Monday, October 18, 2021

Home from Utah! Amherst, Storyland and Diana's Baths (Aug 17th)

When we got home from Utah (without Tim and Aaron), we had a small family for 2 weeks!
Was it a relief?  Yes.  Yes it was.  Less kids is less kids.
Thank you for the millionth time to our families for spending time with our boys in Utah.  They LOVED having that special time with you. It was the highlight of their life, seriously!

Back at the ranch....

We attended a pool party

Looked for dinosaurs in eggs

Went to the town beach

Tried Janness Beach for our first time.  Beautiful!


Visited Benson Park in Hudson with friends
These were the cages for the monkeys when the park was a zoo/amusement park.

We saw so many snakes, frogs and turtles!
The Little's have great eyes for finding them

The old women's shoe
C.C. and Tearsa


The Bear House is still there.

Jumping around

We had Henry over on the day he moved 
so that his mom and dad could focus on packing and cleaning

I took the Littles to the parks in town so that their mom could help at YW camp, 
and their dad could work.


Scott had work to do in Amherst MA, so we tagged along and visited the Springville Museums.  It was free museum day, so we got their early and toured 5 museums there!

The Dr. Suess Museum was the one we were most excited about!


Oh the Places you'll Go!



Thing 1 and Thing 2.....and Thing 3 and 4




We got to meet the Cat in the Hat

Ai Wei Wei exhibit
Very interesting.  One part had a big pile of sunflower seeds.  We soon realized while watching a movie that they were not real, but porcelain handpainted to look like sunflower seeds.  He had locals do that work and brought economy to the area where he commissioned the painting.

The Asian art area

The next day we visited the Eric Carle Museum


It was small but very cool

We got lunch at a market up the street

It was a very very hot day, but we managed to get in one more stop.  The Yiddish Book Center

You can learn Yiddish words.  Many words are similar to German, but spelled differently.

The books here were saved by college students.  
They got so many books that they started this special library to house them and protect the Yiddish Language from being forgotten.


They had a great video display with interviews and you could hear what life was like for children when they were young and what their culture was like for them.

I had to tell Cora why the language almost died off....because 5 million of the Jews killed in WWII were Yiddish speakers.  She was horrified and asked if she was a bad person because she was born in Germany.  Of course not!  But we can learn from the awful history and try to help things like that not to happen again.

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the pool and chillin in the hotel room

Yes, having 2 kids was nice for a couple of weeks.  We fit into a normal hotel room for one thing. :)

But we were so excited to have Tim and Aaron back, to hear all about their adventures in Utah.
We got the house all ready for them, their room perfectly clean and beds washed and made.
It was a wonderful reunion.

For Christmas Stockings last year the kids got a ticket each to Storyland. 
We've been looking forward to checking it out all year.
It's a themed park that is 100 years old in the NH White Mountains that depicts many fairy tales.
This is the "old woman who lived in a shoe."

This is Mary's Little Lamb and Schoolhouse

This is Mother Goose telling her Rhymes

This is the entrance to Cinderella's village.

Pirate ship ride

Cora became the Captains "First Mate" and got a sticker for helping

Ollie and Aaron in the pumpkin carriage

Cora did not want Tim in the picture

Visiting Cinderella - here is her glass slipper

She was very kind and patient...and COVID safe

The Polar Express

Oliver and Cora enjoyed this little roller coaster.

However, the "Roar-o-saurus" coaster was TOO SCARY for Ollie! 
He was sorry he tried that one.  It went REALLY fast!

Approaching Cinderellas Castle
(This was the most picturesque spot in the park)

You could ride up or down the hill to the castle in the pumpkin Coach

We went on a dinosaur safari ride



Ollie got stung by a yellow jacket while we waited in the sunny line.  
He was happy that they brought him a bandaid after the ride.
He was a real trooper.  It hurt, but he didn't cry, he was just visibly bothered.

This ball shooting gallery was a big hit!
I had to drag the kids out

Bamboo shoots (log ride) was a big hit with everyone!

It was fun to see these happy faces on the rides


Heidi's grandfather's cabin

The end of the day "We're tired!" pics



Of course, true to form, I made the kids do "One more thing" after the park closed and visit Diana's Baths.  It's been on my list forever and was only 15 minutes from the park.






It was pretty, but very similar to Franconian Falls and closer to the road, therefore, more people.

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