Niagara...again!

TripAdvisor told us that this breakfast spot was topnotch so we decided to check it out. Sunset Grill did not disappoint. The service was quick, the restaurant was busy, but clean and the food was amazing.

 

Breakfast with this babe! 

My date was pretty cute, too. :)

The dog was the navigator!

From there we decided to walk down to the waterfront to see what was going on. Toronto was bustling and we loved all of the people watching.

Jackson loves to watch sailboats

The handsome young man accompanying me

The city from the water...GORGEOUS!

We walked all around T-town and even got caught in a Jewish Canadian pride parade complete with a motorcycle gang. It was...fascinating. We felt a little out of place being American Christians and all, but no one was too hard on us.

Jackson's "selfie"

 

Our hotel had a pool where you could swim from the inside to the outside. Being children at heart we thought that was the coolest thing ever. We found our inner adults and laid by the pool for a bit, too. Jackson listened to the Indy500 and I read. It was lovely.

When the sun finally slipped behind an adjacent building, Jackson ripped me away from the city I never wanted to leave. We drove the two hours over to Niagara Falls. We were again making up for Jackson's airport birthday (a costly cancelation that was!) and ate at The Keg overlooking the falls. The Keg is Jackson's favorite steakhouse. We had one in Denver so now whenever we see them we try to go. The Keg isn't cheap friends. At all. (Neither was the 360 restaurant. Note to self: never have Jackson travel on his birthday so that there is no chance of it being ruined by delays. Those delays are far too costly later. HA!) Anyway, our dinner was expensive delicious and the view was unbeatable.

I kept accidentally ignoring the waiter and just staring outside

Niagara's skyline...all of that for the falls!

Jackson insisted that we fight the absolute masses of people and go down to the viewing platforms. I was highly annoyed, but acquiesced.

WOW!

I must admit that the views from down there were pretty impressive, too.

He didn't make me get on a boat...thankfully!

Jackson being Jackson and not smiling well for the camera

A sequence of Jackson taking my photo...

Jackson thought this trio was a perfect way to show "what he goes through" to get photos for the blog. He makes me laugh, I try to calm myself, then I am ready for a photo. What does he do? He takes all three photos. Typical. Love that man.

More Falls photos

Last one for good measure

Usually getting a Hard Rock Café pin for my Mom isn't tough. This time, though, the Café was hidden inside a casino. I, thankfully, kept getting carded as I made my way to the Café. At one point security wanted to remove me because they thought my i.d. was fake. They wouldn't even let me near the free drink stations for fear that I'd drink illegally. The legal drinking age in Canada is 18. I wanted to strangle these folks at first. Then I loved them for not believing that I was almost 30 27.

No trip is complete without one of these

We left the Falls and headed for Indiana. We just did not want to make that long of a drive so we stopped in a little town near the U.S./Canadian border called Chatam-Kent. Jackson had enough IHG points (I'll post later about his obsession with hotel points these days) to get us a free room at a huge (why? Why was it huge? We cannot figure out why they had a 17 floor Holiday Inn Express in this town the size of Gas City. We'll never know.)

Jackson singing along in the car...we love to do that

We got on the road early the next morning and headed for home. The security at the border was far less than we expected. It was actually harder to get into Canada than it was to come home. So weird!

We stopped in Upland to grab my car and say hello to everyone there before stopping to pick up little Miss MacKenzie. We missed that little girl!

She took advantage of the sheets being in the washer and slept in Dad's
 spot upon coming home. Some things never change!

It was a great, quick trip. I really enjoyed Canada far more than I expected to and certainly look forward to returning!

Toronto!

Friday after work I drove to Upland to drop off my car and my Mom drove me to Markle to meet up with Jackson who had been all over the state for work that week (thanks again, Mom!). We headed for Toronto with a quick stop at a random Tropical Smoothie (my favorite!) in Ohio. It felt like the drive took forever but we eventually made it. Jackson had enough reward points for us to stay at a hotel by the airport for free. Score! We slept like small children and then got up and headed into the city. 

