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'.