Holiday ROAD

Our family is quickly falling in love with Holiday World. We took a trip there last summer and wanted to make sure we returned this summer.  Fortunately, we are part of a crew that EQUALLY loves it as much as us.  Look at our bunch.

 Thumbs up for a great day!

Pops and Meme joined us this year.  I learned my lesson last year that Miles is simply not ready for all the water rides.  And, quite frankly, that's the BEST part of this park in my opinion.  I spent most of last year lounging at the pool, not that I'm complaining, but I would've loved to have ridden some of the water rides.  I didn't want to miss out this year so I solicited my mom's help with him.

 Miles and Samuel ready to start the day.  I didn't get a picture of him and Trapper, but Matt heard a funny conversation between them. Trapper walked up with his family, and Miles asked him, "Are you going to ride The Raven?"  Trapper said, "no."  Miles said, "You're not?"  AS IF, Miles was planning to ride a ROLLER COASTER, brave SOUL that he is.  Hilarious. 

 Karson and her roller coaster buddy of the day, Tucker.  I'm glad she has a friend that shares this passion of hers.  I can only ride so many before my brain feels mushy.  I don't feel sick, just confused, ya know.  I've found I have to shut my eyes most of the time so my inner ear or equilibrium doesn't get out of whack.

Here we are at our first stop, THE RAVEN.  We measured Isaac before we left--with shoes and without.  He has been wanting to ride a roller coaster for some time now but has never been BIG enough.  We knew if he wore tennis shoes, he would barely make the 48 inches required.  There are a couple of different measurement places and he was RIGHT ON THE LINE at each one.  When it was finally our turn to get on the coaster, the lady pulled him aside with the white PVC pipe and measured him.  I held my breath and was nervous because I knew it would CRUSH him if he couldn't ride.

 YEAH, he was big enough to ride.  It was his FIRST AND LAST roller coaster of the day.  Matt said it was a rough ride for Isaac.  He flew all over that seat like a wet pup.  He probably needs to put on a few more pounds and inches before he rides another one.  It definitely rattled him.  BUT, it was his FIRST OFFICIAL roller coaster.

Miles rode on Frightful Falls with Pops and Meme.  I couldn't believe they convinced him to ride with them.  I was proud of him.  I know that was FRIGHTFUL for him.

Matt and Karson, Steve and Pappy braving the falls.  This ride was right after the roller coaster so Isaac was NOT interested.  All he was interested in was finding a Pepsi Oasis.

Karson and Tucker on The Legend.  She rode this coaster twice.  I passed on it.  Last year I rode The Raven and The Legend back to back.  The Legend will beat you something awful.  All the coasters at Holiday World are wooden which means they are lightening fast and a ROUGH ride.  After riding this coaster, we headed over to the Splashin' Safari.  I think everyone was ready for time in the water.  Whew!

Isaac and Matt spent a majority of their time on the Jungle Racers, but we did manage to get him on The

It's next to impossible to get many pictures at the water park.  AND, we definitely wanted to ride the

Me, Matt, Weston, Karson and Tucker waited in line for TWO solid hours to ride their newest water coaster.  Once we FINALLY arrived, it was TOTALLY worth the wait!  Pure awesome-ness!  I, however, went down the entire ride BACKWARDS.  I really thought at some point, the raft would shift and turn around, NOPE so I was pretty much doused with water the entire ride and couldn't see a THING.  But from what I saw, it was entertaining =).

We spent time in the wave pool, lazy river, splashed around in Splash Land and then decided to head back to the park for ROUND TWO of rides.

 

We caught up with Pops and Meme at The Vinyl Daze show.  Great entertainers here!  While we were there, I saw the Holiday World commercial lady Pat Koch in the back.  She looked just like she does in the commercials with her frosted hair and yellow shirt--her celebrity look.

 We headed over to Thanksgiving Land to wrap up the day. I decided to ride The Voyage roller coaster.  Karson decided to PASS--she rode it last year and Matt said she was white as a ghost the entire ride.  We also rode the Gobbler Getaway where we shot some turkeys.  Me and my buddy Ansley rode this one TWICE--we were some turkey shooting' fools.

More shooting except with water and actual prizes involved.  Trapper won TWICE--you would've thought it was the end of the world for the other 5 year olds in the bunch.  Good times. 

We ended our time at Holiday World in Holidogs Funtown.  It's the perfect place to close your day. We left hopped up on Pepsi products, with sore feet and tired children.  Thank goodness the trip is quick, and we got home around 10 p.m.  EXHAUSTED!

Let's GO Tops

  Karson attended volleyball camp at WKU this week on Wednesday thru Friday.  I absolutely LOVE that she LOVES this sport.  It is so much fun to watch.  I wasn't able to stay and watch for much of the camp because of work.  I did, however, manage to get off a little early today so I could watch some of the drills and games they play.

Karson and her cousin Elizabeth also attended camp this week.
They got to be partners for most of the drills.

Drills, drills, drills - Karson's group was definitely the most ENTERTAINING to watch.  The girls in her group were/are all still learning the basics of the game.

