Storyland

Thursday, August 6

Thursday, we spent the entire day focused on Ari. There was an amusement park nearby named Storyland, which features rides and attractions based on nursery rhymes and fairy tales--definitely a place geared toward kids Ari's age (though they did have a bunch of stuff for older kids, too).

Inside the home of the Three Bears.



She loved this little play area...



There was a little old-fashioned schoolhouse (I think it was supposed to be the school from "Mary Had a Little Lamb"), and Ari had fun ringing the school bell.



I have no idea what this whale represented.



Ari was all excited about this rooster.



I think this merry-go-round had something to do with the story of Little Black Sambo? Yeh, I didn't pay too much attention to all that, since Ari doesn't know all these stories either. She was just excited to get to ride a merry-go-round.




Ari in the ball pit...



This was on the Mad Hatter's teacup ride. I absolutely love the look on her face.



We thought Ari would be thrilled to meet Cinderella, and she was all into it... until Cinderella actually looked at her and spoke. Check out the look on her face--she looks terrified. Really, she was just being cranky.



We even went up to Cinderella's castle, to give Ari another chance to meet Cinderella, and she still wanted nothing to do with her. She was getting kind of hot and hungry at this point, so that may have been part of the reason.



She loved the train ride...



Waiting in line to ride the antique cars...



She got to drive the car (I helped her by holding down the gas), and she just thought she was the coolest thing.



Coming up to the covered bridge...



They had this picture-frame photo-op, and luckily, Ari was in the mood to pose (although they were weird poses)...



This little water area was the cutest thing--it had a "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" theme. See that red volcano to the left of Tony? Every so often, it would shoot this giant "blob" of water way up in the air, which would then come down like rain. Very cool.



This was the one ride I refused to go on. I don't do ferris wheels.



That was the last ride of the day, too, because the park was close to closing, and Ari was so done by this point. It was a long day for her, with no nap. There was a bunch of other stuff we did that I didn't get pictures of--a "Farm Follies" show all about gardening, the Royal Hannaford Circus, a swan boat ride, etc. And there was still a lot we didn't get around to doing, since we got a late start. But I think it all worked out well--like I said, by late afternoon, Ari had had enough, so if we'd gotten an early start, I'm sure she would have melted down much earlier in the day. Our last stop before we left was the gift shop, where we let her pick out a cup, a bowl, and a plate. She insisted on using them for dinner that night.

We returned to the house and headed out for dinner with Mary and Josh. My parents had volunteered with watch the kids for us one night so that the 4 of us could go on a kid-free double date. Of course, I forgot to bring my camera, and so did my sister, so I have no pictures. But it was a great time. We went to a place called Margarita Grill, a place Josh and Mary had spotted while driving around. The food was delicious, and I could not finish my gigantic burrito. And maybe part of the reason was because I knew we were going to get ice cream afterwards. We went back to Trail's End, where I got a waffle bowl with a scoop of chocolate ice cream and a scoop of coconut. So delicious.

We came home just in time to put the kidlets to bed, and then the 4 of us headed down to the resort's game room, where we played air hockey and pool. It was fun, even though I suck at both games. Mary and I played each other in air hockey, and it was like a comedy of errors... I kept scoring in my own goal, one time even managing to do it before the game had really started. That's real talent, people.

And so ended Thursday. I'll combine Friday and Saturday into one entry, which will be the last of the vacation pictures.

To be concluded...