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What I did on my summer vacation
Sep. 3rd, 2013 11:12 amBrian and I took last week off of work for a small trip to the White Mountains in NH, a few kid-free days, and some good family time before the Labor Day weekend.
This was our first trip away with Mina since she's crawled out of her crib, so the Pack n Play was no longer a good option for us. We had purchased the Aerobed kid's mattress, and it worked out great for us! It inflates quickly, and has raised sides to prevent the kid from rolling out in their sleep. We brought child proofing things with us to the cabin (cabinet locks, outlet plugs) and rearranged the furniture to try and make it as Mina-proof as possible. Her bed was next to ours, and for the most part we were comfy letting her roam, mostly. We alternated putting her to bed at night so one of us could get some time either on our front cabin porch or visiting a few cabins down with my parents. We spent a bit of time one night sharing our front porch together, making some rootbeer floats.
We did a mix of what usually is included with a White Mountains trip. On the way up we all needed a break around the Lakes Region, so we stopped in Tilton for lunch and then did some outlet shopping, mostly to give Mina some car-free time before strapping her in for the last hour or so leg of the drive. They had a nice little playground for her to move in, lots of little pay 'rides' for her to sit in (those things you feed quarters into and that go for a few minutes that you'll see outside of Toys R Us or some supermarkets or department stores. Mostly, she had fun running around inside of the air-conditioned stores, and coloring at the Old Navy kid's coloring table. We bought her some spooky Halloween shirts and a fleece bat hat. Oh yes, it is that glorious time of year now, isn't it?!
We checked into the Profile Motel/Cabins in Lincoln and my parents and Krista and Sean were already there. After some time to unpack/freshen up, we went to the Common Man Lincoln for dinner. Yum, yum. The bartender gave Mina a free pineapple juice. Free cheese and white chocolate. You can't argue with that. It was our biggest/fanciest meal of the trip.
Sunday was Dad's birthday and my brother, sister and their crew drove up to meet us for a small hike and picnic. After breakfast and walking/hanging aorund the Pemi in Woodstock we met up with the rest of the family at the Cabins and then checked out the Old Man Memorial. My family 'adopted' a brick with our name on last year as a 60th birthday gift to our Dad. From there we drove a tiny bit south and did a small hike at The Basin, having a picnic lunch on the rocks. The toddlers were getting cranky and needing some naps, so we returned to the cabin for birthday cookies and candles and gift giving for Dad. That afternoon we drove out to Littleton with my parents to give Mina time to nap in the car (she did not), and walking/shopping. The Italian restaurant they wanted to go to there was closed on Sundays (doh), so we got back into the truck and had Chinese food at a place near Loon that my Dad wanted to go to. It was much better than the last (crappy) time we went there. Yay!
Monday was our Storyland day. We went back and forth on whether we should go or not, given how young Mina was. We decided to give it a try, since we were excited to show it to her and Brian has never gone before. She did enjoy her time, but right now, it isn't the park for her. She loved the Tea Cups ride, but hated sitting and riding on slow things (boats, pumpkin carriage). She hated the lines. She could care less about Cinderella (doesn't know the princesses and as long as we can, we are trying to keep it that way). She didn't care too much about climbing into the little buildings. She loved the freaking creepy animatronic eyed creatures (Humpty Dumpty, Talking Treehouse). She loved any chance she had to color (putting her name on little leaves to hang on a tree near the entryway, a huge white-board wall where the old ball-pit used to be). Basically, she liked climing/moving and coloring. And live animals. And would have liked fast rides like the tea cups, if we didn't need to wait in any lines. She is your typical, overactive, moving toddler. We know this, but it was a good lesson for us to see in action compared to some other less active kids. A coworker of Brian's daugher is similar in age to Mina but loves just sitting and watching shows, riding on boats, that kind of thing. That just isn't our kid. But she is content to sit/play in water, or to interract with people or 'living' animatronic things. Good to know. I still think I want to try Santa's Villiage with her in the fall - we will be there with my family for Mom's birthday in November. I think the company of her cousins and seeing reindeer would make her happy.
On our last day we spent some more time in the rocks along the Pemi, and headed home. Brian and I had fun doing both practical and splurge stuff while Mina was in School Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday we went to a farm for animals/blueberry picking. We purchased apples/cider/cider donuts and will probably return later this fall. Mina realized that all of these blueberries were just growing on the bush and yelled "Dude!", like Brian does all of the time. So cute.
We spent some time working on closets over the weekend, and covered Mina with lotion for various rashes. More on this on separate posts.
Back to the grind, which is nice in a way. You know you have a good life when the break is nice, but you are happy to get back to the normal.
