Things have been pretty busy lately (when aren’t they?), but Erika and I were able to get away this past weekend to Niagara Falls–sans kids!

And it was a wonderful break from reality. Saturday we went shopping in the States and bought all sorts of stuff (kids clothes) and even more stuff (kids clothes) and purchased deals galore (stuff for Erika) and even more stuff (more kids clothes and cool edible items we don’t have in Canada) until our trunk was jammed. We then came back to the homeland and checked into our hotel, where we had an amazing view of the Falls (below), two king-sized beds (because one obviously isn’t enough), a jacuzzi tub the size of Lake Ontario, and a safety-comes-first electric fireplace (still wish it was gas).

We hit the town, had an awesome dinner at The Keg Steakhouse overlooking the Falls, and then went back to our hotel and got really silly-drunk on sangria.

On Sunday we got up, was treated to a fantastic breakfast buffet on the hotel, and then went off to Niagara-on-the-Lake to poke around our favourite shops. The odd thing was, it started to rain while we were there–in January. So no, I hadn’t packed an umbrella or anything water repellent. Our trip there didn’t last too long, as ducking into and out of the shops to avoid the rain grew rather tiresome. But we did manage to get some tasty treats from the local bakeries.

After leaving Niagara-on-the-Lake, we headed home but stopped off to watch The Blind Side, which turned out to be rather enjoyable. I’ve always liked Sandra Bullock, and she sure didn’t disappoint in this film.

Anyways, it was a great weekend escape. Something we could actually do close to home, and still feel refreshed going into another busy week.

Last weekend was made of awesomesauce.

For Erika’s birthday, I decided to take her to Niagara Falls for the weekend since her parent’s graciously offered to babysit. And what a fun time we had!

We checked into our hotel which overlooked the falls (and had this wicked “window to the falls” jacuzzi) Saturday afternoon, and then headed off to actually see the falls up close. And as usual, I was tempted to re-enact the scene from Superman 2…but wisdom prevailed and I stayed on the “right” side of the railing.

We then acted like tourists and headed into the Clifton Hill area. There we played Dinosaur Park mini-golf–something we played about, oh, eleventy years ago on one of our first day trip dates. It was fun to do it all over again.

After golfing we grabbed a patio seat alongside one of the main roads and chatted and drank beer and cocktails and ate tasty nachos. The weather was gorgeous as we walked back to the hotel and casino, toured around, saw this great bar (must go next time) called Coco’s that was all neon and art deco and pastels, and reminded me of something I’d see in Miami. And they were blaring Lionel Richie. So retro-cool.

Later that night we had a fantastic dinner, hit the casino, drank lots of wine, and just relaxed without the kids around. It was fantastic.

After checking out Sunday morning we headed into the US to do some shopping at the outlet mall, where we filled out trunk full of great deals. Even with the dollar exchange we couldn’t pass up on some of these deals, especially kids clothes. We also scoped out 3 new Doritos flavors that we don’t have in Canada, so zoink, those went into the shopping cart too. (Not that I need Doritos or anything, but yeah, addicted.)

After shopping we headed to Erika’s parents to see the kids and have a barbeque with family etc.

It was such a fun weekend. One of those weekends that you don’t want to end. Fortunately for my bank account, it did.

But now it is back to day jobbery, watering the newly landscaped backyard, and working on more and more writing projects. No rest, I say, no rest!

You can check out more photos here.