We stayed right in the heart of the city on Saturday at a fancy Hilton. It was lovely. Our room wasn't quite ready when we got to town so we went out sightseeing and in search of lunch. We went to a place called Jack Astor's which was, unbeknownst to us, kind of like a Hooters restaurant. We went because it was on Yonge Street (which is similar to Times Square in NYC) and had a 4th floor balcony to sit on. The Canadians allow smoking, though, so we sat in the small nonsmoking section inside instead. I was mortified at the waitstaff's attire. They were hardly dressed! 

Jackson smiling at lunch- he didn't mind the lack of clothing as much as I did. Imagine that. ;)

After we finished there we headed to a museum to see their dinosaur exhibit. 

This made us think of Alex!

It was too pretty of a day to stay inside for long, though, so we headed back out to explore the city. I especially loved the University of Toronto. It was built right into the city and was old but lovely. 

Our room's view...LOVE

We walked forever just seeing the city before we needed to get cleaned up for dinner. Since Jackson was stuck in Fargo for his birthday and didn't get a real dinner (he had McDonald's if you'll recall), I promised to take him to "360" which is the restaurant at the top of Toronto's CN tower.

The tower's elevators are glass with great views. The floors also have glass parts. Perhaps some people are into such things.

Not me. I closed my eyes during our ride, tuned out the attendant's speech about how high we were going and how fast and REFUSED to stand on the glass floor. We made it and I was the first one out of that death trap, I mean elevator.

The restaurant spins so that you get ample views of the city. I found that dining there allowed you to get to the observations decks much quicker and entrance to said decks are "free" with dinner. It was $45 or so each to get to the decks so dining was a given.

The BEST soup EVER

You guys. I'd ride that death trap in the sky (elevator) again to get that soup. So good!

My handsome date :)

My date wasn't half bad either. ;)

Delicious salmon dinner

My dinner, like my soup, was really good. They didn't mention the mustard sauce that would be on my salmon so that was mildly annoying but I lived. 

The view from the restaurant

The sun starting going down

We enjoyed our dinner and then took the stairs to the observation decks. There are two floors. One entire inside and one out. We did both.

Mr. Petefish being brave

Mrs. Petefish pretending to be brave

How Mrs. Petefish actually felt...SCARED 

Jackson's idiot self stood on the glass floor at the top of the tower

That view never got old

Again, we lived. I did pretty well up there. Jackson said he was very proud of me. I think he only said that because we rode down in the elevator with a jerk who heard I didn't like the moving death trap and made a big deal of how fast we were going down and wondering if it was normal. I just didn't want to give him the satisfaction of having annoyed me.   

He had his own room at our hotel! 

While the restaurant in the tower was really good, their dessert menu was lacking. We decided to go to the Ruth's Chris in our hotel for dessert instead. Along the way we saw that Jackson had a room named for him already. The Canadians loved us. ;)

Dessert with the greatest bar staff ever

The cheesecake was not all that great but the bar staff were the best ever. They flipped the channel from hockey to the Pacers game for us. That's unheard of up there. They told us about the Pacers staying at our hotel and therefore dining with them. We stayed for probably an hour just chatting with those folks. It was the most enjoyable dessert I've had in a long time.

The evening view from our room...LOVE

We decided to change out of our dress clothes and do a little more exploring of the city. We knew we'd eaten enough to require some pavement pounding. We stumbled upon the city's club scene which was fascinating. The amazing thing was we absolutely never felt unsafe. The people were friendly everywhere we went. Amazing! To top off an already awesome day we had the view shown above to gaze at when we crawled into bed. It was a lovely, lovely day!

Summer feast!

