA

Day 3, June 30 – Grand Canyon, PA

After going to Mass and having a huge breakfast with the family, we departed for the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  I’ve never heard of this place before, but it’s supposed to be stunning!  We had about a 3.5 hour trip ahead of us.  We wanted to head over to our motel first and get settled in first.  I’m sort of weary of motels because you never know what you’re going to get.  We pulled into a really small motel – it almost looked like one long trailer.  We got our room and started to unload.  Our motel was really comfortable and clean!  Ahhhh…  The kids are always excited once they get to a hotel/motel.  They start jumping from one bed to another.  It makes me sort of nervous all the time.  We are a family of 8 and most hotels consider our family size a fire hazard for one room.  Shhhhhh, don’t say anything!  The kids are just fine sleeping on the floor or wherever.  Perhaps, when they are older we’ll try to get more room for all of us!  As for now, Joe & I walk in with the kids separately so we look like two families rather than one large one.

We headed towards the East View to see the Canyon.  It was really stunning! 

 

What a view it was!  We took some pictures and admired the view for a while and then decided to take one of the paths down to the bottom which is about a mile down in switchbacks.  The little kids already didn’t want to walk any further, I didn’t think we’d make it down the hill yet alone back up the hill!  I would have loved to go down to the bottom so it was a little disappointment.

We ended up going to the Pine Creek Rail Trail because it was stroller friendly.  However once we got there it didn’t seem to really take us close enough to the creek at the bottom of the canyon.  The kids started to get really tired so we headed back to the car.  They just ran a race up and down two steep mountains and they couldn’t handle a stroll on a flat trail?  I guess they were just tired…Joe & I just figured this wasn’t a place to bring little kids.  Perhaps, when they are older.  I even suggested to Joe that we could make this a getaway weekend sometime.

 

Back at our motel, there was supposedly a pond and a little “beach” with paddle boats that the kids could have fun in.  My kids seemed really excited about that.  We decided to eat dinner first, but finding a place to eat was a little challenging since the first two places were closed.  Joe found a place called the Log Cabin Inn.  I was expecting something more simple, but it ended up being a little upscale with things like filet mignon and seafood on the menu, etc…  The restaurant had a bunch of stuffed animals all over the wall.  My kids loved that!  We had a moose right above our table.  There was a stuffed bear (formerly dead) at the other end of the restaurant near the salad bar! 

As we walked in, I could sort of feel the stares of the other customers in the restaurant looking at the size of our family.  I immediately thought they were worried about the peaceful dining environment turning into chaos!  Fortunately, my kids were really well-behaved and I started counting the number of people that came up to our table to comment on our beautiful family and well-behaved kids - I counted 6.  Wow.  Though I’m thankful my children were well-behaved, I had to pause and think that perhaps the opposite behavior is what people were expecting with large families?

Dinner was fantastic.  Anne discovered the salad bar.  She’s going to do the salad bar next time, she says.  The other thing that she surprised me with was her love of my marinated mushrooms I got.  Really?  She ate all of them.  They were good, gotta find a recipe now.

Afterwards, we went back to our motel and the kids put their bathing suits on and headed to the back.  The rain came and poured down heavily as we ate dinner and luckily ended in time for my kids to enjoy the pond.  I followed everyone to the back of the motel and saw this beautiful mist above the pond and around the mountain tops. 

 

The pond was beautiful and the grounds behind the motel were so well-kept!  The kids hopped into the paddle boats and paddled all over with their dad.  Bernadette and I found some beach toys to enjoy.  It was absolutely peaceful and quiet with the sound of my kids’ laughter.  Couldn’t ask for anything more.

The evening ended with hot showers and a good sleep.  The next day we were headed over to Niagara Falls, NY!

Day 2 Patterson Cross Country Trip

Grand Loop, Hyndman, PA

We arrived a little after midnight, but still woke up early.  We all got something to eat.  I wanted to make sure I drank a lot, get enough eat for energy and ate a banana since I knew I was going to be running a lot of hills.  My kids were already outside running around checking out some of the race course.  My brother-in-law is the mastermind behind this Grand Loop.  His house is nestled between two large mountains.  He spent the last couple of months laying out the trail that would take us up and down both mountains, making sure it was challenging, marking it clear for everyone to follow safely and making some actual obstacles for us to do.

Both obstacles here are ones you climb.  The one in the back has a rope to help you climb the wall to the other side.

At first, I thought you were supposed to run through this obstacle, but then learned you were supposed to go under the poles. 

There are a few times a year we get all the Pattersons together and this was one of them.  Just waiting for them to arrive adds to the excitement.

As soon as everyone arrived we sat down together to go over rules, the course and safety issues.

There are four brothers and members from each family raced.  We started the race around 10 am.  Each racer is being timed and the competitiveness was in the air – who would have the best time?  Certainly, not me.  I have not done any training whatsoever to prepare.  However, just the thought of running it was thrilling!  I’ve always wanted to do this sort of thing and when you do watch people run a race like this, you can’t help but be inspired!

