Young & Old

Nothing like 2 days at an amusement park to make you feel old.

After you’re done being young again first, of course.

Just a couple hours from where we live is Holiday World, an amusement park and water park featuring wooden roller coasters, amazing water rides, and all the free drinks and sunscreen you could need for the day. I had won a pair of tickets from a radio station, and we got to talking about it, and decided we could totally swing a two-day adventure.

(Note- the kids are now old enough to keep up, no wagons/strollers/regular breaks required. Day two was great, and we were able to hit a couple of rides we didn’t do on day one, but we could probably do just one day going forward and be totally cool about it.)

The crew is officially ALL tall enough to ride the good rides! First things first, we were headed to roller coasters, where we had to decide how to split up to ride. (Three kids + two parents = one sad solo rider.) E was the big man on campus who stepped up to the plate and rocked the Raven. Big thanks to the sweet teen girl who rode with him. J was on his own for the Legend, and decided to sit out on the Voyage. My girl? Totally brave, totally rocked the rides.

We hit some other goodies in the main park, and as the day got hotter, we were more drawn to the water. Due to the extreme wet that goes with huge waterslide, wave pools and splash zones, I have exactly zero pictures from in the water park. I think M summed it up best when she announced “That was AWESOME!!!” after her first run on one of the slides she was to little to ride on our last visit.

Several hours of water park play was followed up by a meal and a lap or two around the Bahari River. As Splashin’ Safari closed for the day, we changed clothes and headed back to the main park, where we stopped and played the giant crane game.

We ended up with two Minions, but no fluffy unicorn, so we got a weepy daughter. Sigh….

Ok, without further ado, a slew of other pictures from our mini-vacation!

1. Daddy & Jeep driving the cars
2. The kids with Holidog
3. Daddy & Eli as Hoosier Superheroes
4. Eli & Jeep on The Hallowswings
5. Daddy and Melissa driving the cars
6. Melissa & Yours Truly on the Sparkler
7. Our very tired, sweaty family
8. My whole world in front of me
9. Satisfied, exhausted children with the loot they scammed outta me as we prepared to leave the park and head back home.

We walked a LOT. We climbed hundreds and hundreds of steps. We rode coasters that rattled our brains, and waterslides that left us laughing and gasping for breath.

And yep. That. Was. AWESOME.

How are you wrapping up summer and getting ready for back to school?