Summer Vacation!

We just spent 2 blissful weeks camping in the White Mountains of NH.  We were very lucky to have a wonderful friend loan us her RV for our time up there.  While we didn't really spend a lot of time inside it, it was nice to have a place where Tommy could cry himself to sleep (if needed), and where the boys could be loud in the mornings.  We got pretty lucky with the weather, but the few days it did rain, it was also nice to have a dry place to sleep and electricity to watch a movie.  And the bathroom was AWESOME.

We did so many fun things while we were up there.  We spent the first few days just enjoying the campground, going swimming in the pool and river, playing at the awesome playground, and riding bikes.  Mudgie started swimming on his own while we were there!  He and Aaron also really started to enjoy riding their bikes, so much so that I think Mudgie is ready to lose the training wheels (though he's not as sure about that as I am).  Tommy was less thrilled about these activities than the other boys.  The water in both the pool and the river was cold, but he did find the rocks at the river pretty fun (and tasty, unfortunately), so that combined with letting him run free in the big field across from our campsite made him pretty happy.

We went on a couple great hikes while we were up there, one up to Arethusa Falls (1.3 miles long each way, 750ft of elevation gain), the biggest waterfall in NH, and one to the top of Mt. Willard (1.6 miles long each way, 900ft of elevation gain), with great views of Crawford Notch.  I could not believe how great all the boys did.  Mudgie practically flew up the mountain.  Grammy was out of breath trying to keep up with him!  Aaron struggled a bit on the way up, but was in good spirits.  We discovered pretty quickly that someone had to hold Aaron's hand at all times to avoid excessive falls and crying.  Tommy seemed happy in the backpack as long as Dave was behind me.  If he could see Dave he started getting antsy.  On the way down, Mudgie took his time and was very careful where he put his feet, but Aaron was a speed demon in this direction (still holding someone's hand), and he moved so fast that he had time to get bored at the bottom waiting for us!

One very rainy morning, while the Holman family was camping with us, we took the kids to the children's museum in North Conway.  It was a great place, though very busy on such a rainy day.  Mudgie loved playing with the gears and legos, and Tommy really enjoyed the music area, but it was Aaron who was in heaven with all the dress up play they had.  I think he tried on every costume in the place, and made me take a picture of it (that little performer).  He, Mudgie, and Colin finished out the day by playing dragon in the castle room, where they made friends with a little girl and created an elaborate game (that involved a lot of yelling).

A trip to that area would not be complete without visiting Storyland and Santa's Village.  I couldn't believe how much the boys seemed to enjoy the rides this year!  They were really into everything we went on, and they both went on rollercoasters, a tower drop ride, the log ride, and other things that I thought looked pretty scary for small kids. Mudgie even went on the new faster, bigger roller coaster they added at Storyland this year.  He was not expecting the drop and speed it delivered, and he screamed in terror the entire ride (I may have laughed a bit).  However, when we got off he told that he didn't really like and didn't want to do it again, but he was glad he went on.  The only thing Aaron really wanted to do at Storyland was to see the princess and her castle.  When we got there, he became so shy he couldn't even look at her.  Thankfully, the princess was wonderful, and had him hugging and posing for pictures within a minute!  At Santa's Village, Aaron loved feeding the reindeer, while Mudgie was so scared they were going to bite him that he almost cried trying to feed them (I don't think he ever got close enough for them to actually get the food).  Tommy LOVED the train, and enjoyed watching it drive by just as much as riding it, so he got very excited every 10 minutes or so when we'd see it go by.

At the end of the day at each park, we let the boys each pick out 1 thing from the gift shop.  At Santa's Village, Mudgie chose an "Elf Vadar" shirt, and Aaron chose a "wrapped present" for a "boy, ages 3-6."  He didn't even want to open when we got in the car!  It was driving Mudgie insane, and he kept speculating what might be inside.  Aaron just enjoyed the hoopla and speculation!  Finally Mudgie convinced Aaron to open it, and he was happy to find a soft, stuffed turtle inside.  At Storyland, Aaron got to pick something from the "dress up" shop.  He tried on every hat in the place!  After I told him the dresses cost too much and he couldn't get one those, he finally chose a set of fake teeth (think bad, hillbilly teeth) and a magic wand.  Mudgie picked out a moon rover and astronaut from the toy store.  This was just another example of how these boys have such very different personalities!

Our evenings were spent roasting marshmallows and reading or telling stories by the fire, watching movies in the pavillion, and going out for ice cream.  Tommy was usually in bed by 8pm (an hour later than his normal bedtime), but the big boys stayed up past 9 on most nights.  Aaron was usually exhausted by this point, but Mudgie was usually on his second wind, and would have stayed up later if we let him.  He and I finished reading the first Harry Potter book together by the fire, and he enjoyed it so much that he's been throwing out references all time now!

Both Aaron and Tommy had birthdays while we were camping.  Aaron was so excited for his birthday, and woke up telling us about all his body parts that were bigger now that he's 4.  He got birthday ice cream that night, and we sang him happy birthday, which he loved.  Tommy, on the other hand, didn't have any birthday expectations, but the boys and I sang him happy birthday about 2 dozen times throughout the day, and since he's a sucker for music, he just loved it!

On the night before we went home, Mudgie and I were snuggling in bed, talking about all the fun things we did on vacation, and he asked me, "What was your favorite part of vacation?" And I had to take a moment to think about it, as I really enjoyed all of it; the hiking, the swimming, the amusement parks, etc. And then, before I could reply, he finished his thought, "Because mine was spending time with family!" Mine too, Mudgie Man!  We say it all the time, but he's such an old soul.  How does a 6-year-old get so smart?