Making memories
Kids want quality time together
This picture from niagarafallsstatepark.com shows the Cave of the Winds. The top of those stairs in the upper left corner and closest to the Bridal Veil Falls is the Hurricane Deck. The American Falls are to the left.
Samuel made a dead sprint to The Falls because he couldn’t wait to see them.
I told my son and daughter, Samuel and Olivia, about my family trips to Niagara Falls as a kid. This was their first visit to one of the natural wonders of the world after life moved us from the Cleveland, Ohio area to the Austin, TX and Columbia, S.C. areas between July 2011 and August 2016. God told my wife, Lynette, and me it was time to go home for our widowed Mothers. We moved back to Western New York in summer 2016.
On our 17th anniversary, we took the kids to Niagara Falls. I can’t get enough of Niagara Falls, and it was time to create one of those moments the kids would never forget.
As a Father, I’ve had regrets because I haven’t had the money to take my family to places on my bucket list. I have learned, however, memorable moments can be simple.
Besides the majesty of Niagara Falls on Aug. 5, 2017, we got in line for the Cave of the Winds. Visitors take an elevator constructed through the rock to the base of The Falls. Sporting a rain poncho over your clothes and sandals, you go up various flights of stairs that are constructed near the smallest of the three Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls.
Memories instantly happen getting soaked at the Cave of the Winds, especially on the Hurricane Deck.
As a Father, I’ve wanted my children to have memories of activities done together.
With children in college–Sam and Liv attend Cedarville University between Springfield and Xenia in Ohio– there are opportunities to reflect on earlier years now that my wife and I are partially empty nesters.
Sometimes my children harken back to those days before job changes and moves to the South.
Our small front yard in the Cleveland area transformed into a kickball field.
That’s what we played in the backyard of the dentist’s office that was across the street from home in Bemus Point, N.Y. Bemus Point was a small village in Chautauqua County nestled on the eastern shores of Chautauqua Lake–what many people in those parts regard as the thumb of the Finger Lakes.
We rounded up 6, 8, 10, 12 kids or more in the neighborhood to play kickball. It was so familiar it was part of the rhythm of life. That dentist office yard became the venue for countless kickball games. Yet, we also played football, tennis baseball (yes, a game we created), kick the can, and other games Gen Xers played. Some of the best memories of my childhood happened there.
I wanted to pass things on to my children, by having moments with Dad, moments with family.
Each fall in Northeast Ohio I also turned our front yard into a maze of leaves so the kids could play tag with kids with cousins or kids from the church or neighborhood. I wanted to pass along another memory.
That’s what we did each fall in my neighborhood.
This is a sunset over Lake Erie in the Cleveland area. Painesville Township Park/Facebook
While living in Northeast Ohio we visited many parks. Ohio has excellent public parks. So we visited some near the Chagrin and Grand rivers and Lake Erie. The sunrises and sunsets were amazing. Many harsh winds crashed water onto break walls or shores. The kids also got to some playgrounds, including one with the iconic metal slide of my childhood.
Some of the other memories include:
My shopping cart racing with Sam in Wal-Mart in Ohio.
The stops at the Creation Museum, St Louis, and Oklahoma City on our move to Texas in 2011.
The stops in Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia on our move to Columbia, S.C.
The South Carolina and Kentucky stops on the move to Western New York in summer 2016.
The excellent pools and splash pads in Texas and South Carolina.
The park in Round Rock, TX we visited with the playground, creek, trails, and access to water.
The several zoos we have visited in multiple states.
Winter Jam in South Carolina.
Family movie nights.
Baseball at The Jake in Cleveland, the Lake County Captains, Round Rock Express, and Columbia Fireflies.
Churches in Painesville, Ohio, Round Rock, Texas, Irmo, S.C., and Jamestown, N.Y. hosted countless events and aided our spiritual formation.
The simple things create memories because they want time together.
No Father would ever regret having those times together.
Nothing replaces them.