The House of Fries.: our 4th of july weekend adventure.

hi, everyone! i hope that everyone had a memory-filled fourth of july. i can say that we sure did!

when liam and i got back from our super mega trip last sunday (blog post to come soon!), we found out that john miraculously got the fourth of july off! when you work in the hospitality industry, pretty much every major holiday is a guarantee that you'll work. thanksgiving, christmas, you get the jist. so, needless to say, we were pretty stoked and decided to plan a fun weekend trip! after brainstorming a few options (virginia beach, north carolina, staycation in DC, etc), we decided on making a six and a half hour drive to niagara falls, make a stop in palmyra to visit historical LDS church sites, and finish off with a visit to the infamous hershey, pennsylvania! best decision ever!

before i talk about all of the fun things we did, i just have to say this...we were blessed with the best traveling kid in the entire universe. liam didn't complain once during the long drives, or the long days without getting a good, solid nap to rejuvenate. he was a champ, and we are so thankful that he enjoyed it as much as we did.

after john got off work early on friday night, we drove from DC to rochester, new york where we stayed in a hotel in preparation for spending our saturday at niagara falls for the fourth. after a great night's sleep and an hour and a half drive to niagara, we realized that we had made a big mistake.

let's just say that on the fourth of july in the year of 2015, the amount of people that visited niagara falls broke the all-time record of people ever visiting niagara falls in one day. it was complete madness and insanity.

but even with all of the line waiting, line cutters, and complaints of "is this really worth it?", "what are we doing waiting in line with all of these people?", etc, it totally was worth it. one hundred million percent!

the first attraction we did was called Cave of the Winds. you walked along wooden planks and boardwalks underneath one of the falls, and got to sport a rockin' yellow poncho while doing it! and the second attraction we did was the infamous boat ride on the Maid of the Mist where we got absolutely soaked while sporting a bright blue poncho. both were incredible!

see for yourselves!

liam wasn't a huge fan of the poncho at first...

they gave us a pair of these sweet sandals to wear, and to keep!

after a really long day of getting soaked, and waiting in long lines, we decided to bag the fireworks over the waterfall idea and headed back to our hotel in rochester. before we left, we stopped at a five guys burgers and ate burgers and fries in the car while watching fireworks in the distance. the perfect end to an awesome day!

the next morning, we packed up and headed out for palmyra, new york.

while in palmyra, we visited the Sacred Grove, the Smith Family Farm/House, the Hill Cumorah, the Palmyra LDS Temple, and the bookstore where the first Book of Mormon was published. it was a beautiful day!

have i ever told you how much i love these two boys?

after we left palmyra, we drove to harrisburg, pennsylvania, stayed the night, and then headed to our last stop-hershey! we visited the hershey chocolate world, took the free tour, and got some free kit-kat bars.