Last weekend we headed back up to New Hampshire to take the kids to Storyland again, before it closes up for the the season. [You can read about our epic first visit here and here!]
There is always a risk when you return somewhere that you have had such a wonderful time. Expectations are high. Excitement is barely contained.
What if it isn’t as good as we remember?
The boys could not wait to go back! The whole of last week was spent looking forward to it. When will it be Friday…?!
My husband took the day off, we got ourselves packed up in the morning, picked the 7yo up from school in the afternoon and got straight on the road. Three hours later and we were back in the same apartment that we had stayed in two months ago and three very excited children were fighting sleep!
Staying in an apartment makes the whole trip so easy – I took a box and a freezer bag of food. We made pasta when we arrived and we had everything we needed for breakfast and fab picnic lunches. Take out pizza on Saturday night and we were sorted!
As we had bought Season Passes when we visited in the summer we were able to spend Saturday and Sunday in the park. We were blessed with amazing weather, warm and sunny – perfect for the water rides!
We spent most of our time on the roller coaster, log flume ride and raft ride. With trips to the flying shoes, flying orcas and flying fish thrown in.
It was interesting to see the difference two months had made to the wee girls enjoyment of the trip. She was far more engaged and actively excited when she saw certain rides.
She discovered the Loopy Lab and spent ages feeding balls into a sucky tube :) She loved seeing them disappear! It didn’t take her long to work out which button to press to make the ‘suck’ work!
She loved the flying shoes and orcas! As did the boys :)
She ‘drove’ a tractor!
She’s currently about 32 inches tall… I’m hoping by next summer she will have made it to 36 inches so that she can go on all the rides! It will be lovely for her to be able to join in even more with the boys…
Having visited over the summer and knowing that our Passes will be used again come spring, it was a very relaxed couple of days – no rushing to fit everything in. We were able to spend time on our favourite rides, without feeling we should be moving onto the next one. It was much quieter than it had been over the summer, especially on Sunday, which was lovely – virtually no queuing! The boys went on the log flume ride as soon as we arrived on Sunday morning – ten loops later (without having left the ‘boat’…) their dad said enough was enough!
It was a wonderful weekend: blue skies, sunshine, perfect temperatures, stunning surroundings – New England really is the place to be in the Fall.
[You can see more more of the gorgeous Fall colours here.]
And, as for the worry that we wouldn’t enjoy it as much the second time around?
There was absolutely nothing to worry about!
I am linking up with the wonderful Coombe Mill’s Country Kids again this week. Click on the badge to see what everyone else has been up to and be inspired to get outside!
Images of you stretching her or feeding her more food for extra height. No, I’m sure she’ll gain those inches all on her own. Beautiful leaves. We spent a wonderful autumn holiday in New England years ago. The colours were amazing.
It is stunning!
Hoping I don’t have to resort to stretching or heel lifts…!
Wow! The colours of those trees are astounding! I would love to visit New England in the ‘Fall’ to see the wonderful shades. Sounds like you had a great time at Storyland, I know that feeling of things not living up to expectations!
Nipping over from Country Kids.
It was amazing – the trees really were stunning – and the kids had a ball at Storyland :)
What a beautiful day you got for the fair. Love the flying clogs!
The wee girl LOVES the clogs :) It was a lovely weekend!
It’s such a relief when you visit somewhere for a second time and it turns out to be just as good. I agree with you, it’s nice to know you can linger on certain things when you know you can return too. Looks lovely and glad you all enjoyed yourselves.
Isn’t it? It’s such a worry!
Knowing you can go back just makes the whole thing so stress free :)
I loved reading about your first Storyland adventures, so lovely to see you got back there again and had lots of funny second time round. Those Fall photos are just gorgeous x
Thank you! We had a blast :)
The trees were just amazing!
What a great time, we got so excited when Monkey hit the 1 metre mark – opened up a world of new possibilities
I know, I can’t wait till she’s tall enough :) She’s so fearless, I think she’ll love it!
I am glad it was just as enjoyable the second time round. The height can make such a difference. My second son has just gone over 1.4m and that is the biggest change, and my youngest is over 1m so some parks he can go on everything.
My oldest is able to go on all rides at Storyland on his own, and he just loves that! The 4yo can go on everything, but hubby or I need to go with him. The height thing really does make such a difference! Once wee girl is tall enough, we can all do things, rather than one of us sitting it out with her :)
This trip looks fab! :-) i am sure she will be tall enough next time x
It was!
I hope so :)
That sounds like a great place, and I adore the colour of the trees!
It really is – and the trees were beautiful :)
looks amazing and i love the fall colours xxx
Thanks – it was brilliant :)
Is that a ball pit/soft play area? I feel nostalgic every time I see one of those – such a place of discovery for little ones.
It’s a huge shed full of balls and various machines that suck,blow or shoot them all over the place! The kids love it :)
It’s great to hear that it all lived up to your expectations! The photos show just how beautiful fall is in New England and it’s lovely to see how much fun the children had. Thanks for linking up and sharing with Country Kids.
You’re welcome – thank you for hosting :)
We had a lovey weekend!
That looks like a lot of fun! Beautiful photos of the leaves too :)
It was great fun, and the surrounding were pretty wonderful too :)
How wonderful! I miss New England in the fall. Thanks for the photos!
You’re welcome ;) It is very beautiful!
Oh beautiful! I so want to holiday in New England sometime!
It is stunningly beautiful – I’m loving just walking down the street at the moment :)
It looks amazing, I LOVE New England, so beautiful especially at this time of year x
It is gorgeous at the moment! We’re enjoying it :)
What a great post. Loved the fact that they got to stay on the log flume, and the photos are simply stunning – especially the leaves turning. I have a dream of hiring a big old winnibago and driving across USA and New Hampshire has always been on my list – you’ve just resurrected the dream! ;) #CountryKids
Oh, you should do it! We’re thinking of trying to do an RV holiday next year – when in Rome and all that :) New England really is beautiful x