Jackson was traveling for work this week and then we were headed to Canada for the long weekend so we had to fit in some time with the little Js before he hit the road. We settled on Monday night and we even arrived early (God bless summer hours! Getting off at 4 is incredible!) to get in some extra playing time. Jax wanted to spend time alone in his room (he's 4 going on 14!) so we hung with Joss playing baby dolls for a bit. When Andrew got home and saw the spread of food he exclaimed that we were having a summer feast and that kind of stuck with me. We had a little cookout, Heidi made mac-n-cheese (it was SO good), we had fruit, salad and HEIDI'S CHOCOLATE CAKE.* 

*She sent us home with cake leftovers. When I left for work on Tuesday morning I cautioned Jackson against touching my cake. He heeded my advice and I got to enjoy it after a long day at work- amazing. Thanks again, Heid!  

Joss' burger was almost as big as her face!

The spin game never gets old!

Joss waiving and waiting her turn

WHEEEEEEEEEE!!

A Jackson sandwich! Pile on! 

We love getting play time with the kids. It isn't until I see photos that I realize how big they're getting and want to cry! I love them at this age!! 

I got to stop by to drop some things off to Heidi last night so Jax showed me his new cartwheels. He's so good! I am amazed at his lack of fear. He just throws himself into it and hopes he lands. I wish I was that fearless! Poor Joss was already in bed and was not happy! We don't usually hear the hard parts of parenting- like crying really loud when you're that small!- so it made me appreciate every more our early grandparenting relationship with these kiddos!! :)

Graduation speeches

I had a rough day a work yesterday. It is that time of the year again when graduation ceremonies are happening all around the country. Combine those two and you'll know how I spent my morning. When I'm really just down I listen to the hopes, dreams, aspirations, plans, successes, failures and wishes of those speaking to graduates and it lightens my load. Here are a few that I particularly enjoyed today:

First, Parker Mantell's speech at Indiana University (GO HOOSIERS!). Parker completed his address despite a stutter that he had mostly kept hidden from his fellow students during his years in college. I think he was SO brave to give such a speech and though I do not know him, I am so proud of him. My favorite quote is this, "Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. If doubt were to be a disease, its cure would be confidence."

Next up was Eric LeGrand's speech at his own graduation from Rutgers University. Eric LeGrand, a former Rutgers defensive lineman, was paralyzed in 2010 after suffering a spinal injury during a game. I've been rooting for Mr. LeGrand since his injury happened and am again proud from afar at all he's accomplished.

Steve Jobs gave a rousing speech in 2005 at Stanford University. He spoke about receiving a cancer diagnosis the previous year and spoke about his life's challenges. My favorite quote from Mr. Jobs' speech is this, "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go achieve something...I just don't know what that is yet. 

Pacers win!

Sunday we decided to actually use our Pacers tickets (we've been selling all of our playoff tickets) so that we could watch Birdman The Heat while they were in town.

Mommy is going to vacuum? I'd better make a mess. 

I was enjoying a day at home cleaning and hanging with MacKenzie, but Jackson convinced me to go to the game and I am glad I did. It turned out to be really, really fun!

Petefish Pacer fans

The Pacers even pulled off a surprising win! Yay!

Stephenson driving the lane...WOOT

Now if the rest of our playoff tickets would just sell already. We bought a lot of extras and they're not moving as well as we expected they would. :(

The Metz Family heads to Uganda

My dear friend Jade and her family felt called to do missionary work in Uganda. They'd already adopted their son from the country a few years ago and just had work there on their hearts. God has really opened some doors for them to do this work in Uganda so they're hoping to leave in September. This means selling their home in Marion and coordinating a move of their FOUR children. To say that they are courageous would be an understatement. Jackson and I support them with a monthly donation administered by the World Gospel Mission. I encourage you to read more about them at: http://nathanandjade.blogspot.com and see if supporting them is something you feel called to do, too. They accept one time and reoccurring gifts. Another way to support them is to buy a shirt from http://www.worthmoremovement.com. For the next six weeks a portion of each shirt sold will go to their fund and be used to pay for their move, relocation and ministry in Uganda. Most of all they request your prayers. They are following God's call in a big way, but prayers are still hugely coveted during their mission. 

