Pemigewasset River

My favorite part of our New Hampshire vacation was the time we spent climbing and hopping across the rocks in the Pemigewasset River.  I have to give my husband credit for this because it is certainly not something I would try without him.

Who needs a plastic toy phone, when you can chat and text via rock phone?

R was playing the role of The Little Mermaid.

Some fool decided to throw a huge chunk of metal in the river.  So annoying.

I took so many pictures of this excursion; it really was a lot of fun.  T, C, and R are great rock hoppers! 

Lost River - New Hampshire

The powerful forces of water, wind, weather and time worked together to create Lost River.  We love to follow Lost River as it appears and disappears through the narrow steep-walled gorge, the tumbled granite crevasses, caverns and falls.  Lost River is always on our to do list when we visit New Hampshire.

Here is T entering the Lemon Squeezer.  There is a gauge at the entrance of the cave for people to try before attempting to enter the cave.  I was the only one who did not go through the Lemon Squeezer.  I can fit, but claustrophobia won and I backed out in a state of panic. 

We had a great time crawling through some interesting caves.  The views are spectacular too!

New Hampshire Amusement Parks

We spent a few days in New Hampshire, and we are still recovering from all of the fun.  Even though we had three days at home between our New York trip and the New Hampshire trip, I think we are all worn out right now.  Both trips were fantastic though, and I am so happy we were able to have so much fun! 

Speaking of fun, we visited two amusement parks while we were in New Hampshire:  Santa's Village and Story Land. 

All of the rides at Santa's Village have a Christmas theme, and they have fun names too.  In these pictures you can see the Pixie Mix, Loopin' Louie's Flying School,and the Christmas Carousel:

We really enjoyed visiting and feeding Santa's reindeer:

The Story Land rides were a lot of fun too.

When I was a child, there were not many rides at Story Land (it is so much better now), but I remember posing for a photograph in front of this big yellow shoe.  The Old Woman in the Shoe is inside to chat and tell you about all of her many children!  You can see her sitting in her rocking chair in this photo.

I was not leaving the park without a photo in front of the Story Land statue at the entrance.  R was a bit out of sorts at this point so she has a grouchy face!  I usually take this picture when we arrive at the park, but we were anxious to get to the rides.

I have to mention that T was a very good sport at both amusement parks.  He is 13 and definitely too old to really enjoy these parks, but he never complained.  He happily took C and R on all of the spinning rides that my husband and I prefer to avoid!  T is a great big brother (and a great son too)!

He Paints Again!

You may have read that C had sworn off painting due to the messy/sticky factor. Well, I don't know what happened but he decided to make a pumpkin and he did all of the painting himself! I was so happy.
We made pumpkins as part of our Fifty States Project. The pumpkin is the state fruit of New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Pumpkin

The pumpkin is the official state fruit of New Hampshire, our current state of study for the fifty states project. R made this simple pumpkin craft.

Directions:

1. Stuff a paper lunch bag with crumpled newspaper
2. Wrap a rubber band around the top to create a stem
3. Paint the stem green and the body of the pumpkin orange (as you can see, R got tired of painting so there are quite a few blank spots)

This craft is perfect for the season, and I would love to tell you that I planned it this way but I just happened to luck out.

If you are wondering where C's pumpkin is, he decided that he is not painting anymore because it is too messy. I am hoping he changes his mind, but I can't say that I am optimistic because he will not use glue or eat maple syrup simply because of the sticky factor.

The Granite State

We have enjoyed learning about the state of New Hampshire.


Good Night New Hampshire by Adam Gamble and G is for Granite, A New Hampshire Alphabet by Marie Harris are the books we read. C and R were surprised to learn that the windiest spot on earth is at the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. A wind speed of 231 miles per hour has been recorded there. You can find this fact, and many other great facts about the most extreme places on Earth, in the book, Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest by Steve Jenkins.

Since that fact was so appealing to C and R, we conducted our own wind experiment.

R covered a piece of cardboard with petroleum jelly. There was no way that C would ever touch something that slimy and sticky.


We hung the cardboard from a tree limb on a windy day and left it there all day to see what might be blowing in the wind.


It is not easy to see, but there were seeds, specks of pollen, and even a few insects on our cardboard. Hmmmm.....C and R were not the least bit impressed with this experiment.