Last year with the move and all (yes, it was a year last weekend that we officially moved in!) we had no vacation, so this year we didn’t wait long after the kids were out of school to take off for a few days of family vacay.
We had heard good things about Holiday World in Indiana, so I made a last minute call to see about going there on the Memorial holiday weekend and us taking in the amusements. A neighboring campground had two large RV’s still open for rent so I booked one, a 44-foot long camping trailer with three bump-outs. It sounded like it would work great for us, sleeping eight, seating six at the table, two bathrooms, full kitchen, and we were to arrive the next day.
We got our stuff together Saturday and took off then Sunday morning. We swung by my folks for some cicada fun (unbelievable the numbers of these things and their volume! Caroline was freaking out. They were on everything, including us.) and then to our other folks for a great lunch. And then we landed the mini van three hours later at our final destination, Santa Claus, Indiana.
We cooked out some dogs and brats and burgers.
I find it interesting that I have not shopped at an Osco since my Chicago days, dating back to 1992-95. This lighter fluid is from then.
Not kidding.
Our camping experience was pretty cushy nice, just awfully crowded in the park since it was Memorial weekend. But it was good.
Next, we hit the campground pool for awhile before settling in for the night.
Next day, we hit the water park at Holiday World. And so did 10,000 other people. I can’t imagine there possibly being more people there, but was told by a worker that on weekends in July, they will have 35,000 people. Wowzers.
The water park was excellent! It was so clean and absolutely full of things to keep us all happy and entertained all day long.
And they have some great emergency medical care. Here you see five of Sam’s toes bandaged up within thirty minutes of our arrival.
Rough concrete + little boy enthusiastically running = absence of skin on bottom of toes.
Did I mention the free drinks you can help yourself to, unlimited, all day throughout Holiday World? No worries of dehydrating or spending $100 on a hot day on beverages. Cool. And they have sunscreen stations throughout and you help yourself to that, totally free.
It really is a nicely run place.
You are now looking at the hat that shut down a major water slide.
So, yeah, I lost it on the ride down and knew it had to be there somewhere in the pool of water at the base, so I asked the worker guy if I could look down just to see if I spotted it.
It was like $22 at Kohl’s, you know, irreplaceable!
He then radioed to the top of the three-chute, four-story water slide and next thing I know, the whole thing is totally shut down and the guy hops into the pool of water and was able to fish my hat out. That’s the dedication of the Holiday World worker. And did I mention they’re just all so friendly and clean cut.
And I am glad I was was out of yelling range from all those sweating hot riders waiting on top.
After that, I mostly hung out with Sam while the others went to do more big-kid stuff. He had a blast.
Heck, we all did! There were some things we all could do together, like these:
And then there were many things the others did since they were bigger and more daring, and can I just tell you, Miss Caroline was right there on everything with her big brothers.
One major thrill for all of us, besides Sam, was the Pilgrim’s Plunge, the world’s tallest water ride and I am not making that up. Whoa. 135 feet up, 50 mile an hour drop down.
I might have yelled a little.
On the ride up even.
Freaky, and, whoa.
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We had so much fun, and, yep, some tired, tired kids after our 8+ hours at the super cool water park.
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Rest of Mini Vacay, Part 2—coming soon!
My favorite picture is Sam's "enema". My friend and I took the kiddies to the pool on Friday and her daughter kept doing the same thing. It was hilarious!
ReplyDeleteI'm ready for Part 2!
ReplyDeleteD, it was so funny watching...all the kids did the sitting on the water thing. And all the adults ran their hand through it. I did a lot of people observing.
ReplyDeleteI am not Anonymous. I am the writer of this dang blog that won't let me comment on my comments. ??