Ending summer with one more trip

The last hurrah for the summer was a trip to Lincoln State Park and Holiday World.  We rented a cottage at the state park which was way cheaper than the RV we stayed in last year, but did not have air-conditioning.  In July, in Indiana, that is roughing it.  Another time, I will post pictures about the state park and stuff we did there.  Our main goal this trip was to go to Holiday World for a day.  I only took a few photos before my phone died.  

The night before.  The cottage had no doors on most of the rooms=when we tried to put Kinley to bed, she could see around the sheet we hung over the door.  Plan "b"=let Kinley try to sleep in a bed with Mommy.  Plan "b" was not a success the first night.  Kinley was having way too much fun trying to climb all over me.  Plan "c"=put her back in the pack-n-play after everyone else had gone to bed.  She was tired and didn't take long to fall asleep.  Although, I guess she did wak up and complain to Andy several times that night.

We got up nice and early and made it to Holiday World in time to stand in line and wait for the gates to open.  Kinley began one of her massive temper tantrums to entertain the crowds while we were waiting.  The lines moved at a decent pace and we got into the park.  At that time Andy and the older boys took off to go ride the Thunderbird, the new roller coaster, and I took the smaller people to some smaller rides.  The first area we went to has rides that remind me of what you would find at a carnival.  They were just the right size for Liam (who rode all he could), Kella (who didn't ride any) and a couple for Kinley (who swung between full blown temper tantrum and happy-just imagine an entire day like that and you will know how Kinley acted this day). 

Kinley got to ride the fish, too.  Angry at first.  Happy for the ride,  Angry to get off.  Sigh.

Liam and the seahorse.

and the up and down ride.  

We made our way to Holidog's Funtown and rode the little train around.

Cool looking Liam.

We made it to Funtown in time to see a music show with people and people dressed like a dog and a cat.  Liam rode the little roller coaster there a couple times and Kinley fell in love with the splash park.

It was so hot that Kinley's clothes dried out quickly.

The three littles rode the canoe ride.

And, that's all the pics.

Other things we did that day:

eat an overpriced lunch in the 1 air-conditioned restaurant

spending the afternoon in the waterpark

Liam rode all the roller coasters he could-he was the right size for all the wooden ones

played in both wave pools

rode a couple water park rides

played some carnival games

We had fun and I can't help but think that next year will be easier because Kinley will be a year older.  And, I think we might spring for the 2 day pass again, just to give us more time and not feel rushed.

Success!  Plan "b" worked the next 2 nights.  I guess the goal is to totally wear out Kinley and then she is good to sleep in a bed.

Va-cay Day 3: Marengo Cave and some more time at Holiday World

It was raining when we woke up the Wednesday of our vacation.  Now, I have been told that that is the best time to go to Holiday World because the rides are all open and there are hardly any lines.  And, if you're going on the water rides anyway, you're going to be wet.  I wasn't sure how Liam would handle being in the rain, so we did something different.

A friend at church had recommended Marengo Cave as a place to go see.  Why not? We would be inside and the kids had never been in a cave before.  

It took us about 45-50 minutes to get there.  By then the kids needed a snack and Kinley was starting to get grumpy (surprise, surprise).  We got our tickets, snacks and souvenirs.  We were hoping to carry Kinners in the hiking backpack, but there's some rule against that.  So, Andy got the privilege to carry Kinley through the tour.  

This cave was discovered by siblings who thought it would be a great idea to crawl into a sinkhole entrance with two candles and go exploring.  I can't imagine.

Our walking tour was about 45 mins long.  There was another tour you could do that was an hour long, but I didn't think we (Kinley) would tolerate that. 

Ready to go.  Like the stair-step look?

There was some pretty cool stuff to see.  There was a little bat right when we walked down the steps.  It was just sleeping on the ceiling.  Then there was a little "lake" at the beginning of the tour.  The reflection was so clear, that the water looks incredibly deep, when, in fact, it was only 2-3 inches deep.  I'll admit, I freaked out and started grabbing kids hands and telling them to get back until I found out how deep the water actually was.

I think the kids thought it was cool.  Andy wants to bring the scouts back down for a trip and possible camping.  The cave has some program where you can go crawling around in some other areas through little tunnels.  I think I would have a panic attack, but I want the kids not to be scared of stuff like that.  The scouts might come.  It would be a good cold weather activity.

