ok finally, the scoop on storyland!

it was a huge success! the girls loved it, and so did nick and i.

the first ride we went on was the polar coaster. it got mixed reviews from the girls. maggie wanted to get off, but of course you can't get off a roller coaster in the middle, but she didn't cry or anything. and it was a really short ride, so she semi-enjoyed it. i encouraged her to think of it as "fun." now she says she liked it, but she didn't want to do it again. nina immediately liked it, but also didn't want to do it again.

next we went on the carousel, which nina loves and usually is maggie's favorite thing, but she was spooked from the polar coaster still so she sat it out. later, when we rode again, she chose to ride on a bench. maggie is usually our little daredevil, but i guess as she gets older she had a greater capacity to sense danger, and the rides aren't so fun any more. i can't help but be excited about increased cautiousness!

next we took a pumpkin coach ride up to cinderella's castle. that was more maggie's speed. when we got there, cinderella herself was waiting for us!

that was the coolest part as far as nina is concerned. cinderella said hi, asked nina her name, and led her to the throne where they sat together for a few pictures. better than disneyland!!
then we rode on some more rides. nina loved everything, so she rode on some things that maggie sat out. we also stuck to the rides that stayed on the ground. we did try the turtle twirl (like the tilt-a-whirl), but maggie gave it a thumbs down so they stopped the ride (all of the ride operators gave a little spiel before the ride started that if anyone wanted to get off to either flash a thumbs down or raise your hand, and they would stop the ride. very kid-centered).

we ended the day in the corner of storyland devoted to things like the old woman in the shoe and humpty-dumpty. they had a huge ball pit there that the girls LOVED, plus a few more rides (like the teacups! maggie didn't do them but nina and i did, and she loved them.)


by about 3:00 it was starting to drizzle, and we were exhausted (we'd gotten there just before it opened at 9:00. it wasn't crowded either, we never had to wait on a line). so we hopped in the car and drove down to erik and isabelle's, for a weekend with my parents, my dad's parents, and aunt april, uncle thomas, and cousin peter. is it any wonder that we were EXHAUSTED when we got back to maine on sunday? i think i'm still recovering!

(well, i am still recovering from my big scrape. i had to go to the doctor's office yesterday because i was afraid it was getting infected. it wasn't, but the doctor sped the healing along with a lovely debriding and re-bandaging. i told nick, this is officially worse than either of my c-sections. seriously!)