Random Pics

Some pictures from the last few days, since I've been busy posting about Holiday World :)


Picture 1: I went with my husband on a house call (he's a mechanic), but I really couldn't help with anything so I finished the book I was reading while he and J worked on the truck. At one point Molly & I actually thought the truck's exhaust pipe would blow up!!

The book is Grisham's "The Street Lawyer." I enjoyed it but I decided it wasn't good enough that I'd want to read it again so it went to the donation pile.

In case you're wondering, here's Molly: 

Molly is a sweet silly (and ridiculously skinny) boxer. She's only a few months old.

The next picture is of two mourning doves that were resting on my clothes line (which my husband sealed with a black sealant, so it looks painted ~ he also relined it for me. Hooray!) 

These doves just sat there as I got close enough to touch them! They didn't leave until I actually started putting clothes on the line.

The next picture is virtually uninteresting but I was depressed because I had to cut all my nails off (they kept breaking and turning into sharp ragged claws that Wolverine would be afraid of) so I posted this picture to Twitter. Thought I'd share it here, too, because why not?

This photo is my empty pool. Empty...in July!!! Our house is on a slope, and the way we had the pool before the water couldn't reach the filter, so we had to empty the pool and rotate it so the filter would be "downhill." I took this picture while I was deciding if it was worth it to refill it at all. There's less than a month before school starts. In the end I decided at least I would be enjoying it, even after school is back in session, so I've spend the last three days (four, if you count today ~ but it's almost done) filling it.

Here's a pic I took in attempt to capture the gorgeous sunset we had in our little town. I only had the iPod, because I was on a walk with the Mr. He keeps the pace up pretty high so I'm not interested in hauling around the heavy Canon ~ especially because he won't tolerate my stopping to get a photo, haha. So this was my iPod's relatively pathetic attempt. It didn't come out well:

It did even worse at trying to get my face and the sunset LOL

But whatever. I may try bringing my phone on the next walk. It has a much better camera on it then the iPod, and I should really get used to using it more often since the storage on the phone (with my little SD card) has close to 32 gigabytes and the iPod is only a lowly 16.

Least of all photos is my "before" photos. My husband and I are attempting to quit sugar (there's sugar in nearly EVERYTHING so in reality we are just trying to quit all extra sugar ~ we are also reducing the amount of pasta we consume....it's kind of a mini-Atkins lifestyle change [No, it's not a diet]) and I decided a "before" pic was in order. I will do my husband soon, but I have to set him up with a Wii Fit Plus account to get his start weight. Mine is 173.8 (down from 178, but 173 is the start weight for my quitting sugar). People harp on me for complaining about 173....but according to my doctors (and the Wii Fit Plus) I should weigh 119. I'm not aiming for any particular number at this point....but there's some things I just cannot do at the size I am, and it would be nice to get rid of some of this gutfat (some call it a spare-tire, I think it's just after my last baby was born I started filling up the space the baby left).

For the record, I still FEEL like I weigh 125 and I look pretty good for being over 50 pounds overweight. ;)

My poor van, which is in poor health, went to 200,000 miles on our way home last night. I'm silly and find such things interesting, so I took a couple photos.

 FYI we were on the freeway, where the speed limit is 70mph, so don't judge the red needle ;)

And lastly (finally!) a photo of my ridiculous tortoise. I put this bowl, full of hay, in his tank for him while I was on my trip to Holiday World (we hired a kid to turn his lights on in the morning and off at night). He started sleeping in the bowl, and he STILL does it, even after all the hay is gone!! He does not look comfortable to me, but he sleeps there every single time he naps, so I guess I'll leave it in there and just fill it up with hay for a bed for him. Who knew tortoises enjoyed comfort??

We love you, Igor.

Last Holiday World Post (this year, anyway)

Finally we went to the kid's area of Holiday World, where we enjoyed a train ride touring different "Mother Goose" Nursery Rhymes.

Here's a good shot of B's awesome fishtail braid:

A shot of us old married people ;): 

A quick shot of the train:

 A really good shot of B enjoying the train ride:

And the last ride I had never had the privilege of riding before: The Howler.

The Howler is a roller coaster designed for little kids but adults can ride it also. Now that I've ridden it (with G) I can say I have ridden every single roller coaster in the park.

 Another shot of the train.

G and I on the Howler! 

