Liz got over whatever was
Liz got over whatever was bothering
her. I think maybe it *WAS* a stone. The kids had a great time. Ben
keeps repeating over and over again that it was the best week of his
life. They all keep talking about what a great wonderful time they had.
Chloe went on the overnight. When I was about her age I went and spent
the night at a friend’s house down the street. At 2 in the morning I
got homesick or something and got up and left the house and walked
home. I let myself in and put myself to bed. I was afraid she would
feel the same way.
She did fine. I picked her up at 7:30am the next day and she did great
and had a wonderful time. We went horseback riding one afternoon. We
took the whole family for a 1-hour ride and I think it was really
memorable for everyone. Well, I thought the whole thing was kind of
dull, but everyone else seemed to really like it.
I took lots of pictures. 159 of them, actually. A lot turned out pretty
blurry. The camera is still tricky to operate in that way. I keep the
camera set to its “action” setting in the hopes of reducing the
liklihood of blurry photos.
I went bicycling one morning with Gabe. He didn’t last very long and I
was pretty frustrated by it. It was such a short trip they didn’t even
charge us for taking the bikes out.
Liz and I and Gabriel went out one day and did some touristy things
like visited the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. It was a little cheesy, but
well worth the visit. I bought a bunch of maple-stuff and cider-stuff.
Maple-sugar covered cashews are outstanding! I also had a cider slush.
We had a great lunch at the Trapp Family Lodge. It was a really great
lunch. We got back in time for me and Gabriel to play in the creek for
a while. We looked for crawdads - we had found one that was only half
an inch long earlier in the week. But because it had been torrential
downpours all day long the swollen creek was far too muddy to see
anything.
All in all we were very happy with the accomodations and the service we
got from Smuggler’s Notch. There was a lot to do and we had a great
time. One night there was a bonfire and a sing-along. Granted, it
SOUNDS cheesy, but it was a lot of fun if you gave yourself over to the
hokiness. I had to MAKE the kids come with me. They said they didn’t
have any fun — and they didn’t really look like they had any fun.
On thursday there was a parade that Grace was in. She was adorable.
Later that day Chloe’s “Sound and Studio” group put on a singing and
dancing routine while hundreds watched.
Afterwards there was a “Country Fair” event that worked out really
well. They went to a lot of trouble to organize the competitions and
the contests. There were local vendors selling more maple-things.
Another one was selling jewelry, where Ben and Gabe each bought a
quartz crystal that had been cut in to a nice shape. Chloe got some of
her hair “wrapped.” I took Grace to the inflatable mazes and obstacle
courses. It was definitely worth being there on Thursday!
On Friday we left Smuggler’s Notch and went to the Ben & Jerry’s
factory for a tour and some ice cream. It was a good visit but lacked
the electricity of our first visit there. Then we headed north on
Rt.100 to Rt.15, which is a small two-lane road that heads east. We
hopped on US Rt.2 for 10 miles so we could get on I-91. We took that
south for a couple of miles and got on I-93 for about 20 minutes. When
we got to Littleton, NH we got on to NH Rt.302 for 50 miles until we
got to Storyland. The kids had a good time for a couple of hours. We
stayed over night in the “Cave” room at Adventure Suites in North
Conway. It was an interesting place that had two floors. The room had
been completely remodeled to resemble the inside of a cave. I’ll find a
link for you. In any case, it didn’t really work out that great in
practice. The waterfall shower got the whole bathroom soaking wet. The
jaccuzzi was loud and uncomfortable. The kids were so excited they
couldn’t sleep. When they got up at 2am they had no idea what time of
day it was. Also the maintenance man had to come at 11pm to crawl in to
the attic to shut off a whining vent.
It was pretty expensive and I don’t think I would go back with
everyone. There were some fun couples-only-rooms that I would return
for. The sunset over Cathedral Ledge was beautiful.
We spent half of Saturday back at Storyland. That turned out well.
Nobody was sick or injured and all the kids enjoyed themselves. We
spent the next few hours driving home.
I spent today wiring up some fencing in preparation for the new puppy.
I think we may go get it this coming weekend instead of next weekend.
I’ll have to see. Tomorrow I have to finish taking down a tree.
I’m taking monday off — I’m looking forward to enjoying the day.
I didn’t get to go fishing. Or hiking. Or mountain biking. The vacation
didn’t work out as well for me as for the kids. I think Liz had a less
satisfactory trip than I did.
Well, in any case I’m very happy to be home now. I’ll post the photos
soon.