Category: Family

The other night Lori and I heard Carter dancing and singing in her room by herself, and walked in to find this. We hear her singing and dancing up there all the time, but she doesn't usually take the dress-up part to these extremes. Adorable!

Yesterday we went to Santa's Village. This was our first time, and we weren't sure what to expect. It turned out to be awesome! Next year, if we can only afford to do one park (Storyland or Santa's Village), I think we're going to pick this place.

Grampy told us about a secluded swimming hole on the Saco River - the current was slow, the water was deep, and the bottom was sandy instead of rocky. Sadie dove right in - which was awesome to see, because she hasn't had a chance to swim since Texas.

When I climbed Mt Crawford on Wednesday, I found that this summit too was covered in wild blueberries. I filled a sandwich bag with blueberries and brought them back to Lori and the kids. We've been putting them in our cereal every morning (and everything else we can think of), and they've been delicious!

Every time we come up North, we always end up going to Trail's End for ice cream. They've got all kinds of great climbing structures for the kids, and this monster truck is one of Sean's favorites.

We went back to Storyland on Tuesday, with our 'next-day' passes. We hit all the usual favorites, but we also checked out the surface this time. Sean didn't want to try it, and said it would be boring. But as soon as we got inside and saw the acrobats, he was in awe. He saw people riding unicycles, juggling, doing flips, performing magic, and all kinds of great stuff. He was clapping like mad, and was trying to do the two-fingered, super-loud whistle that Grampy does.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to Storyland with Grammy and Grampy. They have a deal where if you buy a ticket after 3PM, they'll give you a pass to come back another day for free. They've got a new ride this year - Splash Battle. We all got thoroughly soaked, but it was good fun. Near closing time, the crowds really thinned out at there were almost no lines for any rides. We rode the polar coaster, and the operator let us ride three times in a row, because there was no one queued up. We're planning to go back to the park later this week.

This past weekend, we all went for a walk at Maudslay State Park. We even took Sadie this time! She hasn't been on a decent walk since Texas, and she was eating it up! While we were there, the kids kept asking about a specific tree that they remembered from our last visit. It's got 5 trunks that all meet a few feet above the ground, and the kids can go right in there like a little secret hideaway.