Storyland, NH 2011 and waterslide park!

School's out for summer! 

I grabbed the kids from Cindy's around 1pm, met up with Daddy shortly after and we were heading to Storyland to kick off our summer vacation!  Both kids napped on the drive to North Conway and because we had a bunch planned, we drove past and let them sleep another thirty minutes or so!

Tuck woke up to images of the bamboo shoots splashing down in front of the car.  It's amazing, you can really see a lot from the parking lot.  We wasted no time packing the kids into the stroller and heading in to meet up with Uncle Dave, Aunt Meacy, Evelyn and Spencer.  They'd been here most of the day and we were all excited to meet up and play together. 

We spent from 3:30pm-5pm at Storyland trying out different rides and of course, catching the train.  It wasn't super busy so you could pretty much go wherever you wanted to quite easily.  Tucky tried out the bamboo shoots, roller coaster and the Geiser water rapids ride while I took Brooklyn on a few others that she could do.  The kids were all having so much fun.  Cousin Evelyn wanted to hang out with Brooklyn so she joined us for a few rides too!

We knew we'd be back the next day too so after an hour and a half of running around, we drove to the Hampton Inn in North Conway to spend the evening.  After getting rooms situated, after a minor snafu, we all found bathing suits and hit the water park.  That is really the highlight for the kids, it's such an amazing place for them.  

Tucky was a bit more cautious this year than last and it took him a little time to warm up to the water slides again.  Brooklyn was just the opposite and squealed most of the time we were in there.  She was having such an amazing time! We spent close to an hour there while we waited for our pizza delivery.  By then the kids were spent (even though they wouldn't admit it) and ate some good pizza in pj's.  There's a great lounge at the hotel where we ate dinner altogether and even got to watch The Incredibles on tv at the same time....treat!

The kids crashed hard and slept so well!  I ended up waking around 6am so I sneaked out and had about an hour of coffee and newspaper to myself before anyone else woke up....treat!  We enjoyed a fantastic breakfast there, all included and really good too!

It was back to the water park after breakfast again before venturing back to Storyland.  The rain was falling so we weren't really in a huge hurry.  Tuck warmed up to the waterslides and then we couldn't get him off them.  He even slid down the "big kid" slide and Daddy helped catch him in the pool below. 

We finally checked out around 11am and decided to brave the weather and go to Storyland anyway.  The kids had rain gear so they were up for it (for some reason Mommy and Daddy did not...)  It actually misted lightly for awhile and then as the kids, Daddy and Meacy took the pumpkin carriage ride to the princess' castle, the rain came down hard.  Brooklyn was passed out napping in the stroller with the water cover on and happy as a clam while Jay and I were getting wet!  I finally broke down and bought $3 ponchos so we'd be able to last the day and then life was good again. 

Nobody seemed to mind the rain and there were actually a few others braving the weather as well.  Hey, at least you could ride any ride you wanted to as many times in a row as you wanted to.  We made the decision to only do the teacups 2x in a row even though the kids wanted more!

We made sure we spent a lot of time in the Storybook characters land as well as a few indoor shows to break it up.  The kids really enjoyed the Farm Follies show despite Tucky and I bolting out of it to find the restroom....again.  He did well though!

We all packed lunches and found a nice dry spot to eat together.  We were definitely hungry after running around chasing ride after ride.  We made a point of trying some that we hadn't done before and that made it really fun too.

The tractor ride was really fun and Tucky did a nice job driving.  I was actually watching him steer as the tractor made it's way around the track and he was right on.  Brooklyn took care of beeping the buttons and riding right next to him, so cute!

She was totally up for whatever rides she could go on and Tucky was too.  They didn't complain once about the weather, not bad for four little kids in a major rainstorm!  It really made it nice having the Fieldroy's with us because they were just as into it as we were!

Since we were all soaked anyway, we spent the last part of the day getting even more drenched in the aquarium park.   Brooklyn was running around chasing water spouts and Tuck, Spencer and Evelyn enjoyed controlling the submarines water guns to try and soak Aunt Meacy.  To top it off, we took Brooklyn to the whale ride and sat in a nice puddle of a seat...oh well, she thought that ride was a ball!