B and Z on the Howler :)

Then we went to the little kid cars, where the kids can feel like they're actually driving even though it's impossible to get off the tracks. Most kids use this ride mainly as a reason to "spam" the horn button. I rode with G:

G ended up doing a great job as driver!!

You can't tell from this picture, but B ended up driving with her feet (!!!!!!) and Z did nothing but text while driving. A biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig no-no for the real world. I informed them that G was a better driver than any of them LOL.

So I don't have any pictures from the water park area (Splashin' Safari!) because I did not purchase a camera that could get wet. Maybe next time. The water park is super fun but there is a lot more waiting in line over there. We tried the Wildebeast, which was awesome!! Since we rode the Mammoth last year we can now say we have ridden every single water coaster in Holiday World (so far ~ we are excited to see what they are going to replace Giraffrica with!)!

The kids all had fun on the water slides, and we spend some time in what they call a "wave pool" but for me, who spent a great deal of time in the Pacific as well as the Gulf they were really only pathetic swells, so it was just a pool. I showed my Midwestern teenagers that I could tread water either without my hands or without my feet and they were duly impressed ;).

We hit the gift shop one last time, where I got this amazing hat, and then went home. All the kids passed out almost immediately, and I told the husband once he got me onto route 1 I could get home from there and he could go to sleep if he desired.

It was a looooong drive but worth it. Then we spent Friday just recovering from all the sun and fun, although I did have to return the rental van.:

It was a great weekend (although expensive!!) and we were glad we got to do something fun this summer. Now time to get ready for school!!

Holiday World 3!

So we went on "The Voyage." The first time we rode it, the two oldest sat in the front and I sat behind them. That first drop is just terrifying for an acrophobic. They take you to the highest point in the entire park and then drop you NEARLY straight down!! That first drop is sooooooooo scary!!! But after that it's so super fun!!

The SECOND time we rode it, T convinced me to ride in the VERY FRONT with R....and R dared me to not scream at all and hold my hands up the entire time!! I really didn't think I could do it!!!! Finally, at the very top of the ride, R & I gave each other a high high-five....the highest high-five in the park!! LOL, and at the last second before we went down that drop, I shot both my hands up in the air and actually did keep them up the entire ride. R tried to, but she ended up smacking me in the face a few times when we were going sideways haha!

 It turns out I could EITHER get through the whole roller coaster with my hands up, OR I could not scream......but not both. ;)

One of the awesome things about Holiday World is you get FREE DRINKS and FREE SUNSCREEN all day!!! As much as you want!!! They have these "Drink Oasis" kiosks around the park, and you just walk in, get a cup, fill it up (with PEPSI products, no less! AWESOME) and there are trashcans everywhere, including in lines to the rides so you can drink while waiting in line and then throw away the cup before you get on the ride!! That is the coolest thing ever, because most places you end up spending lots of $$ just on drinks and then you don't spend much $$ everywhere else in the park, because it's hot and you NEED to drink!!

So since we got our drinks free we felt we HAD to spend SOME money in the gift shops!! As it turns out, they had some "mystery presents" wrapped up and ready for purchase. We got each of the kids $5-worth of those and opened them up in our hotel room. Christmas in July!!! The Mr lucked out the most with a real glass Holiday World cup AND a light-up cup that also said Holiday World on it. I got a cool little flamingo necklace and a zipper bracelet that I will probably end up giving to a kid.

Anyway, we also went on a few rides we didn't get to go on last year. One was the "Gobbler Getaway," where you shoot things with a laser gun. The boys went in one car, and the girls and the Mr & I went in another car.

The scores were as follows: 

Teddy Bear (the youngest) = 180 points!

Angel (B) - 210 points!

The Little Star (Z) - 60 points

The Tank - 180 points!

ReeRee, the oldest child who INSISTS that her gun was jammed - 40 points haha!

I got 360 points, because I have awesome aim...at least I thought so, until

The Mr got 930 points!!!!! Amazing!

Another ride I had not experienced before was the Pirate Ship. It's just a boat that acts like a giant swing, and at first I wasn't interested in going on it, because, well, it's just like a giant swing. So the two older boys and R and The Mr went on it, and they sat in the middle (it doesn't go up as high).

LOL, T

Posted this one because I caught the Mr smiling!! (What is it with guys and thinking they don't have to smile for the camera? Is it macho to look like you're not having a good time??)

They all looked like they were having fun, until it started going up higher, then suddenly Z disappeared from view!! He said he felt like his head was going to explode!

