Niagara Falls Trip Overview

In August we spent a weekend in Toronto followed by three nights in Niagara Falls, ON.
In Niagara Falls, you will find a variety of activities - Falls related activities, "tourist-trap kitsch", Fallsview indoor Water Park, casinos, and more. We spent our time in the Falls area and did not venture to the wineries or Niagara on the Lake which are a little further from the falls.

We stayed at the Clifton Victoria Inn which is part of the Falls Avenue Resort which includes the Fallsview Indoor Water Park. While in Niagara, we were able to enjoy the views of the Falls, the fireworks over the falls, the Falls activities, the Clifton Hill Activities, and the Fallsview Indoor Water Park.  We loved the location of our hotel as it was easy walking distance of almost everything, but set off the main tourist areas so it was a little quieter.

Disclaimer: I am a Groupon Affiliate and am compensated for sales through Groupon links. I appreciate your support of my blog by shopping through my links. Please read all terms and conditions before purchasing.

Groupon is currently running deal on the Sheraton On the Falls which is part of the complex that we stayed at.

Sheraton On The Falls

Stay with Dining Credits and Wine Tasting for Two at Sheraton On The Falls in Niagara Falls, ON. Dates into June.

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On Friday, Sunday, and holiday nights in the summer there are fireworks over the falls. We arrived on Sunday night in time for a light dinner. We had the Secret Garden recommended to us by a concierge at the Falls Avenue Resort. The restaurant is located adjacent to Oakes Park and is built into the hill between Falls Avenue Resort and the falls. They had outside dining that overlooked the American Falls and Rainbow Bridge to the US. We had sandwiches which were well done (their croissants were great). The waitress recommended the adjacent Oakes Park as a non-crowded fireworks viewing location. We were able to find benches to sit on to watch the fireworks. It was not crowded and was a very pleasant walk from there back to our hotel.

Our original plan had been to split the Falls activities across Monday and Tuesday and spend parts of each day at the Fallsview Indoor Water Park. However, the possibility of storms on Tuesday encouraged us to make sure to finish the Falls activities on Monday as many were outside. While it did not storm on Tuesday, it worked out well to have done the Falls first and arrive at the water park in the morning when it was less crowded than in the afternoons.

For the Falls activities, we bought the Niagara Parks Commission package that included Maid of the Mist*, Behind the Falls, Niagara's Fury and White Water Walk. It also included transportation on the WeGo bus system. We loved Maid of the Mist and Behind the Falls and enjoyed the White Water Walk. For more details, see my review of Niagara Falls Attractions.

Ready to Ride Maid of the Mist

Monday night we spent in the Clifton Hill area which I would classify as "tourist-trap kitsch". There are several mini-golf courses, several wax museums, numerous horror attractions, gift shops, and various other attractions (Guiness World Records, Ripley's Believe It or Not, arcades, etc). For more detailed reviews of the Clifton Hill attractions, see my review.

at Wax Museum

Tuesday we spent most of the day at Fallsview Indoor Waterpark which my daughter loved.

After the water park, we had a buffet dinner at Fallsview Restaurant with spectacular views of the Falls from one of the top levels of the Falls Avenue Sheraton. The food was quite varied including pasta, seafood, Mexican, and more. There was fresh fruit, salad, and sides. The desserts were also great. We arrived for dinner early which worked out great. We were able to get seats against the window (right next to the door for the observation deck) and they offer free kids buffet with an adult buffet from 5-6p.

View from Observation Deck at Fallsview Restaurant

We never made it across to the American side of the falls. The Rainbow Bridge crossing near the Falls frequently had a long line for Customs (into the US in the morning and into Canada in the evening). Had we been doing our main border crossing at Niagara Falls, we would have done the American side on our way in or out. Since we live in Michigan, it is considerably shorter for us to drive across Canada from Niagara Falls instead of through the US. My daughter was quite confused when we got in the car to leave Niagara Falls and we told her we wouldn't be back in the US for 3 hours even though she could see New York.

We had a great time on our Niagara Falls Trip and definitely recommend a family trip to Niagara Falls.

