Buffalo Naval and Military Park

The Saturday before the 4th of July we went to the Buffalo Naval and Military Park.  There was a "tall ship" coming to Buffalo Harbor, and we wanted to see that and check out the cool boats and submarines in the park.  It was such a beautiful day and it was nice to spend some time by the water.  Buffalo was built up because of the Erie Canal and its location on Lake Erie.  It was a major shipping port in the 2nd half of the 19th century and was kind of the gateway to the rest of the country.  Since the decline of the importance of the Erie Canal, Buffalo has kind of struggled with what to do with the waterfront.  But they're trying to fix that and are doing things to bring people downtown.  Anyway, the Naval and Military Park is one of those things, and it was really cool.  The boys all went on a tour of the ships, and Hannah and I hung around outside and took pictures of them when we could and pictures of a military memorial park right across. 

The boys were excited to be on the big ships.  They were especially excited about the submarine.  They also kept talking about the guns used to shoot down airplanes.

Such a sweet little girl!  I love my Hannah.

Here comes the tall ship around the corner.  This is kind of a tourist attraction that moves around to different harbors across the country.  You can take a ride on it, but it was pretty expensive and we decided the kids would like it, but not enough to make it worth the money.

Hannah was excited.

We bought the boys (and ourselves) ice cream bars as a treat to enjoy as we watched the ship come in.

The ship fired a cannon.  We weren't expecting it and it was very loud.  Spencer talked about it for about half an hour afterward.  You can see the smoke from it below (kind of - I didn't have the camera ready in time).

Daddy and Hannah - such sweet faces.

It was a fun day and nice to spend time together.  I think we went swimming in our pool that afternoon.  I wish I had gotten swimming pool shots this summer, but I don't think I did.  We did lots of swimming though - just about every day in July we were in our pool at least once a day.  The boys loved it (and I did, too - it was a hot month!)