T is there, but Z is gone! LOL

Well after he said that I had to try it ;). So R and I got on the furthest end seats....the ones that go SUPER high! And he's right, when you're at the top and getting ready to go back down, it feels like all your blood (and stomach and intestines) are trying to rush up into your head.

I also went on the spinning thing with R & T, which they rode last year but I did not. It was fun, but I don't think I'll ride it again because it felt like all my organs were pressing on my spine to the point where my spine complained. Gettin' old, I guess, haha!

So after we did all the fun adult rides, we went into the kid's area:

Which we will continue with next time ;)

P.S. if you click on the photos, they will show you an enlarged version. The More You Know ;)

Holiday World Part 2

So we finally made our way into Holiday World!

Our first stop (as it had been the first time we went to Holiday World) was "the Raven" roller coaster. Last time we took Z (our little star) and B (angel) on their very first roller coaster ride ever, and this time it was G's turn (Teddy Bear). Since he turned 9 apparently he was tall enough to ride "anything in the entire park!" I decided the big roller coasters were just too big for him, however, plus his "Irish Twin" Z didn't like coasters, so I wasn't sure G would take to them. He went on the Raven and just looked terrified the whole time. He began to get pale and I was actually afraid he'd pass out. He told me afterwards it was a lot of fun but his stomach got very upset. So once again he is just like his older brother Z. I told him he was brave for at least trying the roller coaster and he didn't have to ride any more.

Of course that didn't stop the three of us who LOVE roller coasters from enjoying the big ones!!! Those of you who follow my Facebook account saw the post where I was reading in line and the teenagers were embarrassed to know me. Here's the picture from that moment:

 They kept saying "Stop Reading!"  Well, I read. Live with it. Waiting in line was the only time I had to read for the entire two day trip!!

We were in line for "The Legend;" the second biggest roller coaster ride in the park! It goes into the water park side of Holiday World (called Splashin' Safari) so you get a little wet!
Here's me:

Here's B (although she chose to not go on any roller coasters this trip):

Then we went to what is a few children's and my husband's favorite ride ~ Raging Rapids! You ride through raging rapids and invariably get SOAKED. While in line we saw this:

It's a family dryer! These were new ~ they were not around last year when we went to HW. But the price was FIVE DOLLARS for one time!! We will just walk around wet, thank you (and we did).

The kids made fun of my husband because every single time he got the brunt of the soaking LOL. We went on that ride I think five times while we were there.

Wet husband.

We did a lot of walking around and looking at things. You could see the whole park just from the "Halloween" part of the park!

After we had our fun in "Halloween" and "Fourth of July" we headed to "Thanksgiving"

where the biggest roller coaster (it goes off the map!) and, since they dismantled "Giraffica" (known in some parts as "Pilgrim's Plunge") the TALLEST ride is located! This roller coaster is called "The Voyage," and other than the first drop it is the most fun roller coaster in the park! The first drop, though.....as one who is afraid of heights it is terrifying!!!!

Well I've taken up enough of your time....I'll share more pics later!!

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Holiday World!

So we decided to go on a little holiday, and what better place to do that than Holiday World?

We had been saving up and decided it was a good time to go.

We had to get a rental van since my van is in the van hospital (also known as the shop) waiting to get an engine and transmission transplant, and I was really worried about the piece of junk van we were going to get, so imagine my surprise when we got a 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan, and a pretty blue one at that!!

I realize it doesn't take much to impress me but I was fascinated by the gear shift

and the key: 

Like I said, it doesn't take much to impress me.

We drove down Tuesday night and checked straight into a hotel in a little German town called Jasper. VERY German (so of course my husband, who spent three or four years living in Germany, LOVED it).

The first night we did nothing but go to sleep, although the kids had fun on their little screens.

The picture above is Germany's colors flying on our hotel.

In the morning we decided to pay a little visit to Santa Claus, Indiana, and we stopped by the little museum we stopped at last year so the kids could write their letters to Santa. It was a GORGEOUS day!! Here's some pics:

The Wall of Pez at the Candy Castle: 

It was a superfun morning although we ended up spending a lot more $$ than we anticipated. The local Christmas Store had a "Christmas in July" sale and we found some things we wanted. I guess this December we won't be allowed to buy any decorations since we already bought some this year LOL.

More pics later.

Next stop? Holiday World!