Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

Lots of really cool plants.

These gardens are lovely - but it was very hot. The kids enjoyed the butterfly garden and the water recreation area, other than that it was just too hot. Beautiful plants throughout the walk but not something young children appreciate.

I would love to have this bench in my yard.

Cool at last!

This was usually the way the kids ended up at night - big pile of kids, toys, dog!!

Meg loves helping out and she is great at peeling hard boiled eggs.

Pocohontas Park

One of our favorite places to take the kids. They had a blast.

The kids really enjoyed this area. Last year they were smaller and we had to stay with them every moment = but they liked being on their own some this year.

Aren't these cupcake "cups" cute?

Meighan and I went down this slide. She had to go by herself. I went first so I could be at the bottom when she came out - she seemed to love it - not scared at all, but she woud not go again.



It was a great, fun day!

Heading West

We left home around 9 AM on Friday, July 31. It was a long trip. We wanted to drive to Santa Claus, Indianna, spend the night and go to Holiday World on Saturday. It was a long drive - we should have planned to stay some where not as far west, but overall things went well. The kids were very good considering the long ride. Poor Alex got sick and threw up when we got to I-64 (about 30 minutes from our start). I thought we may have to turn around and go home, but we stopped and cleaned him up. He and Meg went to sleep for about 45 minutes and Alex was fine when he woke up. Yeah!!!

Meighan talks constantly--and is quite a character to say the least. Alex is a lot less vocal. We had to stop a lot - Bathroom Stops!!! They did very well considering it took us about 12 hours to get to our destination.

Meg in the goggles that were given to me from a co-worker for my birthday. I just turned around to look at them and she had these on -- she is a funny girl.

The DVR that I brought was a life saver - the kids loved watching movies.

We finally made it to the hotel in Tell City. The amusement park is about 30 minutes away. We tried to get a hotel in St. Claus but there were no vacancies.


We had stopped for dinner earlier, so we had lots of snacks in the room - The Pistachios were a favorite.

Is Alex going to be a contortionist? He loves climbing -not only on the bars at play grounds but into whatever he can find...he is a mess...but a cute mess!

They finally crashed and so did Grandpa and Grandma!

Holiday World

We got up early and headed to the amusement park. Every section of the park was a holiday. This is Christmas:

There are 3 roller coasters. This is the biggest wooden coaster in the country.
The kids enjoyed the rides.

This was our favorite shop. Right across from a smoking area. While Dave took a break we went and got some yummy treats.

Hand blown glass. Gorgeous and unusual items. I bought some gifts for Christmas.

This wagon, which we rented was well worth it.

Alex picked out this sword for his gift.

Cute show.

Dave and Mieghan rode this roller coaster. Meg loved it - she will try just about anything.

A favorite of the kids. Santa visited with the kids throughout the day. I think this is the first time Meighan sat on Santa's lap.

Isn't Santa handsome?

This train is the only original ride at the park. As it travels around the track there are different settings of nursery rhymes throughout the route and the conductor recites the stories.

The bumper boats were a favorite. They rode them twice. There was a long line and a long wait each time but they didn't mind.

Cotton Candy and Pickle on a Stick.

We had a great day and we were very tired.

Alex sleeping with his sword.

Meighan wanted a little makeup kit for her gift. See the clips in her hair?