Holiday World 2014

So as I mentioned in my CTM365 post, we visited Holiday World & Splashin' Safari July 17-19.  I had never heard of it before moving to Indiana and although it's about a three hour drive, the park is promoted heavily at home on TV and radio. We had been wanting to go and had talked about it off and on for several years, so when another long-weekend trip we'd planned fell through, we quickly booked our mini-vacation to Holiday World and invited some friends to join us.

Anyway, Holiday World opened in 1946 and has grown into what it is today.  Allegedly TIME Magazine rated The Voyage the #1 Wooden Rollercoaster in the Nation* and in 2013 USA Today proclaimed Splashin' Safari to be the Best Water Park in the USA*. {*SOURCE}I haven't been on THAT many wooden coasters or to THAT many water parks, but I'd definitely hesitate to disagree with those claims.  It. Was. Awesome. We had a blast from the time we got Thursday morning until we pulled away Saturday morning. 

Things that I want to brag on Holiday World for: 
1. Free tea, gatorade, water, soda, and lemonade all day long. Plentiful. Oasis stations at every turn.  Amazing. 
2. Free parking. All the time. 
3. While we didn't use theirs, they do offer free sunscreen stations in the water park. 
4. The water park and amusement park is all offered at one price. The sections are connected and you don't have to leave one to go to the other. It's all one big happy place. 
5. So clean. Immaculate. Lots of shade and just a pretty place to walk or take a look around. 
6. Tons of attractions for the little kids (at least ones that are 36" or taller) - from mild to wild.
7. The food.  We ate lunch and dinner in the park both days along with snacks and everything that we had was GOOD.  Not just so-so but actually really good. And fairly priced.  They miss so many chances to bleed their customers dry but they don't.  It's a refreshing change from any other theme park I've been to. 
8. Everything. All the stuff.  I just loved it and can't wait to go back. 

P.S. Am I getting paid for this mini "review" or was I given tickets? I wish. I just love it that much. On July 24th they announced the next addition to the park - their first steel coaster, the Thunderbird, new for 2015. Definitely ground-breaking and already has me looking forward to our next visit. I can't wait for Theo to get big enough to ride roller coasters -- he is already asking when he will be tall enough. My little adventurer.

Moving on from my new obsession -- how about some photos?  I didn't take a lot and while it stings a little to know that I missed a lot of great photo opportunities, I'm okay with it because I really took advantage of living in the moment and making the most of our trip. I didn't take any photos at all around the water park but my friend was kind enough to share ones that she snapped on her phone with me. 

Someone crashed out during the water park both days! 

Karate-chopping those geysers!

 Thanks, Erin, for the pictures!

Look at these little buddies riding the canoes. Big enough to ride without mom and dad. They really thought they were something -- splashing each other and breaking the rules by not keeping their hands inside the boat!

Just riding some rides:

The first place we ate in the parks (yum)...

not the first or last map study breakout session. 

End of the first night. Gorgeous weather. We got so lucky. 

Dex passed out at the water park Thursday night and I couldn't bring myself to wake him up just to change his clothes so this is how he hung out for about 2+ hours. 

L snoozin' in the camper.  

Obligatory Holiday World posed photos:

I just love looking through all these pictures. I know these are memories that we will always treasure and look back on so fondly.  This post has gone on long enough so I'll shut it down but psst... in case you haven't heard, you should go to Holiday World sometime. 

xo,

~C~

catch the moment 365: week twenty-nine

Another week of summer has zoomed by and this one was filled with fun and festivities - our first trip to a semi-local amusement park, Ryan's birthday. As much fun as we had, there was a shadow of sadness as the anniversary of my father's death passed once again.

Linking up with Mindi from Simply Stavish, Sarah from Nurse Loves Farmer, and Stephanie from Behind the Camera and Dreaming for week 29 of this fun, year-long project.

198/365: July 16th. The night before our road trip down to Southern Indiana to visit Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. Wednesday night before we left, the kids were SO excited.  I don't think Dexter fell asleep until after 11pm. And then was awake before 6am. WHAT.

199/365: July 17th. The sun setting over Holiday World.  I was sitting with Dexter as he slept in the stroller while the others rode a ride or two.  I didn't take a lot of pictures at Holiday World, sadly. But that's alright - I was busy having fun with my babies and friends.  I posted a separate post about our trip.

200/365: July 18th.  We ended our second day at the park by running around and hitting every ride that the kids could ride but hadn't yet.  Loved the lights on their old carousel.  Holiday World has been around since 1946! 