* I just discovered that Maid of the Mist is no longer operating from Canada. They will still operate tours from the American side. Boat tours from Canada will be provided by Hornblower Niagara Cruises. Hornblower currently provides boat tour experiences for US National Parks at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco and the Statue of Liberty from both New York and New Jersey.

Fallsview Indoor Water Park & Falls Avenue Resorts

In August, we spent three nights in Niagara Falls. When we were planning our trip, one of my friends mentioned they had stayed at the Fallsview Indoor Waterpark. I knew that would be a big hit with my daughter, so I made sure to check it out. You can choose to stay at one of the Falls Avenue Resort Complex's four hotels and include a water park on your stay or you can visit Fallsview Indoor Water Park on a daily pass.

The four hotels in the complex are:

• Sheraton on the Falls
• Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls - Fallsview
• Skyline Inn
• Clifton Victoria Inn at the Falls (which was a Hampton Inn when I booked our stay in June)

When I looked at the on-site hotels, I was drawn to the Clifton Victoria Inn since we have had good experiences at other Hampton Inns and because it offered FREE breakfast, FREE parking, and FREE Wi-Fi all of which are big money savers for us. The FREE Wi-Fi was especially important since were were trying not to use the internet on our phones while in Canada (at $2.05/MB I was cautious). It was the only Falls Avenue hotel not physically connected to the waterpark, but it was a short walk - across the street and roughly a block to the parking garage. In cold weather you may be able to walk through the Skyline Inn so you would only need to walk across the street while outside.

We booked the hotel for three nights with the water package for only two of the nights. The water park passes are valid from 1p the day they start until the water park closes on the day your pass ends. We arrived on Sunday evening and based on the weather forecast that had Tuesday with a threat of rain, we decided to spend Monday on outdoor activities near the Falls and start the waterpark Monday afternoon and have it run through our departure on Wednesday.

We were traveling with my parents and my family of 3 staying in separate rooms. You have the option of booking just the hotel or the hotel with water park. The water park package is only sold as 4 admissions, but offers the ability to add additional passes for each day. Since the water park add-on was for 4 people (and I only needed 3), it made more financial sense for my parents to just reserve the hotel and use my extra Water Park pass and purchase an add-on pass.

The Clifton Victoria Inn was similar to a Hampton Inn. We found the WiFi to be adequate, the breakfast was typical of an included breakfast. It was quite crowded the first morning that we were there, but it was a Canadian Holiday (Monday of a 3 day weekend) which increased the crowds at the hotel. It was considerably less crowded the other two mornings that we were there. FREE Parking was available behind the hotel (most Niagara Falls hotels that I looked at charged nightly for parking). Our room decor was perhaps a little dated, but not overly so and everything was clean. I would definitely consider staying there again. While the Clifton Victoria Inn is not directly on Falls Avenue like the Sheraton or Crowne Plaza (and does not offer rooms with falls views), I enjoyed it's location. It was a quick walk to the water park, Falls Avenue, or Clifton Hill, but it was set apart from the noise and lights of the touristy areas.

We spent most of the day Tuesday at the Waterpark and stayed until lunchtime on Wednesday. We loved the watermark. One of the main features of the park is the slide tower which features 4 tube slides, 2 mat slides, and 2 body slides. We tested all of the slides, but our favorite was definitely the bowl slide. You can ride the bowl slide in either a single or double tube. You proceed through an initial pipe slide that exits onto the edge of a large bowl. You circle the outside towards a raised drain with a single opening. Once you enter that opening, you continue down a pipe slide (sometimes backwards) until the landing chute. We did have a few cases where we got stuck in the bowl just missing the exit and had to push ourselves back into the main flow to catch it the next time around.

I was very impressed with their organization on the slides. They had color coded lines on the stairs for the 4 tube slides and holding areas on the main landing if the lines were long (as was typical for the bowl slide). We definitely noticed an advantage in line length by arriving early in the morning.

On the mat slides, you could race since the tracks were mirror images of each other. You ride these slides head first on your belly. We also liked the body slides which you rode on your back with legs crossed, although we did end up with wedgies after each ride.

