Niagara Falls (Part 3 of our latest East coast vacation)

The continuation of our fabulous trip blog post... Part 1 can be found here and Part 2 here.

We arrived in Niagara Falls late Thursday night. We checked into our hotel and then walked over to the connected casino and got some good gambling time! (We are GREAT at finding those! ;-) )

We splurged a little and treated ourselves to a room that had a view of both of the falls.

The room also had a jacuzzi tub that you could see the falls from thanks to a glass window with a retractable cover.

Now you see the falls...

Now you don't!

There was even a fireplace inside the dresser!

Friday we played tourist around the Falls. Again the weather was gorgeous and Jason got some beautiful pictures of the Falls. We walked along the road taking pictures until we arrived at the tourist center of Horseshoe Falls.

We did the Journey Behind the Falls and got to go down up close to the powerful water.

Afterwards we drove a scenic route along the water up to Niagara-on-the-Lake and walked around the quaint little town of shops. Friday night we had dinner at a fabulous Brazilian steakhouse and walked along the falls at night taking shots of the water before heading back to the casino for one final round of gambling before our journey home the following day.

I think Jason was trying to freeze me...we spent a good 45 min in 40 degree weather standing around taking pictures. The falls at night require a tripod and patience. Fortunately we own a tripod and Jason has abundant patience. The lights of the falls were changing colors too so Jason made it his objective to get the colors as they were changing. He did a fabulous job!

He also had to improvise when the tripod wasn't enough...(note the camera is stacked on a pile of coins...)

Finally, at one point I heard a rustling and turned to my left and watched with wide eyes as a raccoon climbed out of a trash can and over the fence where he began to enjoy his tasting find.

It was a fabulous trip and VERY hard to come back home and back to reality. We had a blast on the trip and feel very blessed at the opportunity to take such an amazing trip and see so much of God's beautiful creation!

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Studying

Here's picture I've gotten used to the past couple of years...

My sweet husband studying last night for an exam he's taking right now...

Two and a half years ago he asked me if I ever thought I would want to go to grad school. I looked at him with eyebrows raised, "Of course not! I'd have to be crazy - I just finished school!". His response, "Well, um, I've been thinking about it for awhile now...". My retort, "Well, I don't know what's wrong with you, but right now, while we don't have kids, it'd be a good time."

Hence began the long journey or Jason going back to grad school while still working full-time. In the grand scheme of things, three years (the total it will take Jason to finish) is not that much time. But right now, while he's taking 1-2 classes every springs, summer, and fall - it's a long time! :-) We are very fortunate though - Baker Hughes pays for all of the expenses of graduate school (to which Jason would argue, "They don't pay for my parking pass!").

Jason is working towards a Master's in Petroleum Engineering (I knew I'd convince him that petroleum was better than mechanical! ;-) ). The program required him to take four introduction classes since he's Bachelor's was not in petroleum. (So that added a full year basically.) Now, with just one more semester left and one more class in the spring, we can both see the light at the end of the tunnel! I will be excited to have my hubby back and he will be excited to have free time again!

PS. Look for an announcement of a GIANT graduation party next spring. With a keg. I might even do a keg stand because I'll be so excited. ;-)

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First Garden Tastings!

We are overly excited about our garden (as probably evident in the amount of time I spend talking about it on this blog...). Well last weekend we got a chance to try some of the fruits (err, veggies, err, I mean herbs) of our labor.

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than with a mojito! Made with fresh mint from your garden! Mmm, delicious!

The crucial ingredients...

The final product!

Jason enjoying the tasty mojito!

**Note: Jason is fully warned when making these faces that I intend to post the pictures on this blog. He still makes them.

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