8/17/10 (Friday):  I'm trying to type this with a cat sitting on my chest!  Poor Lily missed us a lot because we took off on Wednesday to Niagara Falls, Canada.  Tom came over both days and fed her, but she's stuck to me like glue now that we're back!

More about Niagara Falls in a minute.  But first, I want to share some pictures of our wonderful day at the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival with Tom and Kristin and the girls.  It was a huge festival with all kinds of exhibits and vendors.  Anna really enjoyed the bird rescue exhibit, where you were allowed to touch and hold many different kinds of parrots.

Both of the older girls got to ride on a camel.  The handler told Margo that the camel was very relaxed with her.  He could tell because his mouth was open.

In the butterfly enclosure, all three girls got to dip Q-tips into Gatorade and feed the butterflies.  Claire was fascinated (and we got to stay as long as we wanted)!

Now, about our overnight trip to Niagara Falls, Canada.  We decided to go on the spur of the moment.  Wiley had never seen the falls, and I'd only ever been to the U.S. side.  Tom graciously agreed to come over both days to feed and cuddle Lily (Kristin is allergic to cats).  It was about a 5-hour drive through some beautiful farming country.  We breezed through Customs with just a few questions about where we were going and how long we would stay.  Then we went over the bridge and were in Canada.  The speed limits are posted in kilometers, which took some getting used to!

We checked into a Comfort Inn just a block from the falls.  We could see the mist from the balcony of our room.  We walked over and took this incline people mover down the steep bank to the head of the falls (you can see the horseshoe falls in the background of this picture).

The falls were almost obscured by the huge plume of mist, so it was difficult to get a good picture.  From the Canadian side, you can actually see two cascades, this horseshoe shaped set and

this set by the bridge to the U.S.  The Maid of the Mist boats travel right up to the base of the cataract!  We didn't go on the boats.

Two-thirds of the horseshoe falls are on the Canadian side of the border and this cataract is on the American side.

The mist caused several beautiful rainbows.


We're back in Ypsilanti now, enjoying the gorgeous cool weather.  We see the doctor again on Tuesday (the infectious disease doctor).  He's going to do a culture to make sure the infection is entirely gone.  If all is well, we'll head back to Florida in two weeks and wait for 6-8 weeks to make sure the infection doesn't come back when he's off the antibiotic.  Then we'll come back to Michigan to get him reconnected.  He's a trooper!