Fallsview Waterpark also features a Wave Pool, an outdoor basketball pool, and a play structure with anumber of slides on it. However, it does not have is a lazy river. We definitely missed not having the lazy river. The play structure had a number of slides, that went in different directions making it hard to keep track of our daughter. Our second day, we were smart and claimed chairs near the play structure so we could sit and watch our daughter play on the structure. Unfortunately the Wave Pool broke our second morning at the park. My daughter was not happy with us as we had hustled her past the wave pool to ride the slides before the line got long and then the wave pool was broken when we went back to it. They were working on the Wave Pool for quite a while, so it was probably up and running soon (unless they needed to order a part).

The first day, we walked to Fallsview Water Park from the Clifton Victoria Inn in our swim suits with t-shirts/coverups on and walked back to our hotel in the same way to shower and change when we were done. The second day that we were at the Water Park, we had already checked out of our hotel since we were heading home that afternoon. There are showers and changing rooms available in the mens and women's restrooms that we used. There were only two showers (private) available in the ladies room, but since it was mid-day, my daughter and I were the only two using them. There are also open showers available in the hallway outside the restrooms for a non-private shower.

There are lockers that you can rent at the Water Park. We rented a large locker each day to store our phones, wallets, and dry clothes in. If it hadn't been for the phones we may have skipped it and used a waterproof case for money and credit cards. I loved the locker setup where you bought a key for a locker and had free in and out access to it all day. It was very nice not to have to pay each time we wanted to get something from our locker.

Our first day at Fallsview Water Park we stayed at the park from 10a until around 3p. We had lunch at the Planet Hollywood Beach Club (a counter service restaurant) which is inside the water park. They offered a variety of items such as burgers, wraps, chicken fingers, and more. It was convenient and nice to have options other than pizza or burgers and fries.

We definitely recommend adding the Fallsview Water Park to your itinerary at Niagara Falls. Note that we were there in the summer when the water park is open daily. During the winter months, the Water Park is not open daily.

Disclaimer: I am a LivingSocial Affiliate and am compensated for sales through LivingSocial Links. I appreciate your support of my blog by shopping through my links. Please read terms and conditions before purchase as they are only summarized below.

LivingSocial is currently offering a deal for the Clifton Victoria Inn that includes a one night stay for up to 2 adults and 2 children, four 2-day passes at the WaterPark (day of arrival and departure), 4 Mini-Golf Passes, and 4 Games/child at Adventure City. You will also receive dining credits at various restaurants in the Fallsview complex. You can combine vouchers for a stay of up to 4 nights. The package costs $145 Canadian on Sundays through Fridays and $169 on Saturday. Your LivingSocial voucher will be valid until February 29, 2016. Be sure to check blackout dates and other terms before buying your voucher.

Niagara Falls - Clifton Hill & Falls Avenue Resort- Tourist-Trap Kitsch

Before we visited Niagara Falls this summer, I had previously been in 1986 and one of the things that I remember was all of the touristy "kitsch" places. There is still plenty of kitsch to be found in Niagara Falls and much of it is centered on Clifton Hill. You will find Wax Museums, Horror Houses, Ripley's/Guinness museums, themed mini-golf, and of course shopping. The Falls Avenue Resort Complex includes hotels, a casino, dining, shopping, the Fallsview Indoor Waterpark, and attractions.

Clifton Hill runs from River Rd along the Niagara River (between the American Falls and Rainbow Bridge) past Falls Avenue to Victoria Avenue with the kitsch between Falls and Victoria Avenue.

The Falls Avenue Resort's 4D movies, Pink Panther Ride, and Adventure City have entrances on Clifton Hill as well as through the resort.

While in Niagara Falls, we decided to partake of some of the attractions.

