Just had a long weekend in North Conway NH. It was a scorcher - I'd say it was in the 80s on Saturday.
Friday we all set off in two cars and drove through Naples, where we admired Long Lake, then on through Bridgton and Fryeburg to North Conway. Checked into the Holiday Inn Express - which wasn't easy to find for some reason.
Mike and the children hit the hotel pool while mum, Mike and I went to find somewhere that served beer.
I found Mike and the children in the McDonalds next to the hotel, where the kids had a great time in the Play Place.
Later the grown ups except for me went over the road to the family steakhouse over the road for dinner.
Saturday
Mike and I took the children to the Hampton Inn waterpark. They had a blast!
Hannah raced us down the two long slides, one of which was completely pitch black and terrifying. Hannah was completely unfazed by it.
Mark and Ellie went down the blue slide about... oh... a million times. They were incredibly cute. Mark was doing three slides a minute at one stage, and they did a load of runs while cuddling each other.
We then took our three broken children off to a Glen Junction for lunch - it's a restaurant with a train track that runs round the walls of the room at above-head level. Mark adored watching the trains puff around the place.
Sprinted from there to the train station to catch the 1.30pm 'scenic trip'. Scenic doesn't really describe it. Plus it was quite hot, very uncomfortable, and the train ran very late. Still, it was a way to kill an hour. Ellie spent most of the journey asleep, which is traditional for her. Mind you, she's quite poorly at the moment.
We all went back to the hotel for a nap afterwards, although there might have been a side diversion to the Ben and Jerry's shop.
After an hour of nagging me about 'where we are going next mummy', Mark decided to snuggle in next to me, and fell asleep in my arms. He left a nice sweat patch on my T-shirt and was impossible to wake up.
We had dinner at the Muddy Moose, inside thankfully - it was still way too hot outside. I had a buffalo burger, which was delicious. Hannah got tummy ache... again. I think she's constipated, so I have a plan of action.
Afterwards we went to play mini golf at Banana Village. It was hilarious. The kids blazed on ahead of us, with Hannah getting repeated holes in one. Mum missed her step and nearly knocked herself out - possibly something to do with playing golf in wedge heels.
We had a lot of fun in the arcade afterwards too.
Sunday
Took the children to the waterpark again - this time me just watching them while Mike went shopping. They were a bit more tearful today, but Hannah did her absolute best to make everyone happy. She made friends with a little boy called Gavin, who showed his love for her by splashing her.
Had brunch at Peaches, which was delicious.
Then had a walk around Echo Lake, which was just lovely. Saw bear tracks, then a guy said he'd just spoken to some people who'd seen a bear earlier. Then I chatted to a local woman who said she has bears in her garden every day at the moment.
Hmm.
Headed to the White Mountain Resort Hotel for hot chocolate for the children and a general nosey around. Expected it to be a bit nicer than it actually was, but the views were good.
Then mum and I went shopping. Oh dear. Gap has some really nice kids stuff at the moment. We have most of it in our house now *faintly embarrassed*
Then an easy drive home, and a lovely takeaway from Chopsticks for dinner. Nice to find somewhere that doesn't just do your average 'American Chinese food'.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Tanners are here
Mum and Mike arrived yesterday. So far, since they've been here, they've looked after two small children for an entire day, been to the supermarket, and cooked a lovely meal for all of us and Kevin, who popped over.
Not surprisingly they're now in bed...
Not surprisingly they're now in bed...
Take your daughter to work day
I took Hannah to work today. It was so much fun... well, apart from the hour long meeting she had to attend with me in the videoconference room. I mean, I enjoyed it, but she read Harry Potter for nearly an hour, then asked if it was nearly time to go to the next thing.
She got to play stupid games in the gym, which looked like great fun.
We had lunch with Heather and her girls, including ice cream with wonderful chocolate sauce.
And she was part of the jury in a mock trial.
Afterwards she and I went to Target and spent $130 on clothes for her. She is going to look amazing. As usual...
She got to play stupid games in the gym, which looked like great fun.
We had lunch with Heather and her girls, including ice cream with wonderful chocolate sauce.
And she was part of the jury in a mock trial.
Afterwards she and I went to Target and spent $130 on clothes for her. She is going to look amazing. As usual...
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sun at last!
