Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

We spent my 39th birthday at the wonder that is Niagara Falls.  I will never tire of its beauty and I'm glad we took the opportunity to truly experience it during the winter.  The mist from the falls turns everything surrounding the falls into ice . . . the trees, the grass, the fences.  The result is something out of a movie.  It is truly breathtaking!

Butterfly Conservatory

We spent the afternoon at the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory . . . it was pretty amazing.  There were hundreds (thousands?) of butterflies and they definitely were not shy.  They landed on all of us!  I walked around with one on my head for about 5 minutes.  For me, it was a photo dream.  Here are my favorite photos from the afternoon:

Memories are made at The Santa Claus Parade!

Okay . . . I'll admit it.  Living in Toronto has its perks.  Having a husband who works on one of the main streets in downtown also has its perks.  Today, we were beyond THRILLED to watch the famous Toronto Christmas Parade from the roof of the Consulate.  Not only did we have a birds eye view of the event, but we were able to show up 15 min before the parade began instead of hours earlier like everyone else!  The weather was beautiful (sunny and not too cold) and Christmas spirits were high. 

Highlights included floats sponsored by LEGO, Mattel, Coke and Lowe's.  The parade lasted about 1 hour & 30 minutes.  We cheered loudly for the only band from the U.S. (Attica High School in New York) and for the man of the hour -- Santa Claus himself. 

I took about a zillion photos . . . but these are some of my favorites.

We were a little confused why Mario of Mario-Kart fame could not drive himself during the parade!

We thought the Lowe's float was kind of cute and very appropriate for a home improvement warehouse!

Tyler helped out by helping serving the hot chocolate.

Scott is convinced that with all the money we have spent on LEGOS during the past 10 years,
we probably paid for this float.

Me with my friend Kristin.

Yummm!  The Chocolate Turtles float.  Wish they were giving out samples!

A gingerbread house decorated with doughnuts?  Has to be the Tim Horton's float!

Glad to see the Ukrainian youth band made the roster.

Santa Claus was on the very last float!  The Consulate kids were thrilled to see him.