Falls Avenue Resorts Activties

SWAT Ride at Adventure City

We started with the Falls Avenue Resorts attractions since they were included in our hotel package (mini-golf, bumper cars, SWAT ride, Pink Panther ride, and 4D movie). We played 9 holes of indoor glow miniature golf with a safari theme. They allowed us to use the golf and ride tickets interchangeably (the 4D movie was separate). My daughter was not tall enough for the bumper cars, so we headed for the SWAT ride. On the SWAT ride you drive through a city and use laser guns to shoot targets. My daughter loved this ride and we used our extra tickets for this ride to ride it several times while in Niagara Falls.

The Pink Panther balloon ride is located on the roof of Adventure City. There are 6-8 balloons arranged around the center pole that will each hold up to 4 people. The balloons ascend the pole and then rotate around it. While the Sheraton blocks your view, at certain angles you can see the falls (and Clifton Hill below). We boarded the Pink Panther as the fireworks* over the falls were starting. We were the only ones on the ride and there was no line, so the attendant kept us on the ride until the fireworks ended. It was definitely a unique view of the fireworks. If you are afraid of heights, definitely skip this ride. While you stay over the roof of the building, you are near the edge and looking all the way down onto Falls Avenue. Since the ride was included with our package, I am not sure how much it would cost to buy the tickets individually.

Our package also included a show at the Iwerks 4D movie theater. We were not sure what to expect, but knew that the movies were Happy Feet: The 4D Experience and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. I wasn't sure what to expect from a 4D movie. It is a 3D movie that you watch from a motion simulator chair. The chairs are in sets of 2 and move you in conjunction with the movie plus add special effects like sprays of water and puffs of air. The show included both movies (which were under 10 minutes each). My daughter loved the movies and the ride. They do offer a few stationary seats which my parents took advantage of since my mother does not like motion simulators.

The Falls Avenue Resort shopping is located at the opposite end of the Falls Avenue Resort from Clifton Hill. There is a Hershey's Chocolate World and Always Refreshing Soda Shop which features Coca-Cola products and merchandise.

Clifton Hill Area Attractions
When walking along Clifton Hill it is hard to miss the kitsch. There are the Guinness World Records Museum, Wax Museums, miniature golf, Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, Haunted Attractions, and much more. The museums are pretty small and will take under an hour to explore.

One night, my parents suggested the Louis Tussaud Wax Museum. They had visited it in the late 90s with my siblings and enjoyed it. The Louis Tussaud Wax Museum is located on Victoria Avenue just east of Clifton Hill. Unfortunately, many of the wax statues were still from that era so my daughter did not recognize them. Even some of the newer statues were not people that she would identify with. She did get a little excited at the Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean, although she seemed a little apprehensive of the wax figures. Also, she did recognize a younger Harrison Ford from Star Wars and Indiana Jones. By far her favorite part was getting to walk the tightrope over the falls. It was nice that you can walk right up to the figures and touch them to pose with them. I definitely recommend waiting until kids are teenagers for the Louis Tussaud Wax Museum.

The Guinness World Records museum was more to my daughter's liking. She loves trivia and history, so this was right up her alley. There were a few exhibits that we steered her clear of (ie the most tattoos on a stripper). Even so we spent under an hour in the museum.

The one night we ate along Clifton Hill. We had a large, late lunch that day, so we weren't looking for a big meal (either in time or size). I would have loved to find a nicer counter-service place (ie Noodles & Co, Panera, Chipotle, etc). Instead, we found either fast food or table-service restaurants. Even when I tried asking the concierge, he had no idea what I was talking about steering me to a bar for counter service. We ended up getting counter service pizza at Pizza Pizza (comparable to Little Caesars) on Clifton Hill and eating outside listening to music.

Clifton Hill is definitely a great place to shop for souvenirs. Many of the shops have affordable t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other memorabilia. They also had plenty of "Canada" food items like maple syrup, maple cookies, etc.


*There are fireworks over the Falls on Friday, Sunday, and holiday nights in the summer. They also held them on Monday night while we were there since it was a Canadian holiday. We watched the Fireworks on Sunday, so were not making plans to see them on Monday.

Niagara Falls Attractions - Trip Review

As I mentioned earlier, we spent a few days in Niagara Falls, ON earlier this month. I had previously been to Niagara Falls in 1986. The main draw to Niagara Falls are the Falls themselves.