Heidi promises that she and I will get to Uganda to visit them one day!

Jackson turns 37!

We woke up to a dreary Monday morning on the day that Jackson turned 37. He had a special breakfast request so I took him to Hardee's. Woo. Big time! We spent the morning at our hotel playing in the game room (these hotels are built for indoor, snowed-in fun like none I've ever stayed in!) where Jackson dominated Susie and me in air hockey.

Picking off his first victim

Once we were tired of losing to the birthday boy, we packed up and headed for downtown to meet Jackson's childhood friend who now works at the University of North Dakota in their athletic department. We met his friend, Ryan, at the best pizza place I've ever been to. Really. This pizza was amazing. If you ever find yourself in Grand Forks, ND first ask why and then head to Rhombus Guys for pizza. They had the paper on the table that you could draw on and they provided crayons so I drew a birthday message to Jackson. Our excellent waiter noticed it and offered him a free shot from the bar or a dessert s'more pizza. Peer pressure lead him to take the dessert pizza. It was SO GOOD. Ryan offered to take us on a tour of his area of campus and being a huge nerd for colleges how could I not insist we agree?!

Ralph Engelstad Arena

Jackson pretending to be angry in the penalty box

Panorama of the whole stadium. It was HUGE!

We are, admittedly, not huge hockey fans but seeing how large this stadium was did end up being pretty awesome. It turns out that they're in the same league as my alma mater, the University of Denver, and the one hockey game Jackson went to during our time at DU was against UND! Small world! Anyway, Ryan works more with the basketball team so we headed over to their area to snoop around. 

"Put me in coach!"

Jackson did not represent Indiana well and could not buy a basket on his birthday. It was so sad. Ryan quickly hit a three and the crowd (Susie and I) went wild. Poor Jackson.

Chillin' in the men's locker room  

I could not believe how nice their facilities were. I just kept saying that no one from athletics better ever complain to me again- ha! :) We thanked Ryan for his time and then headed to the bookstore to pick up some gear. It was also a nice bookstore. This campus was phenomenal except for its geographic location in the north pole.

We have to include this story because it made us laugh so hard. We kept passing this area called the, "Fido Purpur Arena" and speculating on what it was. We assumed, due to its name, that it was an indoor dog park. We were wrong! It turns out Fido Purpur was a professional hockey player and this is an ice rink named for him. He was the first person born in North Dakota to play in the NHL. Quite an honor in that neck of the woods. Clifford Joseph "Fido" Purpur was his name. We still think it sounds like an indoor dog park. You've seen the real hockey stadium now so you'll understand why Ryan laughed at us when we thought UND's hockey team must play in this little arena. We just were not in the know! :)

NOT a dog park

We'd had a fun day so far but that luck was about to end. The good? We made it back to the Fargo airport without wrecking our rental car. The good folks of North Dakota are not good drivers and I was just certain we'd wreck that darned rental car. We did not. The weather had gotten pretty rainy, windy and cold by now and we scurried into the airport just in time to hear that flights were being delayed. Oh no. Please don't let it be ours. It was. Poop!

Birthday dessert leftovers at the airport cheered Jackson up!

We sat and waited for an update from 5 p.m. until about 10 p.m. just to get confirmation that our flight was canceled. It was so annoying.

This photo provided some great entertainment for Susie and me

We tried to make the best of it but we were pretty happy to just get the heck out of the tiny airport once the flight was canceled so we could try again the next morning to get home.

Birthday McDonald's

I asked the hotel shuttle driver if she'd stop to get us some dinner and she obliged. Jackson ate McDonald's for the first time this year (he gave it up for New Year's) to celebrate turning 37. Yep. He's a champ. He really didn't complain at all that his birthday was spent trapped in North Dakota. What a guy! We got like 5 hours of sleep and then trekked back to the airport to get home. We made it this time and both worked in the afternoon. Needless to say we're exhausted and really happy to be back in Indiana. For now. :)