The sun has come out at last! The snow has all but melted.
Saturday
Veronica was coming over to clean the house, so we were all up and out at 9.30am. The girls and I had takeaway breakfast from McDonalds (blush) on the way to swimming lessons. Afterwards Hannah's teacher said she should move up a level, and Ellie's teacher said she's progressing really well.
They were having a Healthy Kids Day in the YMCA, so we headed over to see what that had to offer. The girls had a bounce in the castle, a ride on some bikes, and spent ages learning to cast with a flyfishing rod. Hannah was really good at it!
Next year maybe I'll sign her up for the children's triathlon.
Next we headed to Play and Learn in Freeport to get Maddie a present, then to Gritty McDuff for lunch. It wasn't all that warm, but we had a lovely time sitting outside eating lunch, and playing on the swings, kicking a soccer ball about, and finding worms.
At 2pm it was time for Maddie's party, so we headed to the Emrich house. Ellie was invited to the party with several other gorgeous five year old girls - there was a lot of high pitched squealing and just generally being adorable. Meanwhile Hannah was also invited so she could play with Max and his stepbrothers (who are lovely). So there were light sabres and guns and a lot of fancy dress.
At some point Pie and Lulu came over from next door, then they all headed back to their house, while I got to talk to Landis and Mitchell. Was talking to Mitchell about his music - I hadn't realised he has made so many records.
I snuck off to LL Bean at some point too. Swapped Mark's slippers and had a nosey around their Spring Sports Expo. Hmm, which tent to buy? And should I buy some cross country skis there while there's money off?
Later, after dinner, Hannah and I cycled to Handy Andy's for ice cream and met Mike and the others there. First Andy's ice cream of the season... we'll be going to the Lobster Shack and Kettle Cove ice cream place next...
Friday
I had one of those days at work where my brain was melting by 3.30pm, having had two meetings in which I discovered that all the goalposts are moving. So I left the 3.30pm meeting and went straight to the supermarket for something to put on the barbeque.
Meanwhile the girls had had the day off school, and spent it driving around in the Mustang with the top down, and sunglasses on. They went to the Children's Museum, saw the fire truck, then had a picnic lunch at the Eastern Prom.
Came home to find Carl had done a great job on the upstairs hallway. Instead of being dull green it's now a lovely cream, with white doors, and all of a sudden is much lighter. Still needs another coat all over, but it's going to be great. Then we'll do the bedroom in sage green, then the upstairs will be done other than the stairwell - which is going to be a complete nightmare.
We barbequed ribs and burgers for dinner, then had our first campfire of the season outside. The kids went next door to play on the swings and (it turned out) in the mud.
Roll on summer :-)))
Saturday
Veronica was coming over to clean the house, so we were all up and out at 9.30am. The girls and I had takeaway breakfast from McDonalds (blush) on the way to swimming lessons. Afterwards Hannah's teacher said she should move up a level, and Ellie's teacher said she's progressing really well.
They were having a Healthy Kids Day in the YMCA, so we headed over to see what that had to offer. The girls had a bounce in the castle, a ride on some bikes, and spent ages learning to cast with a flyfishing rod. Hannah was really good at it!
Next year maybe I'll sign her up for the children's triathlon.
Next we headed to Play and Learn in Freeport to get Maddie a present, then to Gritty McDuff for lunch. It wasn't all that warm, but we had a lovely time sitting outside eating lunch, and playing on the swings, kicking a soccer ball about, and finding worms.
At 2pm it was time for Maddie's party, so we headed to the Emrich house. Ellie was invited to the party with several other gorgeous five year old girls - there was a lot of high pitched squealing and just generally being adorable. Meanwhile Hannah was also invited so she could play with Max and his stepbrothers (who are lovely). So there were light sabres and guns and a lot of fancy dress.
At some point Pie and Lulu came over from next door, then they all headed back to their house, while I got to talk to Landis and Mitchell. Was talking to Mitchell about his music - I hadn't realised he has made so many records.
I snuck off to LL Bean at some point too. Swapped Mark's slippers and had a nosey around their Spring Sports Expo. Hmm, which tent to buy? And should I buy some cross country skis there while there's money off?