201/365: July 19th. We camped at the adjacent Lake Rudolph Campground and RV Resort in this RV. I took a few pics of the RV inside and out as we were packing up to leave on Saturday morning. I never got around to taking any more pictures that day.

202/365: July 20th. Ryan's birthday. We celebrated at Ryan's parents' house with a little chocolate cake decorated like a watermelon. The boys thought it was too cute.  I figured Nana would have some candles so I didn't bring any but she didn't so we had imaginary ones. It was just as fun. 

203/365: July 21st. Back to life. Back to reality. Bedtime on Monday night.  One word. ROUGH.

204/365: July 22nd. Theo building a Lego creation after we got home from work & the babysitter.

205/365: July 23rd. The 7th anniversary of my dad's death. A few weeks earlier, my friend and I had planned to meet for dinner on this day. All day I was feeling down and having second thoughts but it was a nice distraction and good to reconnect since we hadn't been able to meet, just the two of us, since April.  We ate at Mesh on Mass and I couldn't resist this appetizer that did NOT disappoint: 

MILK AND HONEY CROSTINI: 

CAPRIOLE SOPHIA GOAT CHEESE / BAGUETTE / 

PICKLED BLACKBERRY / SWEET LIFE FARMS HONEY

Favorite pic of the week? Hmm. I can almost taste that crostini when I look at the picture. The Holiday World pictures are probably my favorite though as they represent such fun, new family/friend memories.

Does any one photo stand out for you this week?

xo,
~C~

catch the moment 365: week twenty-eight

I'm not one to complain about summer - ever. But why is it going by so fast?  WAAH!

Linking up with Sarah from Nurse Loves Farmer, Mindi from Simply Stavish, and Stephanie from Behind the Camera and Dreaming.

Day 191/365: July 9th. Just a Wednesday evening playing at home. It starts out like this: "Daddy, will you help me build {insert name of dismantled Lego set here}?"  It ends like this: "Daddy, that's okay. You can just finish it by yourself." 

Day 192/365: July 10th. What time is it, Dexter?  We were out to eat, celebrating the successful completion of a project I had a love/hate relationship: "Frugal June." I really need to write about my attempt to decrease non-essential spending for 30 days. 

Day 193/365: July 11th. My friend's sweet baby boy at the splash pad on Friday evening. Why can't they stay this age forever!?

Day 194/365: July 12th. This photo is pathetic. Saturday was a nice day ...relatively uneventful but not without opportunities to take some nice photos. I just wasn't in the mood. This picture was the only successful {if you want to call it that} attempt to get a picture of all 5 of these wild boys having a picnic.  A picnic with 5 kids ages 4 and under isn't that relaxing, for the record.

Day 195/365: July 13th. Sunday morning bowling. I could feel a cold coming on late Saturday night so while I still felt halfway decent, we took advantage of Sunday morning happy hour at the bowling alley. Ryan and I hadn't been bowling together in YEARS and the boys had never been at all.  It was actually really fun and I was surprised at how much the boys seemed to enjoy it. Dex tired out on the 7th frame but Theo finished his game and Dexter's.  We'll have to go again soon.  Also, the tiny bowling shoes were adorable.

Day 196/365: July 14th. This is the kind of fancy dinner my kids got once the head cold was full-blown and there were 87 gallons of snot in my head. Bologna & cheese roll-ups, applesauce, and shelled edamame.  Cleaned their plates...figures. 

Day 197/365: A couple weeks earlier we went to a friend's house to picnic and swim. It poured down rain on the way there and our picnic ended up taking place on a blanket on my friend's dining room floor.  Tuesday night Theo asked me if we could have a picnic in the living room but it was a gorgeous night so I convinced him and Dexter to take it outdoors. 

I felt like my pictures were a little uninspired this week. I'm sad to not feature at least one nature/landscape shot but it just didn't work out that way. I found myself more than once feeling that me messing with my camera settings and trying to get the right shot was turning into more of a hassle, taking AWAY from the moment, and I just put the camera down.  Do you ever feel this way? 

My favorite picture this week is day 193 - my friend's cute little boy at the splash park. 

Which one do you like best? 

catch the moment 365: week twenty-seven

We've returned to normal life after a crappy run that was divided up over the past two Catch the Moment posts. Woo hoo & yay for good times!!

