Vacation - Day 2 - Holiday World!

After stopping for the night in Kentucky, we drove into none other than Santa Claus, Indiana on Thursday. My sister-in-law, Kelly, had been to this amusement park called Holiday World and it peaked my interest. Sure it sounds a bit hokey and telling people that you are going to Indiana doesn't exactly sound exciting, but it was so much fun!

The park is divided into two areas - an amusement park side and a water park side. We arrived at the park just after 10 AM and planned to leave around 2 or 3 when it was time for a nap. We didn't leave until almost 7 PM - the kids were troopers!!

This is a family-friendly place if I've ever seen one. First, I got in half-price when they saw I was pregnant. Second, they have free drinks all over the park so we never got dehydrated. And, they had free sunscreen in the water park area. How cool is that?

The best part about this park was that they had so many rides that preschoolers and toddlers could ride. I bet there were 10+ rides Kara could go on and 20+ that Levi could go on.

Being over 36", Levi was able to ride several "big" rides. Unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of him on them, but the kid was fearless. Levi is usually very cautious about things, but he went on every ride he could!

The bumper boats were by far the kids favorite. Kara took no prisoners as she zoomed around in the water:

After spending the morning in the amusement park, we changed into our swim suits and headed to the water park. I so wish I had taken some pictures in there - the kids areas were amazing! By far, the best kids water park I have ever seen. Levi & Garet headed to the water slides while Kara & I hung out in the lazy river and toddler areas. It was so relaxing to me because one of the toddler pools bubbled like a hot tub (without the heat) and it felt so good on my back. I just sat there and floated while Kara played around.

We ended the day back at the amusement park - the kids couldn't get enough. I highly recommend this park as a stop. Sure it was hot and I was 8 months pregnant, but it was so worth it to watch the kids have so much fun!!

Then we were off to location #2...

Vacation - Day 1 - Our Anniversary

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times - Vacations are my love language. A few months ago, I planned out a little family trip somewhere new. However, for various reasons I can't go into, the trip did not look like it was going to happen. This past weekend was the absolute last weekend we could go due to Garison's impending arrival and things did not look good.

Garet had been in Hawaii for a week and then home for a few days and then headed out at 4:45 AM last Monday and returned at 11:30 PM on Tuesday. Despite that, he let me start packing so that we could leave on Wednesday after he went in to work. I honestly don't know how he managed to stay awake (especially if you know Garet and his sleep).

Last Wednesday was our 9 year anniversary and I could ask for nothing more than a little vacation. Sure, the actual day was nothing to blog about...work for Garet, a flurry of activity at home packing last minute and getting in a car and driving four hours north. Our "anniversary dinner" was spent at a Burger King (in a gas station no less), but you know what - I wouldn't have changed a thing about it.

Here we were 9 years ago.... surrounded by friends and family...

and we are just as happy now as we were then. There has been a reason this blog has been silent much of this year - this has been a tough, tough, tough year for our family, but I am thankful to say that we are still best friends, still love each other very much and extremely blessed to watch our family expand once again in a few weeks.

So, where did we go? Stay tuned!

PS: I did a much better job last year of commemorating our 8th anniversary. Go here to see our first 8 years together!

Its that time of year!

You may have remembered the video I posted this time last year, and my views have not changed. Today Levi, Kara and I all walked into school very happy. I think the kids were as ready to go back as I was to take them. Kara sat down at her table and looked at me like, "Why are you still here, mom?". It was good to see all of their friends (and my mom friends too!) I could tell the kids missed each other during the day though because they held hands the entire way out of school.

Here's to a great year ahead!