We came back to the camper after lunch.  Kinley took a nap, Kella took a rest and Andy and the boys took the shuttle to Holiday World and rode every single water slide in the park.  Even Liam rode all the slides and he had a blast.  They all did.  The ladies and I met up with them in the evening.  We rode the Merry-Go-Round before we met the boys. We spend a little time in Hollidog's Funtown with the kiddie coaster that our kids rode at least 5-6 times.  We rode the bird ride again.  The boys rode the Revolution-the ride that spins you around so fast that you stick to the wall.  Liam rode it and love it.  Then we went to Halloween, where Andy, Marcus and Cale rode the Legend (and loved it and Liam had a fit that he couldn't ride-due to height), all the boys rode Frightful Falls (log ride), Andy and the big 3 rode the Raven and then back to the log ride to wind up the evening.  

I would definitely recommend getting a 2 day pass for Holiday World.  We didn't feel pressured to see all the rides the first day because we knew we would be back the second.  If we had more stamina to spend the entire both days at the park, we would could have ridden more of our favorite rides several more times.  Especially the second day, the lines were almost non-existent due to the weather.

Back to the camper for a super-late dinner and bed.

Va-cay Day 2: Let's go to Holiday World

The first full day of our trip we spent at Holiday World.  We were there for 8 hours and probably could have done more, but the littles were tired and we had a 2 day pass, so we weren't worried about missing anything.

My impressions of the park:  very clean, friendly staff, the free drink stations were great (Pepsi products) and free sunscreen, too.  We went on a Tuesday and the wait for rides was never longer than 20  minutes-even for the "big kid" rides.  Probably our longest wait in a line was just to get into the park.  When we did get in, we immediately went a rented a locker to put our swim stuff in for later.  Then, we started to walk around and see what rides we could see. 

Holiday World is divided into sections by holidays.  The 4th of July section has a bunch of what I would call "fair" rides-rides that reminded me of state fair rides.  The kids did the birds (see pics) and rode some ride that spins you around so fast that it makes you stick to the wall.  We wandered into a little kids area called Hollidog's Funtown that had a kiddie coaster and some other rides we ended up riding the next day.

 The big three boys were tall enough to ride all the rides.  Liam could ride most of them, except the roller coasters.  Kella could ride the tamer rides, with an adult.  All of them, except Kinley and me, rode the Raging Rapids ride.  They loved it.

Then, we made our way to Splashin' Safari, the water park.  We ate lunch there-pizzas and then changed into our swim stuff.  Splashin' Safari is huge.  We only saw, maybe half of it the first day we were there.  We spent some time at Monsoon Lagoon-that had a zero entry wading pool and some slides.  The boys, Liam included went and did a water slide, we did a wave pool and then over to Hyena Falls and some more water slides for the boys while the girls and I found a splash pad to play on.  Liam was able to do all the water slides and there was only one slide that Andy thought they might die on-just because he couldn't hold onto Liam on that one and the tube went up a big wall.  Anyway, everyone survived :-).

We left the water park and went into Thanksgiving.  They have a big boat swing called the Mayflower that the kids got in line to ride, but then the ride broke down, so they never did get to do that one.  The park had it fix in under an hour, though.  

And, then, we walked by the Voyage-the number one wooden roller coaster in the U.S.  The wait line was super short.  "Come on boys!  Go ride it!", I encouraged.  Andy, Marcus, Cale and Ewan all went.  Liam was mad he couldn't go, too.  We didn't wait too long for them to get through the ride and meet us at the end.  I had some very angry looking boys meet me at the exit.  The ride had been a little more intense than I thought it would be and, being their first time on any roller coaster, had scared them thoroughly.  They wanted to leave right then and swear off roller coasters forever.  Uh-oh. Andy, said the Voyage was the best roller coaster he had been on.  We had some candy, rode the merry-go-round and a car ride and then the boys perked up a little.  We ended the day in Christmas at Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch which has a bunch of little kid, fair type rides.  Kella was in heaven and the boys had some fun there, too.  There were no lines, so you could ride the same ride over and over.  How fun.  

We left the park and went back to our camper.  Had dinner, Had s'mores. Put a movie into the laptop for the kids to watch outside (which they did for a while).  And then it was time for bed.  Everyone went to sleep pretty quick that night.

Favorite rides of the day:

Voyage-Andy

Ewan-the Revolution

Liam-rockets, water slides

Kella-the bird ride

Kinley-merry go round

Marcus-just not the Voyage :-)

Cale-the Revolution