Holiday World

Yeah, so I’m running about a month behind in the blogging world… it’s been a little nuts around here lately, with trips to STL, new carpet, ordination services, new jobs, etc… and I have a wicked cold (or my allergies are acting up), so it’s been hard to get motivated to get caught up on my posting.  But I am crazy behind now, so I’m gonna do my best! :)

Towards the end of July, our church went to Holiday World.  It was really kind of a nice set up, we could caravan or drive on our own, and head up whenever we wanted.  Then we had a meal together as a church while we were there, and could stay as long as we wanted.  So it was some good time together, but there was also a lot of freedom.  Which I guess is what you can do when you're taking the whole church, and not just youth! :)  Anyway, we’d never been to Holiday World, and we’re always up for a theme park, so we packed the car and the girls and headed towards Santa Claus, IN!

This park (as the name suggests) is broken up into sections based on holidays- 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.  It also has a water park section, called Splashin’ Safari, kind of like Six Flags in St. Louis.  Probably the coolest thing about how Holiday World is run, is they don’t charge for drinks.  There are all of these buildings with “Pepsi Oasis” signs, and you can just walk in, grab a cup, and fill it up with whatever you want to drink.  So that certainly saved some money!  

Since it had a water park, we had the girls wear clothes and packed swim suits.  Knowing our girls, we should have just put them in the swim suits, because we should have known they’d find water wherever it was… and they did!  We started the day off in a section called Holidog World, which was designed for kids.  It was like a giant jungle gym/play place, with a big water mat/sprinkler in the middle.  Yeah, guess where our girls were… the sprinkler!  They went straight in, clothes and all…

We left this area for a little while, and went off to see what kinds of rides Laney could ride.  We found this bird ride first, and she was all about it.  So, she and Daddy hopped in.  I thought it was hilarious that she made him sit in the Jayhawk colored bird…

While we were at the birds, we ended up running into Pastor Nathan, his wife, daughter, and granddaughter, Angel.  Angel is about the same age as Laney, so they are, of course, immediate best friends.  Cara (Angel’s mom) wanted to do some big kid rides, as did Josh and I, so we passed the kids off to Nathan and Tammy, and Cara, Josh, and I hit all of the roller coasters.  And, let me tell you, there are some roller coasters at Holiday World!  They are all wooden, and they are really long.  The Voyage, in the Thanksgiving section, was the first we rode, and was my favorite.  It just kept going and going, underground, up huge hills, around corners… it was crazy.  Anyway, after some grown up time, we went back to relieve Nathan and Tammy, and found our girls absolutely soaking wet.  So we just gave in and changed them into their swimsuits.  Next time, just swimsuits and shorts! :)

We stayed around Holidog World until it was about time to eat, and I think the girls could have stayed there forever…

MUCH happier to be in a suit!

There was no off/on with these sprinklers… it was just on all the time!

Every half hour or so these characters would come out and do a dance for all the kids… Laney LOVED it, and by the 3rd or 4th time she saw it, she worked up the courage to go talk to them.  Of course, she liked the girl in the sparkly dress the best!

Loved that my girls played together and had a blast!

We stayed in this part of the park until it was time to go to our church meal, which was actually really good.  After the meal, we headed off to Splashin’ Safari to enjoy the water park.  I didn’t take a single picture, seeing as how there was water everywhere, but OH MY GOSH did the girls have fun!!  They had a kids area with probably 6 or 7 little slides, and both girls just went crazy for it.  Audrey made the lifeguards nervous because she just kept sticking her head under water, coming up sputtering and spitting, and doing it again!  It was a walk-in pool, with the water under the slides still only 2 or 3 feet deep, so Laney just paddled around to her heart’s content.  It was an awesome time, and I’m going to have to make sure I keep my camera closer next time (it was in the stroller, which we parked near the front, before finding the slide pool all the way in the back of the park).  Our kids are such water babies…

Anyway, by the time we all played on the slides and in the water for another couple of hours, we were wiped and ready to head home!  We stopped on the way out for a treat (Laney chose a chocolate covered apple, with sprinkles, of course) and to let Laney ride a few more of the kid rides, which were all in one place by the exit, and had no lines. 

Meanwhile, Audrey worked on Laney’s apple…

Further proof that Laney is Josh’s daughter (as if there was any doubt by now)… this little girl was standing next to her in line, and Laney just decided that they were going to ride together… and promptly started “helping” (aka, bossing) her!

Instant best friends! :)

P.S. Chocolate apples are delicious!

Our last ride, the seahorses (that is one tired and happy kid).

And we were headed home, exhausted, a little sunburnt, and happy!  It’s a bout a 2 hour drive home, so by the time we got there, our little girls looked like this:

And NOBODY MOVED when we unloaded them and put them to bed.  They were totally worn out!  So, overall, Holiday World was a lot of fun, and definitely worth a return trip!!