Magic Baby loved the train ride through the park, which is good since that was practically the only ride pregnant women were allowed on. Yup, that means I spent $24 to ride a train, a mini-Ferris Wheel and a carousel (where I didn't even get to sit on a horse). Not to mention walk approximately 800 miles. Oh, and to see the joy on my kids' faces. That made it all worth it. Totally.
Okay, so he was really cute on the carousel. See the shirt he's wearing, though? It's an official Storyland one. Wanna know why he's wearing it? Come on, I bet you do... It's because he got carsick and puked all over himself on the way there. Of course, I, being the uber-prepared Mommy that I am, had nothing for him to change into except long pants (which my aunt had convinced me to bring). This means that Magic Baby was carried into the park wearing khakis and a Patriots sweatshirt that's at least four sizes too big... and we had to buy him a new shirt when we got inside. It has a train on it, though, and it was less than $10 (which is surprising), so I guess it could have been worse. Still, pulling over on the Kacamagus Highway was the highlight of my day, although riding home in the wonderful smelling car after all that hiking was great, too.
We learned our lesson, though. This is how Big Sister and Magic Baby kept themselves occupied on the three-hour drive home from NH. They covered themselves with pen. It wasn't pretty (or easy to get off), but it was a lot better than dealing with vomit.
About 20 of us also invaded Clark's Trading Post, where we saw the trained bears and I watched everyone else go on the bumper boats and go rock climbing and do other fun things that are not for pregnant people. Magic Baby spent much of the day shaking his fist and yelling "Scat, you old goat!" which is what you say to Wolfman, the old mountain man who chases and tries to board the train. If you've never been, don't ask.
It's a Clark's Trading Post rule that when the train goes through the tunnel (yup, another train ride), you have to cover your ears and yell as loud as you can. Magic Baby enjoyed this, but not as much as Big Sister did.
That's her standing behind me on the train, screaming her lungs out. At least she had the decency to cover my ears.
This fabulous teddy bear is handknit from real bear fur! How cool is that?! (I tried to get a better picture of it, but it's behind glass and the glare was horrid. Plus, people were giving me funny looks. Clearly, they were non-knitters.) There's a lady from Clark's who collects the bears' fur when they shed, spins it and knits it into teddy bears that are then raffled off. (The money goes to a local shelter.) There are only six of these bears in existence. Obviously, I think this is amazing, and I would have spent the whole day looking at the bears (there's a boy one too, but the glare was even worse on that one) but my family insisted we move on. Considering I had just spent all day not doing anything fun, you think they would have indulged me a little, but no.
My husband, dad and some of the teenagers also played this Assassination game we made up. It involves drawing someone's name from a hat and using a water gun, well, to assassinate them. There are lot of other rules, too, but basically they all have to shoot each other as stealthily as possible (other players can't see you do it or it doesn't count). I know it sounds weird, but the game is actually a lot of fun (although you get really paranoid, since anyone could be out to get you... I'm not even going to tell you about what happened when someone had to use the bathroom), but I chose not to play because, honestly, there's not much about me that can be described as "stealthy" right now. (For the record, I won the last time we played.)
New Hampshire Assassins
Overall, my kids loved vacation this year, and while Hubby and I didn't get much rest, it was worth it. Magic Baby's favorite part was waking up to a condo full of people every morning, while Big Sister enjoyed the pool, and while I didn't get much knitting done, I was able to squeeze in a baby mitten (cast on during the Olympics and knit for the Ravelympics) and I got to teach my (also-pregnant) sister-in-law how to knit.
Overall, a great (if exhausting) time. And honestly, I can't wait to do it again... in a year... after we've all had a chance to recover.
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