We totally changed the kids into dry clothes and stopped for dinner a few miles away.  After warming up and eating a nice meal, the kids crashed after an eventful two days!  We might try to go again later in the summer because they just love it so much!  Despite the rainy weather today, it really was a blast and so much fun this year because Brooklyn can participate so much more!

Father's Day Weekend

Mimi's pool is open so without delay, we headed up Friday to test it out.  Yep, the kids loved it!  It was nice to be able to have both kids in the water, splashing around.  They're getting closer to the same stage so it's definitely getting easier...although Brooklyn, my little water bug, is apparently a daredevil and has to be watched like a hawk!

Nahne, Auntie Amy and Uncle Trap all met up with us at Mimi and Poppi's house for some fun.  Ashley B. was also having a big graduation party from UMF so we brought the gang over there to celebrate.  It was great to see everyone and catch up a bit.  Tucky was in heaven because Terri's sister brought out their train stash and he was right at home.  I'm actually not sure if he had many conversations after that....he was in his own little world.  Brooklyn, on the other hand, was quite social as long as she was in Mommy's arms.  I must have held on to her for most of the evening although she was giving smiles and high fives but wouldn't let anyone else hold her.

We drove back later that evening and let the kids crash in the car.  Luckily they're transferring into their beds very well now too!

We took a quick tour of a house in Windham in the morning before driving to NH to go to Hampton Beach and meet up with Uncle Andy and Aunt Kristen.  Daddy and Andy went surfing and we played with Aunt Kristen in the waves.  For a sketchy forecast, the weather was gorgeous!  The kids waded in and splashed around until the tide came in and took over the beach so we had to move a bit.  Tuck got to jump on Daddy's board at one point but wasn't quite sure of it so we'll try that again another time. 

We stayed there through lunch and into the afternoon.  Finally, Brooklyn started to crash and needed a serious nap, so we packed up and headed towards Exeter to catch up with a good college friend of mine.  I hadn't seen my friend Kate in years so it was so nice to catch up!  We met up at her Aunt's house and spent a few hours chatting around the pool.  The kids were in heaven because they love the water and had such a ball.  Brooklyn refused to get out, even to let us take a break for a little, and ended up trying to jump in off the side.  She's a crazy little one!

We had some very tired kids when we got home but it really was a great day down visiting with family and friends. 

Father's Day!!!

Daddy and the kids wanted to sleep in on Sunday so I took advantage and got up at 5am to go surfing.  By the time I got back, Tucky was just waking up and they were all having breakfast!

We had no plans for the day except to hang out with Daddy and play around the house.  Since it was so nice out, we were outside all morning.  Tuck's buddy Sage came to visit us while her parents were checking out a car and we kept her busy.  Tucky drove her around on the gator, we played in the sandbox, swung on the swings and played trains on the deck.  It was so gorgeous out and we took advantage.

Meghan and Josh stopped back in around lunch time and joined us for a few hours before the kids all took naps. 

Brooklyn took a nice long nap and when she woke up, we decided that it was so hot that we've have to go down to Danny's camp on the lake.  He's been wanting us to come down so we drove down with the kids.  It was much cooler by the water so we spent most of our time playing in the sand.  Eventually both kids started getting more brave and before too long, Brooklyn was in up to her waist.  Of course, Tucky had to join her but again, she was the daring one who was going crazy in the water.

The perfect end of the day activity for Father's Day was a family "mowing the lawn" event.  Yep, Daddy drove the tractor while Brookles and Mommy rode in the trailer.  Tucky buzzed around on his gator and tried to keep up, it was hilarious.  At one point he drove to the front yard and went in the house.  I was a little bummed that he took off like that but when we went to see what he was doing, he had gone into our desk and pulled out one of my watches.  He told us that he needed to have a watch on like Mommy's so he could drive his gator....how funny!

While they continued to play outside, I prepared dinner and we all had a nice together.  Jay was especially happy because the lawn was all set for the week.  I then topped it off by weeding the whole garden, the yard sure does look good!