Family Vacation Stop #1

We left Maine on August 16th to begin our trek to North Carolina. But instead of killing ourselves by driving through the night to get there as soon as possible (like we normally do) we took the whole week to get there instead. Boy, was that nice! The first two days we spent at Storyland, an amusement park in New Hampshire.

Before I start with my pictures, I'd like to tell you about Storyland. We had been there as a family 2 other times before this, once when I was about 4 years old, and then again 7 years ago. Now that Rachel and Carrie were old enough to enjoy it, we decided to go once more. I have to say, that if I was wanted to take my kids to an amusement park, I would probably choose Storyland. It is centered around Mother Goose fairy tales, and is geared towards little ones. They have some things for very small children to enjoy, and then other rides and activities that we all could enjoy, but overall, most things are geared towards kids Rachel and Carries age. The thing I liked best about the park was the innocence. The park has not been corrupted with Hannah Montana, Sponge Bob, or any other modern cartoon that has done away with good, clean, innocent stories for little kids. The park started out being centered around children's fairy tales, and that is still what they are centered around. Everywhere you go, they have fun, appropriate music playing softly that sets a good atmosphere for everyone to enjoy themselves. I even took some time to observe other children around us, and I noticed that there were very few children misbehaving. I think that is largely due to the fact that the atmosphere is so pleasant for them. So, all that said, if you have small kids and are ever in the New Hampshire area, I would recommend Storyland for you!

Now, without further ado, here are the pictures from our activity-packed days!

The little kids did not know where we were going until we pulled up to this sign. Welcome, everyone!!

Humpty Dumpty

Goldilocks and the three bears' house.

Little Red Riding Hood's Grandmother's house. Carrie is certainly our drama queen!

Little Miss Muffett

Sat on her tuffett..... (in case you ever wondered what a tuffett was!!)

He loves his sisters, he really does.

The three little pigs. :)

Justin and I helping to stand guard over Cinderella's castle. We have a picture of me when I was 4 with one of these, too.

Throughout the park they have these tents with a mist spraying to cool you off. It is really weird, because you come out not feeling wet at all!

We have such strong men in our house. (Look at Carrie's face....she's a nut!)

Pretty convincing!

This was probably the highlight for Carrie...she got to meet Cinderella! Carrie was too young to remember when we went to Disney and met Cinderella there. :) We saw her as we were getting ready to leave the first day, and Carrie said, "Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow."

They also got to sit on her throne. We have a picture of me when I was 4 on this throne, too. Only I didn't have to share it. :)

Yes, we are in there. This was called the Crazy Barn, it rose up off the ground and spun around...kinda freaky!

A water ride...we appreciate those! This had random things all the way through that sprayed you with water.

Dad had them spinning FAST!

We took a slower approach!

The antique cars

I *hate* old horns, so we were wrestling over him pressing it. :)

The teacups

The swan boats...nice if you want to relax and not go anywhere fast.

My chauffeur. :)

I absolutely love the expression on Carrie's face in this picture!!! I think I could sell it to Storyland as a promotional picture, don't you??

Carousels have got to be my favorite, but this was my first time attempting one in a skirt!! Woo Hoo sidesaddle!! It was still fun.

Look mom, no hands!

This is about as roller-coaster as you get at this park! But thats ok with me, we could all enjoy this, even Carrie.

Here we are on a log-flume-type ride. We were thankful for the opportunity to get wet, because it was very nice and warm!

Splash!!!