2 Days at Holiday World

After our day of zoo fun in Evansville, I had to come back to Newton to shoot a wedding, but then first thing Sunday morning after church, we were off again. This time we grabbed Kaitlin too and headed off to Holiday World.

We arrived about 1:30 and the kids were so excited.Rodney was pretty pumped up about it tooOf course we had to get our pictures taken with Santa before we did anything else....We headed right into the Reindeer Ranch which is just full of little kid stuff. I think RJ was mostly too old for this stuff, but he'll do anything. He just smiled and loved it.Here he is showing off his new Darth Vader shirt I got him for school.(I just love these things!)This is the miniature version of that crazy ride that lifts you and drops you. RJ was tall enough, so he headed on. Heidi was SO MAD that she couldn't get on too.I don't think he opened his eyes the whole time he was on the rideNext was the bumper boats. I do think that cheered Heidi up a bit more.Next Rick and Kaitlin headed over to the Raven. RJ was just a hair too short. (he was very upset, because he loved all the roller coasters at disney) I took the kids to see the dive show while the other two went on the Raven.The kids LOVED watching this show and were just amazed. Rick and Kaitlin came back and Kaitlin and I headed back to ride the Raven, while Rick stayed with RJ and Heidi (still watching the dive show).

I may have cursed a bit. I hate rides. I don't know why I even went on it to be honest. Not good. The people in front of me, had to have been offended.Heidi's favorite part of the dive show was when one of the divers lit herself on fire before jumping. She is still talking about that.After the Dive show, the divers posed for pictures. We wanted one, but didn't know if you had to have permission or what.

2 kids that I am going to name Billy and Susie were having pictures taken, so we just jumped into theirs. I'm sure they were irritated having us in their pictures, but we didn't mind having Billy and Susie in ours.Next we headed for Frightfull Falls (the log ride). The kids LOVED the log ride. We ended up riding it 6 times. We kept switching around who rode with who and who was in the front

Kaitlin, RJ and myself ended up figuring out a system to get RJ super wet each time, so that was really funny.Rick and Kaitlin rode the Legend while the kids and I enjoyed the free softdrinks. I ended up riding this ride later. Really, no idea what I was thinking. I didn't like it and won't ever ride it again.

mmmmmm, free soft drinksWhile Rick and Kaitlin were still on the Legend, RJ and Heidi and I tried to find the antique cars, and got lost. So we rode the fish at Salmon RunAnd this little canoe ride, which they rode 3 times because no one was in line.We finally found the cars, thanks to Rick and Kaitlin finding us and taking us there. The kids really enjoyed being able to drive them themselves.....Then we headed to the little Holidog area.While RJ ran around the playground area and played, Heidi sat and watched Holidog and Safari Sam put on a show. She really enjoyed that.After the Holidog show the kids ran through one of those sprinkler fountain areas and cooled offThen they got to meet the real live Holidog.RJ forced me to go on the death trap that Holiday World likes to refer to as, Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. I almost puked, and RJ hated it. It took me an hour for my stomach to feel normal again.Then we headed off to Raging Rapids. Both of the kids loved it and we ended up completely soaked. There was NO ONE in line and so we ended up riding it 5 times.After our 5th ride on the Raging Rapids, we headed up the road 10 miles to the hotel to spend the night.

We ended up ordering Papa John's and after an hour and half, and 6 phone calls to the pizza place, we got cold pizza and paid half price. I wasn't too nice to the 50 year old delivery guy when he had an attitude because I didn't tip him (after our pizza was an hour late). I ended up having to tell him to leave our room. He was a jerk. Really, I know I would have ended up being way meaner and not having to pay for the pizza at all, if the kids wouldn't have been watching.

We woke up on Monday morning and ate breakfast then headed to Splashin' Safari.

I had even bought a fat lady bathing suit just for the occasion. I think it was really nice and respectable. Little did I know that everyone at holiday world wears 2 pieces, regardless of what they weigh. After I saw that, I was very proud of my suit.

This was my first opportunity to try out my fantastic waterproof camera housing that Rick gave me. All of the pictures from here down were taken with it. I loved it. It didn't leak at all and it was completely in water for most of the day.

We all enjoyed floating on the lazy rivers (splashin safari has 2 of them) I think total we ended up going around about 6 times between the two of them.

Monsoon Lagoon.....Heidi splashing meRJ loved the water slidesSo did KaitlinAll 5 of us rode the zoombabwe. I thought Heidi would be scared, but she LOVED it.Then while, Rick, RJ, and Kaitlin headed over to ride the Rapid Racers, and the Ottorongo water slides, Heidi and I headed in to the Jungle Jets. She had so much fun running everywhere.We ate pizza for lunch and then headed over to the wave pool. Perfect opportunity to take underwater pictures.

I took this one of KaitlinShe returned the favor by taking this one of me. :)Rick looks the same in the water as he does out of it.RJ really wanted to be smiling for hisHeidi had her good moments and her bad moments in the wave pool. This was after she got water in her mouth from a wave. Honestly, if I would have gotten the water in my mouth, I probably would have reacted the same way.After the wave pool, and other slides and playgrounds, we headed to Kimba Bay. Now I don't have any pictures from there, but I do have a story.

Kimba Bay is a big giant chaotic mess that kids love. It would be a predator's dream. So easy to steal a kid if the parents weren't watching. Of course, we had 3 adults, and 2 kids, so we did okay.

While RJ, Kaitlin, and I rode a big giant purple water slide that Heidi was too little for, Rick and Heidi played with all of the other things there were to do. This is when he witness the single handed most memorable/disgusting thing of the entire trip.

A 10-12 year old boy ran over to an area where there weren't a bunch of people, (which is why Rick and Heidi were over there), and the kid sat down in the water and proceeded to URINATE.

A giant puddle of yellow pee formed and then started floating away. Rick said he started screaming, "HEY, THIS KID IS PEEING!"

I so wish I would have been there. I would have drug the little soon-to-be felon to a life guard and had him thrown out. gag. Now I know why Heidi was screaming when she got water in her mouth.

That was where we drew the line for the day. It was time to head home. Before we left, the kids enjoyed some dippin' dots, which is hands down their favorite ice cream.Heidi took a nap on the way home, so Kaitlin and RJ were entertaining themselves in the backseat. RJ loves it when she blows bubbles. He tries to pop them. I especially love his finger sneaking into the side of this picture.We had a really good time except for the nasty pee-ing kid. Kaitlin had a super good time too and we were glad she was able to go with us.

When we got home Rick and I were being big babies about our sunburns and RJ took our picture laying on the bed. Rick hates this picture because he is making a stupid face and he says he looks like he has side fat because he is laying sideways......BUT it's the better one of me, so I am posting it with the disclaimer, he face doesn't usually look like that and he doesn't have side fat. (there Rick, now you should be happy)

:)

-a