Holiday World

standing in line for a ride

- We decided to do Holiday World our first day and Splashin' Safari the second day. That worked well for us since there was no running back and forth between parks.

- The best advice I think I received was to get a wagon for Jack. It seems like he should be old enough to walk, but after a while, I'm sure the whining would have set in. It was a pain to haul that wagon everywhere, but we couldn't have lived without it.

-Holiday World has earned it's reputation for being super clean and super friendly!

they are holding their King Tut "beards"????

- It turns out that Parker is terrified of roller coasters. Not that he actually ever got on one, but the very thought of going on one made him a nervous wreck. Jack would have loved to have gone, but he's not big enough yet.

-I still can't ride anything that spins around. I tried.

- I lost count of how many times we rode the Ragin' River (or Rapids) whatever it's called.

- I forgot how much time you spend standing in lines at an amusement park. That bites.

- Free drinks is a very good thing.

- It is very fun to people watch while waiting for the rest of your family to get off of a ride.

- It is even more fun to have a phone with internet access while you wait for your family to get off a ride!

Jack insisted on riding this "Indian" boat but wanted Parker with him.

-The second day, we went to the water park. Unfortunately, it was cold and overcast and rained a little.

- Parker and Jack have no interest in big water slides.

- They did have a ton of fun on the smaller slides but they were freezing so they didn't last long.

- 3 nights of no sleep and eating junk took a very unpleasant toll on me. I spent most of our second day running from bathroom to bathroom. UGHHHHH..........

- I hope we can go back to Holiday World when they boys get a little bit bigger and can do more on their own.

- If you are anywhere near Holiday World, I highly recommend it!

- Thanks to Heather for her great local tips and thanks to Angie for giving me 2 tickets!

Wandering Indiana

- King Tut did NOT live up to Parker's lofty expectations. It was very nice--but very formal. There were lots of security guards, well, guarding which doesn't lead to a feeling of relaxation. Everything was encased in glass (of course) and it was dark and moody music played. Don't get me wrong, the pieces were amazing, but Parker wanted to see things that belonged to Tut and there wasn't a ton of that. Of course, he had it so built up in his head that I'm not sure that anything short of Tut himself rising out of a sarcophagus would have impressed Parker.

- The Indianapolis Children's Museum is amazing. We could definitely spend more than a day there.

- My boys never have had an interest in trains. Are they the only boys on the planet that don't care about trains? However, if your kids DO like trains, the museum has a great display.

- We saw a magic show and I kept saying, "Jack, how did he do that!?" Finally, a grouchy Jack said, "Don't say that again. It's magic. That how he did it!"

- We saw our friends, the Fyke's, at the museum and that was a highlight for the boys.

- Instead of taking GPS's advice for the shortest route from Indy to Santa Claus, IN, Travis decided to take another route. The 2 lane, wind-ey, hilly route. It was definitely scenic which was kind of nice.

- At midnight we had to call the front desk and ask them to tell the people above us to quiet down. She called back and said that kids were jumping on the beds and she told them to stop. Do people really have to be TOLD to stop jumping on beds at midnight in a hotel when they are on the 2nd floor!?

- They must, because we had to call again the 2nd night only this time it was 1:30 a.m.

- The complete lack of sleep is a very, very bad thing for a vacation.

I will write more about Holiday World later. There is much to tell.

On vacation. Be back tomorrow.

lovinsanta, are you there!?

This is a message to lovinsanta: Hello there! Our Holiday World trip is fast approaching. I have received lots of great tips from friends who have been there, but I would love to know if you have any "frequent flyer" tips for me! The locals always know the really good stuff! ;-) We will be there next Monday and Tuesday. Several of our friends have said that their kids enjoy Holiday World more than Disney! Seriously! THANKS!

Where else but in blog-land would I "meet" someone who lives right in Santa Claus, Indiana and can give me the lowdown on Holiday World!? Thank you so much for your great tips, Heather (and Michelle)! I'm armed with knowledge and I know the boys are going to have a blast! Yippee! I'm excited--can you tell!?

Tracy's Good Crap

I promised to show the things I "bought" from my sister at our garage sale. I wish I would have taken pictures before the sale because you really can't imagine how much good stuff we had!

This is the whole pile.

I took these two wall pockets, but she had 3 or 4 more of them.

These are embroidered silk curtains. There are 4 panels and my mom made them for Tracy so it's only right that I keep them in the family. They are hanging in my dining room now.

I love the shape of this lamp. I waited and waited and no one bought it so I finally claimed it. I'm kicking myself for not claiming one of the other ones. The baseball throw is for all those cold, cold games we sit at.

In the package are 2 vinyl tableclothes and the rolled up things are table runners from Pottery Barn. Tracy used them for Ryan's fiesta themed 30th birthday party.

I already nabbed her 2 black wall ledge shelf things for Parker's room and these will be going in Jack's room.

Jack also claimed the bulletin board/organizer and I took 3 large picture frames. They have a little beaded detail that I love. The picture of Stella is awfully cute too. Tracy had TONS of large picture frames. The first couple who came to the sale bought almost all of them. Probably because I think they were $1 each!

I took this mirror, but I'm still undecided. If I keep it, I will paint the pine black. Any opinions? It can go back on our next sale if it isn't a keeper.

I also took some grapevine balls and some odds and ends. Tracy took our Power Wheels Jeep and, well, I'm not sure if I talked her into anything else. It is tons of fun to shop her stuff and I can't wait to see what she brings for our next sale! Thanks Trace!