Niagara Falls with Maid of the Mist

Since we arrived from Toronto and were returning home to Michigan (by driving west through Ontario), we stayed on the Canadian side of the falls. The Canadian side is an absolute must-do since you have the best view of the falls from the Canadian side. On my first visit  we had not visited the American side even though we came through New York.

Niagara Falls has done a great job keeping the area immediately surrounding the parks un-commercialized. While there are modern amenities including bathrooms, concessions, and merchandise stores, they are limited to the Maid of the Mist Plaza and the Table Rock Welcome Center. The White Water Walk is even more rustic. There is a small gift shop that houses the elevators.

We purchased the Niagara Falls Adventure Pass from The Niagara Parks Commission. The Adventure Pass included a ride on Maid of the Mist, Journey Behind the Falls, Niagara's Fury, White Water Walk, and two days on the WeGo bus transportation system. The Adventure Pass is $46.95 ($68.05 value)for adults and $34.95 ($45.02 value) for children 6-12 (FREE for younger children).

Maid of the Mist* 

Ready to board Maid of the Mist

We started with the Maid of the Mist boat tour of the falls. When we purchased our Adventure Pass, we received timed tickets for Maid of the Mist. Since the day we were there was a Canadian Holiday (poor planning), the line was quite long but moved fairly well. The initial bottleneck was at the elevators to descend from the plaza level to the boat/river level. Then they took our picture (in front of a green screen) and we were handed our ponchos. When we arrived at the boat level, we were handed blue plastic rain ponchos (quite an improvement from the heavy black raincoats I remember from the 80s). I remember the old raincoats being heavy - and wet from previous users. These are disposable (recyclable) ponchos. I actually recommend saving these ponchos for use at Journey Behind the Falls and Niagara's Fury since the Maid of the Mist ponchos provided more coverage.

We definitely recommend doing the Maid of the Mist boat tour. They have been operating since 1846 and run boats from both the Canadian and American side of the river. The boat first travels past the American Falls before proceeding to the Horseshoe Falls and turning to return. The Maid of the Mist is a double decker boat. We rode on the top deck and we definitely got wet at different points. However, there were many points where I felt comfortable having my phone out to take pictures. Since it was warm, we wore shorts and sandals or flip-flops. However, our feet didn't get soaked, so you would probably not get soaked if you had on long pants in colder months.

Horseshoe Falls from Maid of the Mist

Journey Behind the Falls

Journey Behind the Falls starts in the building at Table Rock near the top of the Horseshoe Falls and descends 150'. There are two portals that look out behind the falls and an observation deck. When we saw the observation deck from the Maid of the Mist, I was surprised to see the people in ponchos because it didn't seem to be that close to the falls.

Journey Behind the Falls Observation Deck -
taken from Maid of the Mist

Boy was I wrong! Below, you can see my daughter huddled from the mist behind her. The mist was so bad that I could barely keep my phone out for a picture. 

Getting Soaked on the Upper Deck

This picture above was taken on the upper deck - the lower deck had even more spray, so I left my phone under my poncho and have no pictures. The mist was so heavy that we barely stayed on the platform. Unsurprisingly, the lower deck is closed in the winter months due to ice formation. 

You can also follow a tunnel behind the falls to two different cataracts that look out into the falls. As you walked down the hall there were lots of informational posters. My daughter loved learning about the falls. She was particularly fascinated by the daredevils who went over the Falls in barrels.

Looking out at the Falls

The tunnels were slippery, so be sure to walk carefully. Also, the disposable ponchos provided here were not as good as the Maid of the Mist ponchos. The sleeves were shorter, and had a larger under arm gap that did not keep your arms as dry. I recommend keeping your Maid of the Mist poncho and reusing it here.

Niagara's Fury
Niagara's Fury is also located in the Table Rock Welcome Center. We were pretty disappointed by Niagara's Fury. It started with an animated pre-show movie featuring woodland creatures learning how Niagara Falls was formed. Then, you are led into the main attraction, the creation of Niagara Falls with swirling winds, thunderstorms, rain, rumbling floor and surging water. Niagara's Fury uses the same poncho style as Journey Behind the Falls, so again I recommend the poncho from Maid of the Mist.

