First family vacation

Well we survived our first family vacation. No, we have never been anywhere with the girls. Yes, we went to Turkey with Leyla but she was so little (6 months old) and it was visiting family that I don't really consider that a family vacation. This past weekend, to celebrate my 32nd birthday, we went to Storyland! As with many of the trips I have taken with Mahir over the years, it was scheduled to rain (flashback to 2004 when we honeymooned on Nantucket in the remnants of a hurricane!), so we packed our raincoats, umbrellas, extra towels, and headed out! Amazingly we made it out of the house with a full car by 10:15 when I planned for 10:00 - not bad! We stopped at Fuddruckers on the way north in Reading and had a great time there watching the trapeze school and the water light show that happens in that Jordan's Furniture (never been there before). Then we headed north and made it to Storyland just before 3 PM. We then had an amazing 2 hours visiting Cinderella's Castle where Leyla hugged and hugged and hugged Cinderella and didn't want to let go. It was the most precious thing I've ever seen! Hannah, of course at her age, didn't want anything to do with Cinderella or sitting on her throne! Then we went on a bunch of rides (when I say "we" I mean Mahir and Leyla and a couple of them Hannah joined them). Apparently Mahir has his roller coaster/ride buddy in Leyla and I am guessing Hannah will be the same way since she couldn't get enough of the "shoe" ride where they go around and around and up and down! We fell victim to the tourist trap of buying the picture at the Bamboo Chutes of Mahir and Leyla's faces as they were headed down the flume. Priceless picture I have to tell you. Both that and the picture of Leyla with Cinderella will be posted to Facebook hopefully this week but you know me and posting pictures, so it could be next year! I'm glad we had Friday afternoon at the park because it truly made the fact that we got soaked during our 5 hours in the park the next day worth it. And the smiles on the girls faces despite being wet and cold was also worth it! I definitely learned a lot from this vacation and will do things different next time and do other things the same. The time wasn't perfect as I had planned but it definitely was more than I imagined! I can't wait to go back!