Mister and His Sister: Holiday World

Okay, I know not everyone reading this blog will want this much detail but this is also our family photo album...so bear with me. We went for our first family overnight trip to visit friends this weekend. What a blast. We went to Santa Claus, IN. It's 2 hours from here on the Indiana/Kentucky border. We visited the Wilson family. We met Josh and Amy Wilson in Indianapolis about 8 years ago and they have twins, Abbey and Eli who are 5 years old. They moved back to Santa Claus after having the kids and we miss them bunches :) For all of you from northern Indiana, Holiday World is an awesome amusement park. Obviously, it's focused on holidays, mainly Christmas, and also has a water park called Splashin' Safari.

Here, we are walking into the park. I just thought this picture was so cute.

Our first stop was the Christmas section of the park. Ty's first park ride ever- Blitzen's Airplanes! Eli was a great pilot.

Abbey went straight to Reindeer Games. I think she's quite brave. She even went on it again without Josh right after this. She had her "shoe lifts" in so she could get on this ride :) What a hoot!

Ty loved Thunder Bumpers. It took him almost the whole ride to figure out that he was actually able to drive the boat. At first, he was just spinning around and around. By the end, he was crashing into Abbey and Eli.

Wouldn't you know that Santa was there! The kids got off of the bumper boats and couldn't believe their eyes. What luck! Santa on a 95 degree day in July! Only in Santa Claus, IN. Ty was such a big boy following their lead. Last year at Christmas he was afraid of Santa. Not this time...he ran right up to him and gave him a big hug.

Well, since I'm a wimp I suggested we head to the water park next. Some of the water rides were so big I would never ride them. I was impressed. We stuck with Crocodile Island (not pictured) and Bahari- the huge wave pool. Again, Ty was such a big boy. He was a swimming fool. Up until this point, he was scared to swim. Even in our yard he wouldn't sit in the pool. But with Abbey and Eli with him, he was actually going down slides and jumping waves with me. How old does he look in this picture? We didn't get any pictures of his favorites- Crocodile Island and the Zebra slide because Keith was swimming with Ty, Josh was with the twins, I was busy with CJ and Amy wasn't there yet. Cameron was having a rough time. She got a rash, it was really hot, and we headed to first aid to have it checked out. She was fine and we cooled off. But, we missed some fun picture opportunities. Believe it or not, we did run in to Keli Lanyi on our way though! I couldn't believe it. So, I guess it was meant to be.

When we got back, Amy was there and Cameron took a nap. So, Ty and I got to jump waves while Keith took pictures and a lunch break.

Then, we ate lunch. Eli was so good at sharing his cookie with Ty. Ty earned his middle name (Foster) by eating his dessert first like his great-grandma always did.

Yummy cheese, right out of the container!

Then, we went to the Thanksgiving section of the park. This was an indoor, air-conditioned ride. It was slow, dark, and lit up. You "shot" turkeys. They didn't call it that, but that's what you did. Ty and I sat in the front of the car. You can see our scores. I got 240 and Ty got 30. Keith sat behind us. Even as he took pictures, he got almost 1200. 1200 was the "Master" level. He's so cool. I think he even beat Josh.

I could not ride this one so Amy stepped up-The Turkey Whirl . Keith and Josh went to go get on a big roller coaster at this time. I was afraid it would give me an immediate migraine. I was really nervous Ty would get scared, but he loved it. Shocked! CJ, Abbey, and I watched. Eli was so funny because he had a face the whole time like he might puke. Ty was holding on for dear life and couldn't keep his head up straight.

Keith and I thought this picture was funny because Ty is hidden behind the turkey head.

This was the real crowd pleaser-Raging Rapids . Another family the Wilson's knew joined us. Brian, Amy, and Cameron sat out but the rest of us got to go on together. Ty had watched the rides on the website all week and this was the one he wanted to ride the most. Super Amy somehow got our picture and changed Cameron's diaper. Keep in mind she was wearing a swim diaper and a suit. She's amazing and we were so thankful she gave us the opportunity to ride some rides together. Ty got a face full of water on this one and just laughed it off. It was my favorite for sure. We got off and went right back on again.

After Raging Rapids, the moms and kids decided we should get home for dinner and bed while the dads stayed to ride the roller coasters. On our way out we got a little distracted with games and food. Oops! Here, Abbey played the duck game and the boys played Milk Jug Baseball. They all got prizes.

Dinner at Kringle's Kafe. Cheeseburger, pop, fries, cookie...yum, yum. I love that there is a fly on Ty's forehead in this picture too. After dinner, they had Dippin' Dots as we walked to the car.

Yes, Cameron was there too. :)

After we got home, Ty tried out the Wilson's Wii. Both kids stayed up later than they ever have in their lives. I think Cameron stayed up until 8:00 or so and Ty until 9:30pm! He had to stay up until the twins went to bed so they could have a slumber party and they're almost 6 years old and on central time so it was quite a chore. He did it though and they he had his first slumber party.