We do not recommend Niagara's Fury as a must see. The show seemed completely disjointed. The pre-show was geared towards younger children - many of whom were scared of the thunder and pounding water in the main attraction. You could definitely skip this and not miss much.

White Water Walk
Downriver from Niagara Falls is a Class 6 rapids. Class 6 rapids are considered un-navigable. White Water Walk is an observation board walk along side the rapids. It is located 4 km downriver from Table Rock Welcome Center. The WeGo bus will take you between the falls area and White Water Walk. One of the things that my daughter liked the best about White Water Walk is that it featured placards describing the various Niagara Falls daredevils - from those who traveled over the falls or through the rapids in barrels to tightrope walkers who walked across the gorge.

One warning is that there are no bathrooms on the trail. You need to go across the street from the gift shop to find a restroom.

Overall, I recommend doing the Adventure Pass. Even if you skip Niagara's Fury, you will save money over buying each of the other three attractions - plus you get the use of the bus transportation. Depending on where your hotel is located, WeGo can be very useful in transporting you from your hotel to the Falls area.

Update: 12/2/2013
* I just discovered that Maid of the Mist is no longer operating from Canada. They will still operate tours from the American side. Boat tours from Canada will be provided by Hornblower Niagara Cruises. Hornblower currently provides boat tour experiences for US National Parks at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco and the Statue of Liberty from both New York and New Jersey.

Passport to Adventure at Michaels

This week Michaels stores started their annual Passport to Adventure series. I have been wanting to visit for for a few years, but never seem to make it there with camp, play dates, vacation, and lazy mornings. This year, I am going to try hard to make it to at least one session.

Passport to Adventure is a 7 week  exploration of the continents with a 2 hour crafting adventure. This year, there will be 3 sessions a week - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10a-noon. Each session is $2/child and they are designed for children ages 5 and up. Space is limited, so you may want to pre-register.

The video below gives you more information about Passport to Adventure:


The series started on Monday, June 17 with a theme of North America for Week 1, and continues this morning, Wednesday, June 19. The series concludes on Friday, August 2. Each class will have an in-class project, a swap project, and an at-home project.

• Wednesday, June 19 - North America 
• In-Class: God's Eye, Mexico 
  
• At-Home: Loom Woven Rug, Mexico
  
• Swap: Liberty Bell, United States
  
• Friday, June 21 - North America
• In-Class: Clothespin Moose, Canada
  
• At-Home: Canadian Maple Leaf Origami Goose, Canada
  
• Swap: Tissue Paper Flower, Mexico
  
• Monday, June 24 - South America
• In-Class: Moai, Easter Island
  
• At-Home: Headdress, Brazil
  
• Swap: Textile Weaving, Bolivia
  
• Wednesday, June 26 - South America
• In-Class: Paper Lizard, Colombia
  
• At-Home: Feathery Bird Can Hug, Brazil
  
• Swap: Soccer Goal, Argentina
  
• Friday, June 28
• In-Class: Yarn Art Vase, Peru
  
• At-Home: Clay Pot, Chile
  
• Swap: Poison Dart Frog, Brazil
  

I'll share the July and August projects as it gets closer, or you can check them out now on the Michaels website.

Get a Jump Start on Summer at Great Wolf Lodge with These Deals

Disclaimer: I am a Groupon affiliate and am compensated for sales through Groupon links. I appreciate your support of my blog by shopping through my links. Please read all terms, conditions, and dates of the offer before purchase. They are only summarized here. 

Are you looking to plan a fun family getaway this spring? If so, you may want to check out these deals for Great Wolf Lodge locations around the country.


Groupon: Up to 38% off Great Wolf Lodge Deals

Our family visited the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, MI in October 2011. We have considered staying at the Sandusky, OH, Pocono Mountains, PA, or the Niagara Falls, ON locations. Unfortunately, the deals are at the locations I have looked at the deals are only valid through mid-June when my daughter is in school during the week and has soccer on the weekends.