 Practicing her serve or SPIKE, I couldn't quite tell exactly what she was doing in this area.  She told me that the coaches encouraged her to overhand serve.  They told her the sooner you learn how to do that, the better.  I'm glad because I know she'll practice it that way when she's at home.

 Rounding all the girls up before finishing up.

 Final words of wisdom from one of the coaching staff members.

Karson and Coach Hudson.  Who knows, maybe she'll play for the Lady Toppers one day?  All the girls got a volleyball and t-shirt--Karson got everyone's signature on BOTH.

Karson and all the Lady Toppers Volleyball Squad!  Thanks ladies for making my daughter's week so special!

Karson is also attending South Warren High's volleyball camp in July.  AND, she is already signed up to play in the fall.  Looking forward to an exciting season!

It's Summer and Here's What Happening in Our Neck of the Woods

My sister put in a beautiful pool at her house for this summer.  We have thoroughly enjoyed our time there.  Her pool will be featured in an upcoming insert in the Daily News.  I believe it's called Life and Style--not sure if it's going to be part of the actual newspaper or a separate insert.  She invited the kids over for the photo shoot so we can't wait to see it featured.  You can tell it's really difficult to get them to SMILE while at the pool.

Matt and I celebrated 13 years together on June 5.  Now that I have a scanner, I can showcase some of our wedding photos from the big day.  We celebrated with a dinner at Chuy's, Bowling Green's newest restaurant.  We are completely addicted and eat there at least once a week, sometimes more.  It is AWESOME!  After dinner, we went to a movie--our typical FAVORITE kind of date. 

 Me and my man.  I got really depressed the day of our anniversary.  Why, you ask?  I made the mistake of trying on my wedding dress.  It hasn't come out of it's "packing" since the big day.  I wanted to try it on, 13 years and 3 babies later.  HUGE mistake.  BUT, I showed it to Karson and am hoping she may wear it on her wedding day???

  Our kids usually get along well.  In fact, they haven't argued much at all this summer.  It's fun capturing moments like this one where they are both content with the company of each other.

Miles and Karson are so similar.  They are both home-bodies, whereas, Isaac would soon be ANYWHERE but home.  This summer, Isaac has made it his mission to spend the night with Pap and Nana and Meme OFTEN.  The other two really don't share that kind of passion for spending the night away from home.  Usually when he's gone, these two buddy up and Miles sleeps with Karson.

 Karson is wearing a bra.  Not sure if I mentioned this before but it's worth blogging about again.  When Karson was in a 2/3 split class last year, I figured (and noticed) there were some girls in her class that year that were "developed".  I asked her if she thought she may need a bra--I just wanted to see what her thoughts were on the subject.  She matter-of-factly stated,  "No, mom, I'll get one when they pop out."  HUH-larious.  It was all I could do to bite my tongue and not laugh. I haven't entertained the idea of getting her a bra, and she hasn't really mentioned wanting one.  Shannon got her a bra/panty set from The Children's Place and brought them to church Wednesday night, and she loved it.  She wore the bra for two days in a row when I decided it was time to start shopping for more.  One our way to the mall we talked about bras and she told me she was one of the only girls in her class this year that DIDN'T wear one.  What?!?!?  I wish she had told me, and I would've taken her shopping sooner.  BUT, now she has three brassieres. 

 We got a ski tube at Gander Mountain and are hoping to spend more time at Barren River this summer.  With our truck, we can pick up Pap's boat and be at the lake in about 30 minutes.

 

The summer pool isn't at normal height this time of the year so the beach at Barren hasn't opened yet.  BUT, we had no trouble finding a muddy shore to tie up to and let the kids swim and throw rocks.

 Isaac has lost his two front teeth.  This makes a total of FOUR teeth lost where Karson had lost more than half of her baby teeth by this point.  Isaac is very attached to his teeth and doesn't care much for having them pulled out.  After he lost one of his front teeth, the other front tooth started moving towards the middle of his mouth.  He closely resembled Patrick Star.  I eventually had to get it out--it was hanging on by a thin strand, and his permanent tooth was growing in right behind it.

 

 When I saw where SKyPac was coupling with Haven 4 Change in Scottsville to paint a mural at their new facility, I knew the kids would LOVE it.  And, Scottsville isn't to far from our house so I took the kids up there on Saturday (this weekend) to help.  Is this not the coolest project ever?  Isaac was focused on selecting the right color paint and carefully deciding what portion to paint.

 After we finished up painting, I wanted to head over to the Amish market there and scoop up some goods.  We had a nice Saturday in the Scottsville community.

We headed over to South Warren High School on Saturday night to hear Pops sing at his annual Barbershop show. My lovely daughter handed out programs.  I can't get over how grown up she's becoming--WOW.  The show was super, but we only made it to intermission.  We had the kids with us, and I knew they were tired and kind of ready to get in bed.  That's kind of what the summer has done to us--worn us out.  HOWEVER, it's a good kind of worn out, not a running around, crazy over-scheduled kind of worn out.  I love it!