We went to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz

My friend Michelle hosted a Wizard of Oz party for her daughter, Lindsay, today. She thinks of every conceivable detail and makes it special. Check out her blog because you've got to see this to believe it. You will want her planning your next party! That is Miss Lindsay up above dancing on the yellow brick road. Handmade chocolates below and a bowl full of green punch is all that's left of the Wicked Witch!

P.S. You can just barely see them peeking out from under the bowl, but Michelle painted her countertops too with much success. She blogged about it in detail so look around over there to see hers!

The Adventures of Tom and Huck

Meet my own little Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. (We are reading Tom Sawyer right now so I can take the boys to Hannibal this fall--love that place!) We went to a park/nature preserve area very near our house today with the intention of hiking, but when we saw the water, we changed the plan to just playing in the creek. This is actually a very low bridge that almost always has water flowing over it. (You drive right through the water.)
I was thrilled to introduce my boys to the joys of catching minnows! Luckily we had some cups in the car which make very good minnow catchers. Like most fishing, the key is patience so I'm the one who actually did the catching. The water was COLD because it's been pretty cool the past few days. I was worried sick that they would slip and fall, but they were cautious enough to be safe but still had fun.

My cousin, John, and I used to spend all day down at the creek by my grandma's house. We caught minnows in bread sacks and brought them home and put them in grandma's fish tank. We brought a few home two--named Tut and Policeman--so we'll see how long they last!

I love, LOVE, these spur-of-the-moment activities. It's what summer is all about!

Slippy, Slidey St. Louis

The boys and I went to St. Louis to visit my sister, Tracy, for a few days. We had big plans to go to the Butterfly House and one of the city waterparks, but that didn't happen. Luckily, Uncle Ryan had bought a Slip-n-Slide and they had plenty of fun with that. Stella would take a few steps and slip, then get up and take a few more and slip, and so on. She thought it was fun, though. The bugs just eat up her chubby little legs so I made her go in which was not at all fun for anyone.

We also went to Tracy's country club for a day of swimming. It is just so nice there. The best part for me is that a huge portion of the pool is 3 feet high which means that the kids have a lot of room to play without me worrying about them drowning. Not that I really worry about that, but it's just more fun for them to move around.

Right before we came home, I threw out my back. UGH...I hate that! It's more of a huge kink in my lower back that spasms for a day or two. Needless to say, the 3 hour drive home wasn't very pleasant for me. Well, it wasn't all bad because I stopped and got a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts to offset my pain. Mmmmmmm........

Zippity Zoo

A few weeks ago we went to our local little zoo. It wasn't planned but we were driving by and I thought, why not? Our timing was perfect because it had just opened for the day and there was hardly anyone there.

This is an example of the kind of wild animals on display.

There are also snakes, 2 cheetahs, a zebra, some camels, assorted monkeys and birds.....I think that pretty much covers it. It's nothing spectacular but fine for the size of community we live in and I would be sad if it closed.

The highlight of their day was seeing a baby goat that was about 2 hours old. They were the first visitors to see it. Of course, you can't go to a petting zoo without being mauled by a goat.

The highlight of my day was when Jack fell into the zebra pen. One minute he was sitting on the wooden railing posing for a picture and the next minute he was hanging on for dear life dangling into the pen. I dropped my camera and pulled him up. Thank goodness he managed to catch himself because there was a pretty big drop-off AND thank goodness it was the zebra and not the cheetahs! Luckily no one saw our little incident!

Garage Sale Part Two

Whoohoo! The garage sale is over! Altogether, we made about $1000. That includes the profits for the boys, my parents and my neighbors. My portion was about $425 which will be used for something really fun......new garage door openers! Isn't that awful!? Ours are original to our 1975 house and both are broken beyond repair. I will be so happy to have working ones when it's 10 degrees or pouring down rain and I don't have to get out of my van to open or close the doors.
Usually when you have a garage sale, you come away with some good stories about your customers. Some people try to bargain you so much that it is insulting. We really didn't have any of that--probably because our prices were dirt cheap to begin with. I'm pretty sure we sold a whole lot of stuff that will show up on ebay or another garage sale, but that's o.k. Our goal was to clear stuff out. I admit to having major tinges of sadness when all the Little People toys sold. I loved those--probably more than the boys did. I felt like I was getting rid of every vestige of their early childhood. I suppose it's inevitable. Probably the best story is that on Friday, Parker, Jack and my dad set up a lemonade/cookie stand in the front yard. A family came along with a little girl about Parker's age and she was gorgeous. I mean really, really beautiful. She had olive skin and long black wavy hair. She was kind of making eyes at Parker and he took advantage and sold her some lemonade. On Saturday, the family came back. She was looking around for Parker but he was still asleep. We told Parker that she had come back and was looking for him and he blushed three shades of pink. He is wondering if maybe she will go to his school......hmmm.......at least he has good taste.
I'm going to take some pictures of all the things I "bought" from my own garage sale so you can see the "good crap" my sister has. (All weekend, the boys kept saying, "Aunt Tracy has really good crap.")

Our Own Little Pujols

Parker has been playing in the end of season Pinto baseball tournament. They won their first game and played today to get into the championship game. They were playing an undeafeated team that beat them by about 15 runs the first time they met. They played their little hearts out and ended up losing 19-18. It was such an awesome game! I haven't been this excited about a sporting event since I was in college. Parker made a few good defensive plays and hit a homerun! (An infield error induced homerun, but a homerun nonetheless!) You might notice the big red stain on his pants. He slid into home and tore off a scab. He was tough though, just got a bandaid and went back out. We are so, so proud of this team. It's so great that they learned at this age that winning truly isn't everything--that sometimes just playing your very, very best is even better than a W!