Later, after dinner, Hannah and I cycled to Handy Andy's for ice cream and met Mike and the others there. First Andy's ice cream of the season... we'll be going to the Lobster Shack and Kettle Cove ice cream place next...
Friday
I had one of those days at work where my brain was melting by 3.30pm, having had two meetings in which I discovered that all the goalposts are moving. So I left the 3.30pm meeting and went straight to the supermarket for something to put on the barbeque.
Meanwhile the girls had had the day off school, and spent it driving around in the Mustang with the top down, and sunglasses on. They went to the Children's Museum, saw the fire truck, then had a picnic lunch at the Eastern Prom.
Came home to find Carl had done a great job on the upstairs hallway. Instead of being dull green it's now a lovely cream, with white doors, and all of a sudden is much lighter. Still needs another coat all over, but it's going to be great. Then we'll do the bedroom in sage green, then the upstairs will be done other than the stairwell - which is going to be a complete nightmare.
We barbequed ribs and burgers for dinner, then had our first campfire of the season outside. The kids went next door to play on the swings and (it turned out) in the mud.
Roll on summer :-)))
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Another manic day
All week Carl has been sorting out the girls' room. He's taken down the six panel lights and filled the holes beautifully with plasterboard etc, then painted the whole ceiling and it looks perfect.
The walls are now lilac, and the woodwork is a nearly white colour. Just waiting for the second coat on the woodwork then I think it's done. It's strange to have a muted colour in the house. I think once we repaint the rest of the upstairs it'll look more like it fits in.
Then poor Mark can have his bedroom back (it's full of the girls' toys), and we can choose what goes into the girls' room a bit more carefully - I plan to put about 2/3 of their toys into the basement.
Friday...
Yesterday after work we went to Ricetta's for tea, then drove home. It was raining heavily so I was driving pretty carefully. Just near Greely Road a deer ran across the road in front of me. Luckily I didn't hit it, but of course where there's one deer there are usually others. Sure enough another one bolted over the road, but I had put my foot down already so it ended up crossing behind me.
I flashed the oncoming cars to warn them, then drove on very carefully...
The other memorable thing about Friday was the lemon drop martini I had in Ricettas. I was feeling no pain for a short while there, mmmmm.
Saturday...
Today being a Saturday meant swimming lessons for the girls. Mike did his usual thing of throwing all three of them in the pool, then sitting beside the pool with his laptop getting loads of work done. You'd think the humidity might be a problem but obviously not.
Someone had an 'accident' in the pool, but Mark refused to get out. We're awaiting any further complications...
After that we went for lunch at Jennifer and Craig's. Jennifer has Max and Maddie, who all of my lot adore, so they all played happily together. Craig has three boys who are lovely. So with four adults and eight children it was a busy lunch, and very nice to get to know them all a bit better.
Jennifer is minister at the First Universalist Church, which is where Mark goes to nursery twice a week, and they live in what I suppose is the vicarage - a very old house right by the church on Main Street. A beautiful old house, but falling to bits and incredibly expensive to run, so they're going to move out and find somewhere else. But really, such a beautiful old place - it was amazing to look around it. A gorgeous curved staircase, and very big old grates in the floor for the forced air heating. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have single glazing in Maine in winter, but my brain could not compute...
After our lunch we had a couple of hours back home. We explored the garden which has almost shed its mantle of snow - just a few inches left on the front and side gardens now. We assessed the damage from the ice storm, from burrowing critters in the lawn, from something very strange eating the bushes out the front, and just from the effects of being under snow for four months.
Ellie headed into the woods and started happily building fairy houses, then she and Mark played on the swings together. Mike got out his chainsaw and started cutting out dead wood. He is an American logger at heart - never happier than when he's clearing out woods. He was very disappointed when he ran out of fuel.
He picked up Hannah, and after some baths we headed to the Yarmouth Family Arts Night at the high school. They had food, a silent auction, a basket raffle, then a magician show. I would have liked to have actually bid on some of the cheesecakes, but between chatting to people, dealing with a hyperactive-then-completely-shattered Mark, and looking after children generally I didn't bid on anything.
Mike bid for Hannah to get 2 hours of being Assistant Principal - what a great prize! But he didn't win.
