Family Vacation

We had a nice family vacation the week of 4th of July this year.

We headed up to the Lodge on Friday 6/29.  Michele had an overnight hike planned for her and Aaron on Saturday and Sunday.  They hiked Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Little Haystack, and Mt. Lafayette.  They had perfect weather for the trip.

With Eli and Tommy all to myself, we headed up to Santa’s Village for the day on Saturday.  The weather was hot but the kids had a blast and we didn’t even do the water park.  We went on the log flume and roller coaster probably 20+ times each.  We purchased a season pass since it was only $80/each vs. $30 for a day ticket.  After Santa’s village we had dinner at 99 in Littleton, and then had a movie night.

On Sunday, we lost power for the entire morning.  I was worried about losing everything in the fridge so I took the boys out to buy a ton of ice and we just had breakfast at Dunkin.  We got power back around lunch time when Michele and Aaron returned from their hike.  In the afternoon we did a little shopping and had dinner at Alburrito’s, a mexican place in Littleton.  Overall the food was very good but the service could use some improvements.

On Monday, we tried the Whale’s Tale waterpark in Lincoln.  It was upper 80’s outside of Franconia Notch, but inside where the water park is was lower 70’s and rainy, unbelievable weather difference.  The kids loved the wave pool and the big water slides.  Overall the water park was a big hit!

On Tuesday, we spent the day at Story Land.  The weather was soooo hot and humid.  We spent as much time as we could on water rides, but there aren’t many at Story Land.  The roarasaurus coaster was a big hit.  The kids are at a great age where they all enjoy the rides.  Disney is going to be awesome later this year!

On Wednesday, the 4th, it was another brutally hot day.  In the morning we took the kids to Echo Lake beach and it was packed with people.  Mudgie dug a big hole and was deemed the coolest kid on the beach by all the other kids.  At night we watched the fireworks in Lincoln.

On Thursday, we attempting a biking trip.  I searched all over for paved bike paths since Tommy is still on training wheels.  It turns out there are only 2, the one in Franconia Notch and another at Loon Mountain.  The Franconia Notch one is apparently really steep, so we packed up all the bikes on the car and headed over to Loon, in the ridiculous heat.  We got all the bikes off and started and Tommy had a melt down because he couldn’t figure out how to use the brakes, and of course this trail was steep as well.  Biking lasted about 10 mins, a total fail.  We had lunch in Lincoln at the kid’s favorite pizza place, Enzo’s, and then headed back to the lodge.    After dinner we all went swimming at the Lisbon community pool.  This pool exceeded our expectations, it’s brand new and super clean.

On Friday, the forecast was rain, so we headed back to Lincoln again to watch a movie, the incredibles 2.  I fell asleep but the kids loved it.  I honestly can’t remember what we did the rest of the day.

On Saturday, Michele and Eli went for an overnight hike on Mt. Madison and Mt. Adams.  They went up Adams via the King Ravine trail, which is notoriously one of the hardest trails in the whites.  I took the boys to Funspot at Lake Winnepesaukee, apparently the largest arcade in the world.  Aaron and Tommy had a blast there.  After that we had dinner at 99, because Aaron wanted to do the same thing mudige did the weekend before.

On Sunday, we headed up to Santa’s Village (again).  We stayed there until about 1pm, headed back to the lodge, and met up with Michele and Eli.  We all packed up and headed home.

Overall we had an action packed and fun week.  The weather was brutally hot at the lodge, very humid and the house didn’t cool down much all week.

A great 4th of July weekend!

This year the 4th of July fell on a Tuesday, so we decided to take some extra days off and make it a long weekend.

Michele and Eli went up on Wednesday night.  They had a night stay at the Lake of the Clouds hut on Mt Washington planned for Thursday night.  Dave, Aaron, and Tommy came up on Thursday night.  We all stayed until late Tuesday.

On Thursday, Michele and Eli made it to the hut, in the rain, and then summited Mt. Monroe.  On Friday they summited Mt. Washington, but conditions were so bad (70 mph gusts) they took the Cog down.  Overall, Eli was super excited about his successful first summit of Mt. Washington.  I’m sure there are many more to come in the future!

For Dave, on Friday morning he took the kids to the Franconia  playground.  Afterwards they went hiking in the Basin.

Afterwards, we all met up back at the Lodge.  We had some deliveries, new mattresses and a refrigerator (ours was broken by the time we moved in, doh!)  The big hit of the weekend was our internet guy, who got so frustrated by not being able to find the house he just gave up and headed home.  The whole family found this very odd, yet amusing.

On Saturday morning, we headed out to Echo Lake, which is at the base of Cannon Mountain.

The clouds were rolling in so we headed back to the Lodge for lunch and nap.  It turned into a giant storm with torrential downpours.  We got a lot of rain that leaked into the house and a good portion of our road was even washed away!

On Sunday, we decided to hike Artists Bluff.  The weather was great, but the conditions were very wet.  Tommy had a hard time hiking in his worn out sneakers on the wet rocks and roots, but we all survived.

In the afternoon, we went to Clark’s Trading Post, in Lincoln.  It turned out the park was about to close, but it was good to explore the area.

On Monday Dave had to stay home in the morning to meet the house inspector for our insurance.  It turns out that in New Hampshire all new insurance policies get an inspection, makes sense to me!

Michele took the boys to the Flume Gorge.

On Monday night we went out to dinner at Schilling Beer Company in Littleton, NH.  The food and beer here is awesome!  Also, the setting is right on the Ammonoosuc River.  Before dinner we grabbed some Chutters for dessert during the Fireworks.

The fireworks were a total townie event!  It was on a field and they had some games for the kids and a snack bar.  The kids just love being able to release some energy and staying up late.

On Tuesday, we decided to go to Story Land for the day!  We got to the park right at 9:30am for the opening and stayed until  4pm.  After the park we had some ice cream in North Conway.

The biggest hits were the Roar-a-saurus for Eli, the Flume for Aaron, and the train ride for tommy.