Our trip to North Conway

Lilah laughing about the piggies

Hand in hand...

A few weeks ago (before our life was rudely interrupted) we took a little vacation to North Conway, NH. Kevin and I had been wanting to take the girls there for a while, and this summer we thought the girls (Mairead & Lilah) were the perfect age! We left on a Sunday and checked into the North Conway Grand Hotel. It was in a pretty cool location - right next to the outlet mall! They had several pools, and one with a zero entry for the little ones. The look on the girls faces when they saw the pools was unforgettable. They were SO excited!

Me & the girls on the Carousel

When we arrived on Sunday, the girls were so excited to go swimming. We spent some time in the water, and then headed over to the shops. My brother recommended a good restaurant for dinner, so we headed over there for some grub. We had fun at dinner and then stopped at my parents friends ice cream shop. It was a beautiful night to start off a vacation!

Lilah & Mairead on the train

Clara checks out the flower beds

On Monday, we headed over to Storyland. The place was perfect for the girls! Mairead was able to go on everything, and Lilah was able to go on pretty much everything. They had a blast! They really LOVE amusement rides, which is awesome, because Kevin and I do, too. I can't wait for the girls to be old enough to go on real, big roller coasters! Mairead and I went on the little roller coaster which she loved! Lilah wanted to go on, but unfortunately, she missed the height by about an inch. She was bummed! The hit of the day was the train ride around the park. They couldn't get enough! Clara had a blast walking around, too! She thought she was big stuff because she could go where ever she wanted. She loved touching the flower gardens around the park and when it was time to sit down for a shaved ice, she was down with that, too!

The girls share their shaved ice with Clara

Once everyone had enough, we headed back to the hotel. We swam for a while before we headed back to our room to get ready for dinner. We decided to try another restaurant my brother recommended. It was great and super kid friendly! There were kids everywhere and the food was good! As we were leaving the restaurant, Lilah yells in the parking lot "YOU HAVE A PENIS, DAD!?!?" - I almost peed myself! It was hilarious, not to mention, she repeated herself several times! The kid is hilarious! After, we hit the ice cream shop for some more! Who can give up yummy ice cream while on vacation!?! I sure couldn't! When we got back to our room, the girls were tired. Since we were unable to get a 1 bedroom, we were all stuffed in one hotel room, so it was a bit more difficult for the girls to fall asleep. I mean, who can blame them? They were so excited!

On Tuesday, we woke up and got ready for an hour drive across the kancamagus highway to head to the Whales Tale Water park. It was a gorgeous day, and we thought it was the perfect day to drive one of the most scenic highways in New England. We also thought it would be a good idea to give the girls some down time in the car. When we got there the girls were so excited. They had slides for the little ones and for the big kids. Mairead even went down medium sized slides - I was shocked! Lilah was a little young, and her being exhausted didn't help much. When she told us she wanted to take a nap, we knew she was exhausted. Before we knew it, she climbed up in the stroller, curled up with a towel and went to sleep! We had to wake her after an hour! She enjoyed a bit after she woke up, but you could tell she was still tired. Have I mentioned Lilah hates to be woken up??? Mairead enjoyed some time in the wave pool and then all 5 of us took a little ride on the lazy river...well, it wasn't so lazy, because I was holding Clara on a tube and somehow, I flipped over. With Clara in my arms. We both went underwater! It felt like a lifetime I was under there trying my hardest to keep Clara in my arms. I was so afraid I'd let go...but I didn't. We came above water and Clara didn't even choke on water! The little stinker held her breath! I just want to know how I fell off the tube??? Lazy river my ass!

Lilah goes down the slide

We headed home and thought everyone would sleep. Wrong. Mairead didn't. Lilah didn't. Clara did. We stopped at a few scenic views and took a few photographs. We reminisced about me and Kevin's first weekend together as we drove along the Saco river and saw one of the covered bridges we visited together. It was a really relaxing and beautiful ride home.

The day we left, we wanted the girls to have more pool time, so we packed up and headed down to the pool for a few hours. It was really great to see the girls progress even further with all of their time in the water! We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather the entire time we were away! Once we were done with the pool we headed back to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch and back for more ice cream so we could say hello to our family friend. The ride home was quiet. Lilah and Clara passed out, but of course, our fighter of sleep, Mairead, didn't. It was a peaceful ride home, and I am so glad we were able to have such a great time together. We didn't know the rest of our family vacation was going to come to a screeching halt when we got news about Kevin leaving for the Gulf the next day.

All in all, the time away was great. I can't wait for Kevin to come home so we can finish out our family vacation together. It will really be a special time for everyone. I know the girls are looking forward to that already...