Mark and Mike went home to cuddle and watch Thomas the Tank Engine. The girls and I watched a magician called George something do his show. He was fairly standard, but enjoyable. Max got to go up on stage and help out, which was very exciting for all our party. Even Ellie was putting up her hand when the magician asked for volunteers. My little girl is really growing up.
And then home, all very tired. I was in bed by 9.20pm, with my laptop, clean sheets, the electric blanket on, and a new Iain Banks book beside me. Having chatted to my friend Kaye online, then updated the blog, it's now 10.45pm and I should go to sleep. Mike is at Jean's 40th birthday party in town, so somehow I suspect I'll be getting up with the children in the morning. My plan is to put The Sound of Music on for them, then sneak back to bed. We'll see....
The walls are now lilac, and the woodwork is a nearly white colour. Just waiting for the second coat on the woodwork then I think it's done. It's strange to have a muted colour in the house. I think once we repaint the rest of the upstairs it'll look more like it fits in.
Then poor Mark can have his bedroom back (it's full of the girls' toys), and we can choose what goes into the girls' room a bit more carefully - I plan to put about 2/3 of their toys into the basement.
Friday...
Yesterday after work we went to Ricetta's for tea, then drove home. It was raining heavily so I was driving pretty carefully. Just near Greely Road a deer ran across the road in front of me. Luckily I didn't hit it, but of course where there's one deer there are usually others. Sure enough another one bolted over the road, but I had put my foot down already so it ended up crossing behind me.
I flashed the oncoming cars to warn them, then drove on very carefully...
The other memorable thing about Friday was the lemon drop martini I had in Ricettas. I was feeling no pain for a short while there, mmmmm.
Saturday...
Today being a Saturday meant swimming lessons for the girls. Mike did his usual thing of throwing all three of them in the pool, then sitting beside the pool with his laptop getting loads of work done. You'd think the humidity might be a problem but obviously not.
Someone had an 'accident' in the pool, but Mark refused to get out. We're awaiting any further complications...
After that we went for lunch at Jennifer and Craig's. Jennifer has Max and Maddie, who all of my lot adore, so they all played happily together. Craig has three boys who are lovely. So with four adults and eight children it was a busy lunch, and very nice to get to know them all a bit better.
Jennifer is minister at the First Universalist Church, which is where Mark goes to nursery twice a week, and they live in what I suppose is the vicarage - a very old house right by the church on Main Street. A beautiful old house, but falling to bits and incredibly expensive to run, so they're going to move out and find somewhere else. But really, such a beautiful old place - it was amazing to look around it. A gorgeous curved staircase, and very big old grates in the floor for the forced air heating. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have single glazing in Maine in winter, but my brain could not compute...
After our lunch we had a couple of hours back home. We explored the garden which has almost shed its mantle of snow - just a few inches left on the front and side gardens now. We assessed the damage from the ice storm, from burrowing critters in the lawn, from something very strange eating the bushes out the front, and just from the effects of being under snow for four months.
Ellie headed into the woods and started happily building fairy houses, then she and Mark played on the swings together. Mike got out his chainsaw and started cutting out dead wood. He is an American logger at heart - never happier than when he's clearing out woods. He was very disappointed when he ran out of fuel.
He picked up Hannah, and after some baths we headed to the Yarmouth Family Arts Night at the high school. They had food, a silent auction, a basket raffle, then a magician show. I would have liked to have actually bid on some of the cheesecakes, but between chatting to people, dealing with a hyperactive-then-completely-shattered Mark, and looking after children generally I didn't bid on anything.
Mike bid for Hannah to get 2 hours of being Assistant Principal - what a great prize! But he didn't win.
Mark and Mike went home to cuddle and watch Thomas the Tank Engine. The girls and I watched a magician called George something do his show. He was fairly standard, but enjoyable. Max got to go up on stage and help out, which was very exciting for all our party. Even Ellie was putting up her hand when the magician asked for volunteers. My little girl is really growing up.
And then home, all very tired. I was in bed by 9.20pm, with my laptop, clean sheets, the electric blanket on, and a new Iain Banks book beside me. Having chatted to my friend Kaye online, then updated the blog, it's now 10.45pm and I should go to sleep. Mike is at Jean's 40th birthday party in town, so somehow I suspect I'll be getting up with the children in the morning. My plan is to put The Sound of Music on for them, then sneak back to bed. We'll see....
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