Father's Day trip to Holiday World

We had been talking about going to Holiday World for a couple of years now, and finally decided to go on Father's Day this year, with hubby's sister, her mister and kids.  We decided to take sweet pea with us, but left the baby with my MIL.  For those of you that don't know what Holiday World is, it is a medium sized amusement/water park in Santa Claus, IN.  The reason it is called Holiday World is because it is divided into 4 holidays, Christmas, Halloween, 4th of July and Thanksgiving.  There are gift shops and food in each section appropriate to the holiday.  They also have 3 large wooden roller coasters and then various other rides all throughout the park.  What was really nice is that they had a kiddie section in each holiday for the smaller kids.  This park also offers free soft drinks and sunscreen, which keeps you from spending too much money on food.  You just walk up to the various coke fountains located throughout the park, fill up your cup and go on your merry way.  

The other great thing about the park is that you may come and go as you please during your stay there.  We decided to take our own lunch with us, so once we got hungry and had finished with the regular park, we just got our re-entry stamp, headed out to the car, ate lunch, changed into our bathing suits and headed back in to enjoy the water park.  Both parks are connected so it is very convenient!

Sweet pea was such a trooper the whole day, and had a blast!  She even rode some rides by herself, which I was shocked about.  Her favorites were the swimming salmon ride (picture below) and the merry-go-round.  The weather was a little overcast that day, so the park was not overly crowded, which made for almost no wait lines.  The only bad thing was that a storm came through about 45 minutes after we got to the water park, which caused us to have to leave early, but we had already been at the park for about 4 hours so no one was too bummed.  Next time we go, we are gonna do the water park first and the roller coasters last.

All in all it was a very memorable trip, and we look forward to returning with both girls in the future.  If you live near Santa Claus, IN and have not yet checked out this park, I suggest you go, you will not regret it. (It is about 1 hour from Louisville, in case your wondering)  Until next time, BYE!

Strawberry Pickin'

Since I haven't posted lately I am going to be playing catch up, so I apologize in advance for blogging overload.  A couple weeks ago, the girls and I went with my mother to a nearby farm to go strawberry picking.  We of course picked the hottest day of the year so far to go, and boy did we sweat A LOT!  We had heard of Gallrein Farms in Shelbyville through some people at sweet pea's school, but had never been, so we decided to check it out.

They had a free petting zoo which was awesome for kids, a duck pond, and in the fall during pumpkin season they have a horse drawn hay ride and a corn maze.  They also had a huge greenhouse full of the most amazing flowers I have ever seen, and the best part was that all their annuals were buy 1 get one free the day we were there.  My mom was like a kid in a candy store!!

Sweet pea had a blast, but since it was so warm (like 93 degrees people!), we were only able to stay for about an hour and a half.  I made sure to wet the babies clothes and hat pretty good, so she would not get over heated, but I still felt like a terrible mother for dragging her out in the heat. :(

So what did we do with our delicious berries you ask?  Well I made my very first strawberry pie, and it was a pretty good first attempt if I do say so myself.  Sweet pea actually just polished off the leftover berries at my mom's house the other day, and you would swear that they were candy by the way she was eating them.  She definitely is a strawberry lover!

I love forward to going back in the Fall for pumpkin picking, and hopefully hubby can go with us this time.  Below are some pics from the day that I took with my phone.  Hope you enjoy!