 

This is the map of the Loop.

So the race began as we watched each member disappear into the mountains, loop around and go up the second mountain to return and do the obstacles at the end.  Once we saw the racer reappear out the of woods and make their run back -  the cheering began and we would all gather to watch them finish the best part of the race – the obstacles. 

In my family, Joe went first.  I followed him after two minutes and then Anne followed me.  I was feeling pretty optimistic and also inspired by all the other families who raced before us.  I was thinking I was going to do pretty well.  I was worried about Anne doing this course by herself, but after watching everyone, I was a bit more confident she would be fine. 

I was following Joe at one point and then he just disappeared.  He is in great shape, I knew he was almost done as I was huffing and puffing up the first hill.  I was telling myself, slow and steady.  Once I got to the top of the mountain I started running the crest of the mountain thinking I would make up the time for my slow climb.  As soon as I was on my way down, my legs felt like jello.  It was almost as tough as going up! 

I got down one mountain and started jogging to the back mountain.  I could see Anne behind me and she was doing really well.  I was using her as a motivation to keep on going.  The second mountain was more like walk, stop, pant, pant, walk, stop, pant, pant…  Once I got to the top of the hill, I started picking up my pace again on the crest.  As I was following the signs in front of me, I sort of missed one and got off the path.  I was lost!  I couldn’t believe it!  Fortunately, my daughter was not far behind and she helped me get back on the path.  It delayed her time a bit, unfortunately.  Once, we were together I made sure she knew it was ok to pass me.  I eventually passed her and then I thought I was at the end of the loop and was so happy, but my heart sank when I saw one last hill to climb, a steep one, too!  The trail was so slick it was hard to climb, I kept sliding down.  Anne eventually caught up and couldn’t get up the hill – she kept sliding down.  She was getting so frustrated, poor thing.  I had to help her out and gave her my leg to grab and pulled her up.  After that, she eased on up the steep hill as I was crawling up the hill out of breath.  She would have passed me up eventually.

Finally, I slid my way down the rest of the mountain and jogged back to the end of the race towards the obstacles.

I was able to complete three out of the four obstacles.

I ended up with the worst time – I knew I was going to be humbled.  However, so very pleased to have finished the race!

Here are a few pictures of the race:

This is Joe climbing the wall.  I was not able to do this obstacle.

 



 

This is the last obstacle before completing the race.  Everyone in the family swam under the poles!

So proud of my little one!

I think it’s such a blessing to be able to have family come together from all over to spend a weekend doing something as creative as the Grand Loop!  Even though not everyone raced, most everyone did and it was so exciting to watch each member complete the Loop.  Everyone did a great job!  Thanks to my brother-in-law who put the whole race together.

The next day we left the Farm to head over to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania!

Day One of the Patterson Cross Country Trip

We’ve always talked about doing a cross country trip with our kids.  Joe had done it when he was a kid and wanted to do it with our kids.  Old enough that they would have great memories but not too old that they wouldn’t want to spend a few weeks on the road with their parents!  We planned it this year since Joe’s camp would be complete in June and we’d have all of July to travel.

Anne had just finished studying the parts of the United States this year in school and enjoyed it so much.  She will get to see and experience what she just learned.  She is also keeping a journal of this trip.

Ever since we decided we were going on this trip, the kids have added “a good cross country trip” on their list of prayers during family prayers.

The planning of this trip was mainly all Joe.  He put together everything we were interested in and put our itinerary onto an excel spreadsheet – start, destination, duration of trip, mileage, etc....  Everything looks great on the spreadsheet, the challenge is seeing if we can stick to it the schedule.  That would be something, huh?

Destination: Hyndman, PA

The end of the school year was busy and preparing for this trip was really put on hold until the last minute.  I had laundry in the basement waiting to be folded for about two weeks.  I was really wondering if packing was ever going to happen.  Joe was also really busy with camps and wasn’t around much.

For some reason, I work well under pressure and got all the kids packed and brought everything we’ll need for the next few weeks, I think.  We’ll see – won’t we?

This past week, I had my two nephews staying with us because they were attending Joe’s football camp.  This was also Tommy’s first camp ever as well.  I was a bit nervous about how he was going to do, but he did so well and really enjoyed it.  It certainly helped that his cousins were there with him.  Anne also went to football camp, but helped Daddy by being the water girl.  Joe said she was such a great worker, she deserved to be paid for her time!

Our first destination is what we call, the Farm.  This is where my nephews live.  This particular weekend is special because all of Joe’s brother’s families are gathering so we can all compete in the Grand Loop.  It’s a foot race around the surrounding mountains with obstacles  - about 3 miles in length.  It’s the kind where you get really dirty!  We’ve been talking about this for months as well and we were all so excited to race!  We were just hoping no one got hurt because we still have the rest of our cross country trip to do.

Joe arrived from his last day of camp at 8pm and we made it on the road at 10pm!  It was great traffic and a smooth drive.  We made it safely.  We all went straight to sleep looking forward to what is to come the next day!