Summer 2013 Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/sets/72157634327139960/
Fall 2013 Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/sets/72157635358352751/
This was our first trip away with Mina since she's crawled out of her crib, so the Pack n Play was no longer a good option for us. We had purchased the Aerobed kid's mattress, and it worked out great for us! It inflates quickly, and has raised sides to prevent the kid from rolling out in their sleep. We brought child proofing things with us to the cabin (cabinet locks, outlet plugs) and rearranged the furniture to try and make it as Mina-proof as possible. Her bed was next to ours, and for the most part we were comfy letting her roam, mostly. We alternated putting her to bed at night so one of us could get some time either on our front cabin porch or visiting a few cabins down with my parents. We spent a bit of time one night sharing our front porch together, making some rootbeer floats.
We did a mix of what usually is included with a White Mountains trip. On the way up we all needed a break around the Lakes Region, so we stopped in Tilton for lunch and then did some outlet shopping, mostly to give Mina some car-free time before strapping her in for the last hour or so leg of the drive. They had a nice little playground for her to move in, lots of little pay 'rides' for her to sit in (those things you feed quarters into and that go for a few minutes that you'll see outside of Toys R Us or some supermarkets or department stores. Mostly, she had fun running around inside of the air-conditioned stores, and coloring at the Old Navy kid's coloring table. We bought her some spooky Halloween shirts and a fleece bat hat. Oh yes, it is that glorious time of year now, isn't it?!
We checked into the Profile Motel/Cabins in Lincoln and my parents and Krista and Sean were already there. After some time to unpack/freshen up, we went to the Common Man Lincoln for dinner. Yum, yum. The bartender gave Mina a free pineapple juice. Free cheese and white chocolate. You can't argue with that. It was our biggest/fanciest meal of the trip.
Sunday was Dad's birthday and my brother, sister and their crew drove up to meet us for a small hike and picnic. After breakfast and walking/hanging aorund the Pemi in Woodstock we met up with the rest of the family at the Cabins and then checked out the Old Man Memorial. My family 'adopted' a brick with our name on last year as a 60th birthday gift to our Dad. From there we drove a tiny bit south and did a small hike at The Basin, having a picnic lunch on the rocks. The toddlers were getting cranky and needing some naps, so we returned to the cabin for birthday cookies and candles and gift giving for Dad. That afternoon we drove out to Littleton with my parents to give Mina time to nap in the car (she did not), and walking/shopping. The Italian restaurant they wanted to go to there was closed on Sundays (doh), so we got back into the truck and had Chinese food at a place near Loon that my Dad wanted to go to. It was much better than the last (crappy) time we went there. Yay!
Monday was our Storyland day. We went back and forth on whether we should go or not, given how young Mina was. We decided to give it a try, since we were excited to show it to her and Brian has never gone before. She did enjoy her time, but right now, it isn't the park for her. She loved the Tea Cups ride, but hated sitting and riding on slow things (boats, pumpkin carriage). She hated the lines. She could care less about Cinderella (doesn't know the princesses and as long as we can, we are trying to keep it that way). She didn't care too much about climbing into the little buildings. She loved the freaking creepy animatronic eyed creatures (Humpty Dumpty, Talking Treehouse). She loved any chance she had to color (putting her name on little leaves to hang on a tree near the entryway, a huge white-board wall where the old ball-pit used to be). Basically, she liked climing/moving and coloring. And live animals. And would have liked fast rides like the tea cups, if we didn't need to wait in any lines. She is your typical, overactive, moving toddler. We know this, but it was a good lesson for us to see in action compared to some other less active kids. A coworker of Brian's daugher is similar in age to Mina but loves just sitting and watching shows, riding on boats, that kind of thing. That just isn't our kid. But she is content to sit/play in water, or to interract with people or 'living' animatronic things. Good to know. I still think I want to try Santa's Villiage with her in the fall - we will be there with my family for Mom's birthday in November. I think the company of her cousins and seeing reindeer would make her happy.
On our last day we spent some more time in the rocks along the Pemi, and headed home. Brian and I had fun doing both practical and splurge stuff while Mina was in School Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday we went to a farm for animals/blueberry picking. We purchased apples/cider/cider donuts and will probably return later this fall. Mina realized that all of these blueberries were just growing on the bush and yelled "Dude!", like Brian does all of the time. So cute.
We spent some time working on closets over the weekend, and covered Mina with lotion for various rashes. More on this on separate posts.
Back to the grind, which is nice in a way. You know you have a good life when the break is nice, but you are happy to get back to the normal.
Summer 2013 Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/sets/72157634327139960/
Fall 2013 Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/sets/72157635358352751/