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LEGO Architecture: Towering Ambition Exhibit

In the spring of 2011 our family visited Washington, D.C. I had lived in the area for 3 years growing up and my husband and I had lived there from 2000-2003. We were excited to take our daughter to see D.C. and to revisit some of the museums. In the course of planning our trip, I read about the LEGO Architecture: Towering Ambition exhibit at the National Building Museum. With my family being huge LEGO fans, we knew this was a must-do event and worked it into our schedule.

Several of the buildings that are included in the exhibit were in Chicago where we had visited the previous summer, so my daughter was excited to see models of buildings that she recognized. We had timed admission tickets as they were only letting a certain number of guests in at a time. There were 15 models in total, several of which are available as LEGO Architecture sets. The models included several conceptual skyscrapers that were not actually built. The room had a lot of natural light, which unfortunately made it difficult to take pictures of some of the displays. I had been expecting more models than there were in the display. I was also a bit disappointed that the exhibit was designed to go through once and then finish. My 5 year old wen through at a quicker pace than we would have preferred. We would have liked the opportunity to return to the models as she was building (one stay with her, the other go to the models and then change places).

Sears Tower*

John Hancock & Empire State Buildings

The exhibit also included a LEGO building area where kids (and adults) could build structures and then add them to a city mat. My daughter and husband enjoyed building their creation and seeing the other creations that were there.

Building with LEGOs

Her Creation on the City Mat

The day that we attended, a master architect was building a scale model of the White House. It was definitely interesting to see the level of detail that went into the model. We could see the progress between when we entered the exhibit and when we left.

White House Build

The LEGO Architecture: Towering Ambition Tour closed at the National Building Museum on September 2, 2012. It has moved to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI where it opened on November 3, 2012 and will remain until February 24, 2013.

Admission to the National Building Museum was free, but admission to the event cost $8/adults and $5/child. I did feel that the admission price was steep for the size of the exhibit. We were also not that impressed with the National Building Museum other than this exhibit. However, we were glad that we went.

At the Henry Ford Museum, admission to LEGO Architecture: Towering Ambition is included with your museum membership. As members of the Henry Ford Museum, we plan to visit the exhibit at least once, perhaps the afternoon that we attend Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village. Based on previous experiences with exhibits at the Henry Ford, I believe their exhibit space is larger than the National Building Museum, so hopefully you will be able to wander between models and building areas.

* I know it is now the Willis Tower. But I grew up in Chicago with my Dad working at the Sears Tower. It will always be the Sears Tower to me.

American Girl Doll Salon

On our trip to the American Girl Store in Chicago, my daughter brought along her Kanani doll in addition to the Molly doll that she bought when we were at the store.

Watching Kanani's
Salon Appointment

She received Kanani for Christmas and Kanani has long, thick hair that over the prior 6 months had filled with tangles and knots and looked "ratty". I had looked up tips on brushing their hair, and done it once without much success. My parents had watched my daughter one night the week before the trip, and I had not known that my Mom had worked on Kanani’s hair. I knew the store had a doll salon and my plan was to have them brush out Kanani’s hair.

Hair Stylist with the
"Tools of the Trade"

The doll salon is located on the second floor of the shop next to the doll hospital. Doll hair styles start at $5 and go up to $25. They have styles for short hair, long hair, and curly hair. My daughter selected the style of the month and we had an appointment to start in about 20 minutes. You need to pay for the hair style before you can pick up your doll, so we went to pay before our appointment. Kanani sat on the shelf with our order ticket until her appointment time. We made sure to return to watch Kanani's visit to the salon. As we were waiting for Kanani’s turn, my mom commented that they could have quite the business giving girls and dolls the same hairstyle. Of course they probably do a sufficient business with the dolls hair that they don't need the added space, equipment, and licensing that would be involved in also doing hair styles on girls.