Linking up with Mindi, Sarah, and Stephanie for this year-long Catch the Moment challenge. I have to tell you -- I had a hard time narrowing down my choices on a couple of the days below. When we've had such a good week and gotten this many pictures that put a smile on my face -- life must be a-okay.

183/365: July 2nd. A friend and I went to a local sunflower patch. I got some wonderful photos and posted some of my favorites HERE.

184/365: July 3rd. Okay, so this isn't a great photo at all.  I took it at about 11:40pm after publishing last week's Catch the Moment post when I realized I had been too busy running around (getting ready for the long weekend) to pull the camera out once all day long.  The polish looked cuter at Target. I didn't realize it was going to look like Queen Elsa had painted my toenails.

185/365: July 4th. "Hey Theo - think of something funny!" This is what I got. Love these crazy nuts. 

186/365: July 5th. Our 11th wedding anniversary and dinner at a fancy (to us) restaurant. We're easy to impress but this place was really nice and we enjoyed sitting in the "silo" with the kitchen view at FARMbloomington. 

187/365: July 6th. The boys discovered a love of cherries over the holiday weekend.  I'll finally be posting our July 4th weekend recap on 7/11 so check back!

188/365: July 7th. A night when I knew we wouldn't be doing anything spectacular so I just snapped a quick pic of the boys watching cartoons while I fixed dinner to get the pic-of-the-day out of the way.

189/365: July 8th. A trip to the park after getting ice cream on a warm summer night.  This is the simplicity and joy that I miss yearn for during the winter.

Which picture do you like best this week? I really don't even know how to choose between the two of the boys (days 189 & 185) versus that nature one (the sunflower on day 183).  I'll just print and frame them all! Yeah right -- is anyone good about doing this or am I a total failure?  At least I've got my blog, right? 

xo,

~C~

catch the moment 365: week twenty-six

OFFICIALLY at the halfway point in this project - I feel like celebrating!

This week of photos represents two very different weeks -- the end of a bad one and the beginning of a new, fresh one.  If anything COULD go wrong the last week of June, it DID go wrong. Something - no, multiple things, went wrong every day and the week just kept getting worse and worse.  Sunday afternoon things started turning around for the better and this week has been great.  Thank goodness.  Glad to bid adieu to the end of the first half of 2014 and move on to the second half.

Linking up with Mindi, Sarah, and Stephanie -- the hostesses of this year-long Catch the Moment photo challenge.

176/365: June 25th.  The boys wanted to go swimming but in the midst of our crummy week, I didn't feel like packing and lugging all our stuff to the YMCA after dinner. They were more than satisfied with the little blow up pool we got for Dexter's 1st birthday. They had fun showing off their jumps. I think the neighbors enjoyed the show too. 

177/365: June 26th.  Twenty minutes before I was going to walk into a meeting, I got a call from the babysitter. She said Dexter had thrown up and had blisters in the back of his throat.  Nine kids had already come down with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease that week so there was really no question as to what was going on.  He was sick the rest of the night but woke up Friday feeling better. Ryan stayed home with the boys. 

178/365: June 27th. After an early nap, Theo woke up late Friday morning blazing hot.  He slept off and on all day between temperature checks and Ibuprofen & Acetaminophen doses.  When I got home at 2:30 I took Dexter, who was feeling much better outside to play.  

179/365: June 28th. Theo's fever continued throughout the day Saturday.  It's so hard seeing him so miserable. It's so hard being cooped up in the house. Especially when one kid feels good and is going stir crazy.

180/365: June 29th. Theo's fever continued through about 1am Sunday morning. He had his last dose of medicine and woke up Sunday fever-free and feeling fine.  He had blisters in his throat too so we thought it best if we stayed home yet again Sunday.  In the afternoon I decided to clean out my car and the boys enjoyed their little pool again, which turned into making mud puddles!

181/365: June 30th. I kept the boys home one more day from the sitter to be on the safe side and worked a half day.  In the afternoon we went swimming with a friend but I didn't even get my camera out.  I realized I still hadn't taken a picture on my way to Target later Monday night. 

182/365: July 1st. Last day of soccer clinics. Thank goodness. They didn't put forth their best effort, let's just say that!  But we had a decent night at soccer (not their worst!) and went swimming right afterwards.

Not a thrilling week in pictures, but not a thrilling week in real life either. I'd have to say my favorite one from this week is day 176 - Theo making a big splash in a little pool!  Which one do you like best this week? Might be a struggle to choose, I know! And not because they are all so fantastic! Meh. 

xo,

~C~