A R-V-ing we will go. Our vacation at Lake Rudolph in Santa Claus, Indiana.

A few weeks ago, we took a vacation to Santa Claus, Indiana.  Our family vacation before school started up.

We are here at Lake Rudolph in Santa Claus, Indiana.

 

We drove. And drove. And drove. And Kinley was over the drive about halfway through. Thank goodness for the DVD player and hand-held electronics.

We finally made it, though and the kids were pumped to get inside the RV we had rented. A first experience for them, and me.

The RV sleeps eight with 1 king, 1 queen and 4 twin bunks. The boys were immediately excited about the triple bunks and Liam especially liked how one of the bunks (he claimed as his) was above the queen bed. Kinley got her own private room: the half bath fit her pack-n-play perfectly and we were able to slide the door shut, too.

There are a lot of people here in all different forms of shelter: cabins of a couple sizes, RVs and tents.Prices are listed on the website and vary based on the size of shelter you need.  For the 8 of us, renting an RV here was less expensive than staying in a hotel.  And, it was right next to Holiday World.  The campground offers a shuttle there, running every 20 minutes and picking up from several stops in the campground.  Andy and the boys used that one of the days we were there.   I felt like there was a really community atmosphere at the campground. The employees were helpful and polite. You can rent a golf cart to drive around the site.  The campground has a swimming pool, water slides, basketball court, a lake to paddleboat on,scheduled daily activities,  playgrounds and much more. If there is one thing I will add next time we go, it's more time at the campgrounds to just hang out and do stuff on-site.  The RV we stayed in was clean and the campground was also well maintained.  There are quiet hours at night and, really, I didn't think the area we were in was ever loud and crazy.

We ate out at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in a town called Dale.  The food was pretty good.  There are only a couple restaurants right in Santa Claus.  There is also a grocery store and a Dollar General.  We went to both almost every day.

We came back to the RV and Andy coached the boys in starting a campfire.  That took a while.  Finally, success.

Then, it was time for bed.

Let's hear from Kella!

Kella.  She does what she wants, when she wants.  And, what she did not want to do was answer these questions, even a little.  So, I answered for her based on various conversations we've had.  Here goes...

Favorite colors: purple and pink
Favorite toy:  stuffed animals
Favorite thing to sleep with: blankie
Favorite fruit: banana
Favorite cereal:  anything with marshmallows or honey nut chex with extra honey on top
Favorite dessert: ice cream
Favorite drink: lemonade, Mommy's diet coke
Favorite animal: cat
Favorite books: currently Big Max, Clark the Shark
Favorite tv show: Dora the Explorer
Favorite thing to do outside: swing
Best Friend: Emma

Currently, Kella is changing her mind about what she wants to be for Halloween. So far, she has wanted to be a mermaid, a fairy and a butterfly.  I'm thinking some pretty wings are in her future.

Ready, set, go for school!

School started yesterday (Monday).  The boys liked it enough to go back today.  So, at home now, it's girl time.  The ladies and I are just hanging out.  Yesterday we watched some Wiggles, went grocery shopping for lunch food, at lunch, took naps and then Marcus was home!  I have no expectations to get more stuff done since I just have the two girls at home.  Today, I want to take them to the library in the bike trailer-Kinley's first time.  

Marcus is in 6th grade.  Middle school.  Last week, we took him to his school to try out his locker combination and walk his schedule.  Most of his classes are in the 6th grade hallway except for band and pre-algebra.  (Mr. I-have-a-D+ in- math the last 9 weeks of 5th grade got placed in the advanced math class thanks to his high score on ISTEP) Anyway.  Then, Andy took Marcus a few days later to drop off his school supplies in his locker.  

Meet the teacher night for the elementary and primary schools was last Friday.  I was so happy to get all the school supplies out of our house.  I'm not too sure how excited the kids were to meet their teachers.  

Cale did not want his picture taken.  Tough Cale, I'm your mom.  Look at the camera. Cale will have Mrs. Burkhardt for homeroom and language arts (Marcus had this teacher, too) and Mr. Bullock for math.

Liam, you cannot tell by the picture, was actually pretty excited to meet his teacher and see his classroom.  Liam has Mrs. Goff, the same kindergarten teacher that Cale had.

Ewan has Mr. Clary for his teacher.  Right now, Ewan will be in this class for both reading and math.

Ice cream always makes them happy.

Then, we tried out the school playground.

Marcus was ready to go out to the bus stop about 20 minutes before the bus came.  His bus picks up at 7:05, so he was out there early.  There are, I think, 7 middle school/high school kids at our stop.  Marcus said the bus ride was a lot more quiet than he thought it would be.  

The rest of the boys were out at the stop by 8am.  Their bus picks up between 8:10-8:15.  We are never late because we live right on the corner and the kids are always ready to go in the morning. Liam was super pumped about riding the bus.

 

Well, all the boys at our stop made it, there are 3 girls not in this picture.

Everyone had a great first day!  Liam made it off the bus at the right stop that afternoon.  From what I could pry out of the kids, they all had fun at school.  Liam even ate the school lunch.  I think this will be a great school year!

Liam lost his first tooth!

One tooth down!  Liam lost his first tooth last Thursday. Liam was so excited he wanted to put the tooth under his pillow right away and take a nap.  We convinced him that the tooth fairy comes at night.  He got gold dollar coin and a dollar.  Apparently the tooth fairy was feeling pretty generous.  And, Liam's other bottom, middle tooth is very loose.  I expect another visit from the tooth fairy soon.

Let's hear from Marcus!

I just sent my oldest child off to middle school. I think he was excited to go.  I was not excited to be up waiting for the 7am bus.  Coffee did make it better.  Anyway, back to the birthday questions....let's see how Marcus answered his.  I will say, I gave him the sheet to fill out, and the boy put questions marks down for about half his answers.  *sigh* Here's what I could get out of him....

Favorite color: purple
Favorite toy: cell phone
Favorite fruit: blueberry
Favorite cereal: frosted flakes
Fav thing to eat for breakfast: pancakes
Fav thing to eat for lunch: pancakes
Fav dessert: ice cream
Favorite dinner: pancakes (I guess the boy likes pancakes)
Favorite game: Sonic Colors (his newest Wii game)
Favorite tv show: Phineas and Ferb

Last, sweet day of freedom

We watched tv.  We played some games.  We had Chinese takeout.  We packed our backpacks.  We played at the park.  We are ready. 

School starts Monday morning.

The Muppets took Jerusalem

We've been busy recently. One of the activities that took up this past week was vacation Bible school. This years theme: the Muppets take Jerusalem. Once again, I was asked (nominated) to teach the 2 and 3 year old class. Glorified babysitting? Maybe. I like to think that the kiddos will remember something from the week. 

The theme centered around events that happened during Jesus's last days in Jerusalem and then Pentecost. 

My kids were pumped for VBS. they were asking for weeks when it would start. So, when the day finally came, you can imagine how excited they were. Each day of VBS there was singing, a puppet show talking about the theme of the day, class time, snack time, crafts and a fun out-of-class activity each day. The kids saw a donkey, played with bubbles and did a few team activities. It was a great time.

As in past years, all of the teachers work on decorating their rooms to make them welcoming for the kids and try to keep them with the theme. I had a vision this year of an outdoorJerusalem scene with trees and buildings. Marcus and Cale helped cut out leaves and build the tree trunks and a high schooler took my vision and created an indoor/outdoor theme with random fabrics I bought at goodwill.

And, surprisingly, the room survived the onslaught of 12 2 and 3 years olds.

Part of the stage during VBS, complete with the Muppets. How fun is that?