When her appointment began, the stylist strapped Kanani in the styling chair and put a styling cape around her. They began by misting her hair until it was fairly wet and then began brushing out her hair. We talked to the stylist as she worked and received some tips on styling - always wet the hair before brushing, use a stiff bristle brush (like the metal bristle brush they sell), and a hard bristle toothbrush is good for smoothing the hair. Also, be very careful not to get the water in their eyes as the eyes are metal and will rust. We were also advised that we should leave Molly’s hair in its braids, or redo it right away if it comes loose. By wetting the hair, the doll lost much less hair than when we had tried to brush it dry.

Kanani's Hairstyle

My daughter was able to choose two ribbons to go in Kanani’s hair. I think she did a great job picking a blue and a pink that matched Kanani’s dress very well.

As our stylist was working on the hairstyle, we questioned whether she knew we were doing the style of the month since it didn’t look quite the same as we had remembered. She got about half-way through and said wait a minute. We were there on the first of the month, and she had started the previous month's style. Since it was half-way done (and we liked it better), we told her we were okay with her finishing that hair style. The style we ended up with looked more intricate, so I am not sure if it had been the same $20 price, but it was less effort for her to finish the hairstyle than undo it and do the current hairstyle.

First Day of School with
Kanani's Hairstyle

My daughter loved Kanani’s hairstyle and asked me to put her hair in the same style the next day. The style was fairly time consuming, so it will be a special event hair style. The only change that we made is that her hair is not long enough to braid the resulting pony tail at the bottom so my daughter wears it without the braid. My daughter requested the hair style for the first day of school and willingly woke up 20 minutes early to have me do the braids. She is also planning on wearing this style as a flower girl in my sister's wedding. I took lots of pictures for the hair stylist to be able to replicate the hairstyle.

If your daughter’s doll has hair that is a mess, it is worth paying for a hairstyle - especially one that results in her hair being fully captured in braids and pony tails.

My Little States Expert

For Christmas, my daughter received two US States puzzles and quickly mastered them. We had one for our house and one for my parents house. She would do the puzzle at least once a day for most of January or February. She got to the point that she could identify a state if we held the piece up to her backwards so she couldn't see the words and pictures.

Since she has an iPod Touch, I went searching for a states app for her. I found the free app GeoMaster - US States. This state shows a map of the contiguous 48 states and gives you a capital and state name and you have to tap the corresponding state (once to tap the general area and once to tap the exact state). It says the capital and state aloud and displays them. She quickly mastered this application often reeling off 40+ states correct in succession. While I knew the 50 capitals once upon a time, I have to admit that she has helped me to remember them.


With the release of the iPad2, we decided to buy a discounted first generation iPad. While GeoMaster - US States will run on the iPad, she had already mastered that application and it was running at lower resolution in the large screen size. So, I started searching for a different application. I decided to give Stack the States a try. There is a lite version, but I decided to buy the full version because it includes extra state games. Stack the States is also nice in that it is both an iPad and in iPhone application.

My daughter loves Stack the States. The application will give you a multiple choice question providing 4 possible states. The questions include identifying a state by name, matching a state to its abbreviation, capital, landmark, nickname, bordering state or country, or "large" city. After answering the question right, you will be given a state to add to your stack. Once you stack your states to the line, you will be rewarded with a state for your collection. As you collect more states you will unlock three additional games. Also, with time, your line will rise higher making it harder to earn your states.

The application does require reading since it does not read the questions aloud. My daughter does need a little help since she is still a beginning reader, but she is getting more confident in her reading on this application. Also, I talk her through some of the questions when she does not know the answer.

My daughter has learned so much about the states playing this game. I even learn something about some lesser know state parks, state nicknames, or some of the smaller cities. She is also learning about stacking the states to keep them from toppling learning a little physics.

My only complaint about the game is that some of the "major cities" are not that major. For example, the other day we were asked what state Columbus was in. My daughter and I both thought it was easy - Ohio. But, Ohio was not one of the choices. We ended up having to guess. I don't remember which state it was in. There have also been a few other small cities that I only knew because of living in the area.

With her fascination with the states, I have told my husband we are going to need quite the travel budget to keep her satisfied. She has already been to 13 states at age 5 and will be adding one more shortly.

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