Justin said we should take the kids to Holiday World for one
last little adventure before school starts. We could also use it as a
celebration for Max’s birthday that is coming up. Kill two birds with one stone
as they say. So, it was with the best of intentions that we set off to conquer
the amusement/water park with 4 kids, two of which have absolutely no interest
in roller coasters or rides, nor could they ride them even if they were because
of their miniature stature.
First things first, I know all of you out there with
children have had this thought and some of you (Like me) even say it out loud
in front of your children, “Why do we even go out in public with them?”
We were
only 20 minutes into our drive when Oliver utters those awful words, “Are we
almost there?”
Me: “No Buddy, we’re not.”
O: “How much longer?”
Me: “A long time, take a nap and it’ll go by faster.”
O: “I don’t want to.”
So, this seriously occurred about every 10-15 minutes for
the first hour before he finally did fall asleep.
The drive there was uneventful, which is what you want in a
car trip, albeit boring.
We decided we would stay up there the night before so we
could get an early start and be there right when they opened the next day. Our
little hotel we stayed in was nothing fancy, but it was only a mile from the
park and it had everything we needed to get through one night. As soon as we
walked through the door;
Harrison: “This place smells.”
Max: (Looking out the window) “What a view.” (Sarcastically
as our view is of the parking lot)
Me: “What a bunch of ungrateful little…….(just use your
imaginations, lol)
Justin: “Let’s go get some dinner.”
We decide to eat at the hotel restaurant because it was
buffet style and we figured everyone could find something to eat. Let’s just
say my children were not earning any bonus points with me on their behavior,
although to their defense the food really wasn’t good. I ate because I needed
to, but was less than thrilled on their price and their quality. Ella ate
relatively well; however a vast majority of it ended up on the floor, because she is
fiercely independent these days and wants to do everything on her own.
At this point it was around 7 and there wasn’t much for us
to do so we went back to our room and settled in for the night. This proved to
be challenging because we were all in one room together and there was nowhere
for me to go quietly rock with Ella. She turned into a little tornado and was
bouncing off the walls. She would climb from one bed to another and scream if
someone looked at her cross eyed. Justin and I both looked at each other and
thought it’s not even 8 and we are all going to have to go to bed right now or
this night is going to end like they do in those horror movies you see where
one of the parents just finally loses their shit and goes crazy on everyone
around them. We closed the curtains and turned the tv off and basically all
played dead so that Ella would follow suit and fall asleep as well.
Trying to sleep with a 9 year old who talks in his sleep and
does some type of interpret dance routine while he’s dreaming while at the same
time having your almost 5 year old furnace, I mean son, literally attach
himself to you like a leech makes for a very long night and early morning.
Justin on the other hand seemed to sleep like a baby with his one normal child
that he had in bed with him.
We ate breakfast at a Denny’s because, Hell NO, I wasn’t
paying the outrageous price of the hotel restaurant for blah food and to
witness Ella’s floor art. Denny’s went well and I was optimistic that our day
was going to go smoothly. Boy was I wrong.
The weather had small percentages of rain and so we were so
hopeful it would stay away, but it did no such thing. We spent around 7 hours
in either drizzly rain or an actual downpour. The kids and even Justin didn’t
seem to mind it at all.
But, where my fellow glasses wearing folks at? You
know, how annoying even a sprinkle is when you wear glasses?
Maybe I should
have planned better and brought contacts, even though contacts irritate my eyes,
but I didn’t, so speckly glasses were an all-day look for me.
I was hoping that
it would be at least warm out, but temperatures stayed around 75 all day as
well.
Now, let me just say, the kids did not mind the rain or the
temperature. I’m not sure if that’s because they are half human half hot coals,
but the cold water from the water slides and pools didn’t faze them one bit.
The problem we ran into was that while our two older boys
were finally tall enough to be able to ride any of the rides in the whole park,
the littlest two weren’t anywhere close to being tall enough. That left us having
to split our time up while I would wait with the youngest, Justin would wait a
minimum of 1 hour in line to go on whatever roller coaster the boys wanted to
ride. *Side Note; we thought going on a Monday would mean no crowds…..not true
at all!*
I was able to ride one roller coaster with Harrison, the
Thunderbird. We have been coming to Holiday World every summer for the past, I
think 4 summers, and he has always been too short, last summer he was so close
but still no cigar. This summer he finally was tall enough and I was so excited to ride this one with him and it did not disappoint. About a 30 minute wait for
this ride (which wasn’t bad considering how long all the other rides were) and
the ride only lasts 30 seconds (no exaggeration), but the smile on his face was
worth it.
Which leads me to this very important point, no matter how
awful I may have thought everything was going, my children thought it was the
perfect day, rain included. So our little mini vacation was a success in their
eyes and thus in my eyes as well.
Fun Facts & Tips:
1.
Don’t forget little swimmers diapers, pampers regular
diapers WILL NOT DO THE JOB!
2.
If you notice your little girl squatting and
playing in the wading pool make a quick B-line to her and pick her up before
said regular pampers diapers explode with a poopy soggy diaper mess in the pool.
3.
Just because you can see your little boy playing
and having fun doesn’t mean he can see you, which can then lead to a frantic
freak out because he thinks he has lost you.
4.
This can then lead to a full on melt down where
you have to stop and hold your little boy until he stops sobbing
uncontrollably.
5.
A tiny 1 ½ year
old can pack away the food when she’s being active (She ate a whole foot
long corndog by herself, plus French fries!)
6.
Don’t forget to shave your bikini line if you
know that you are going to a water park. Let’s just say I kept my gym shorts on
over my swimsuit which then led to me having wet gym shorts sticking to my
thunder thighs.
7.
MOST IMPORTANT!!!!! Enjoy these moments even if
they drive you crazy. I know I will miss this.
