Year 3, July 22nd-23rd, 2018: Sunday & Monday, V8 & V9, All Caught Up & Rest

Sunday Funday as they say on Instagram.  Since we are still technically on vacation, Gary and Leah visited other churches today, while we kept a somewhat normal Sunday routine.  Benaiah had no responsiblities since we were planning not to be home, but he decided to have the Strunks pick him up and spent the day with them, mostly at church anyways.  The rest of us didn't go until the 11, so Justin just helped out in 1st grade, although he was technically off for the day.  I guess I thought we would be back in time for Jared to do nursery, so he and Abishai did that at the 4:30.  Keturah went to class as normal and I went with Jared to service at the 11.  Abishai pat-patted Mr. Jeff's big blue truck on our way in.  Then, he was wearing underwear under his shorts instead of a pull up for both the 11 and the 4:30 service!  And he stayed dry!  He stayed in the same pair of underwear all day in fact, even after several trips to the big potty for stinkies!!!  Yeah!  I'm very impressed!  We are going to make that September promotion Sunday date after all!  It's on September 2nd, which is when we'll be gone to Michigan for Labor Day, but we'll move him up the next week.  Yeah!  I'm sure he'll miss Mr. Jeff though.

The afternoon for me was blogging, but I made the kids have a screen free day after the last two days of seemingly endless hours of it after having been gone for a few days, mostly without it.  And they still kept asking about it all day!  But, they played more with their toys, read more, and played a board game together, so I call that winning.  I shared the Lilla Rose business opportunity on a live video on my Facebook page while the boys were at church this evening.  We had nice supper and a nice walk afterwards, where they kids played with Grandpa.  Grandma was out visiting a neighbor.  Now it's time to add videos to all the blog posts and publish them so you can see them!  And plan our Chicago adventures for Tuesday through Thursday.  Yeah!

I leave my step app on at all times and boy did I see some high numbers this past week!  No wonder my legs feel tired but toned.  Sunday was driving to St. Louis.

Monday was City Museum and the Gateway Arch.  Tuesday was the St. Louis Zoo.

Wednesday was at home.  Thursday was Holiday World, and the count would have been higher but I didn't take my phone into the water of course or walking to some of the water elements from our "base camp."

Friday and Saturday were at home rest days.  Those are pretty low numbers even for my at home days.  I aim for 4500 steps a day.

A lot lower step counts, but I took a walk on Sunday to try to boost my numbers.

Storm clouds.  One reason for lower steps is that it was a very rainy weekend and no one got outside much.  I did have to declare a screen free day because they went to the other extreme and had too much screen time.

We were all finally at home for a meal so we finally, after 4 months, at our freeze dried strawberries.  They tasted dry of course, but still sweet.

Kiddos all waiting for us lined up in a row.  It was either come on a bike ride.  Benaiah choose the dishes.

Ready to get more steps in.

Abisahi left his bike at home because he couldn't pedal as fast as the others.  So, he ran instead.  He stayed with them for a little bit, then stopped and sat in the middle of the road waiting for us to catch up to him.

"I can't do it!"  Yes you can!

The Sloth, as he calls himself.

Playing with water guns with Grandpa.  Yeah for impromtu time at Grandpa's house when he wanted to finish writing next week's sermon!

Getting soaked!

Justin pretended to be the ugliest sounding squirrel there is.  I don't even know how to describe the sounds he was making, but they did not sound like a squirrel.

I'm going to get the bad squirrel!

Go!

Meanwhile, I swung on the swing and tried to get a grasp of where things are in Chicago.  The places I want to go are much further away from each other than I thought.  So, we'll need to come up with a plan to use transit as much as possible.  Not sure if this is the city bus or the L actually.  I hope it's the L.  I want to ride the L with Abishai.  But this is the general area for most of the things we want to see.

Monday, I had to switch my chiropractor appointment from Thursday to today because we had to shift our Chicago trip a day because Benaiah had to work today.  Then it was time to get everybody and everything cleaned up and up to date and repacked.  I asked my friends about Chicago and then put together an itinerary.  We went over it with Gary and Leah and I think we have a firm grasp of expectations.  Abishai had a good day with potty training again, yeah!  And he wore his pj's all day, including going to pick up Benaiah from CFA.  You know you are a homeschooler when.....your pj's wear out and your day clothes never do! I do try to make the kids change into their day clothes 90% of the time though.  But, they also have fewer pj's than day clothes so each pair gets worn more and washed more.  I know this is probably opposite of most people's wardrobe, that their day clothes wear out before their pj's.  Oh well, it's life.  Benaiah was pleased with his shift at CFA because he got to be on "boards" which means he had to make the sandwhiches, especially the special orders.  That means they trust him a lot.  Yeah! Good for him!

I'll just insert here since this blog is shorter, what I've learned from this past week(s) of vacation.  My expectations of what constitutes vacation is being refined each other.  There's vacationing with children, so we focus on what the kids like, and there's my high expectations of a weekend getaway where I would love to just linger in one museum all day and read everything.  Then, I would walk down the streets of any given city and ponder how people live there, what mom and pop shops they frequent, what shows they might go to on their weekends, how they do laundry when living in a big apartment building, how it all compares to the movies, etc.  I would also like to take in more musicals and baseball games and ballets.  I would sit through more demonstrations and take my time wandering.  But, alas, this is not how Johnsons vacation.  Sure they hit the highlights of famous tourist traps, spend 2 hrs in a museum that should take all day, and then call it "good enough, now I can say we've been here" and move on.  I'm coming to realize that's not what the museums are meant for.  The people that put together exhibits and do the research and preserve things etc deserve more time than that.  If you don't linger and soak it all in, you're probably going to forget the facts before you get home, so why even go?  I think you should just stand in front of a fish tank for a good 15 minutes to observe what they are actually doing and talk about it.  Or to see a covered wagon and bring up how it relates to what you've already studied in history.  So, now that I've discovered that this is what I really expect and don't often get, I can have a better attitude this time around and then plan for future trips where I take the kids with or without Jared and go at a much slower, lingering, wandering, contemplating pace and do 1 museum per day instead of 2 or more museums/stops, take a picture and move on.  And I have to give up the expectation that you won't read every sign of every museum in your lifetime.  And I do get tired and I should swallow my pride and ask for a wheelchair on premises when it's available.  I just don't want people pushing me around.  And I know I need the exercise.  And we still push the stroller.  So with all that mind, I'll try to be a good girl and lay out my expectations clearly and loudly so all can hear it and then be happy with whatever results we get.  Wish us luck this week!

The kid with the permit practicing his driving.  There's too many backseat drivers though.  I just think we are all excited because this new to all of us and they just want to help and giggle about it.  Fun stuff!

Year 3, July 20th-21st, 2018: Friday & Saturday, V6 & V7, When Plans Drastically Change

Well, today, Jared woke up early to go to his men's group, but the rest of us slept in until at least 9.  Ok, Abishai was up and rummaging the pantry and ate a ton of raisins.  And it showed later on in the day when he ran to the potty and had 3 BM's in the toilet!  Success!  He is definitely on his way to being potty trained.  It just took consistency from us parents.  Meanwhile, it was a very slow day, except for a couple of business phone calls that had to be made and decisions agreed up on by the J2, J6, and even the J4 for vacation plans for this coming week.  Benaiah got scheduled to work on Monday and there's a possibility that Everly and Nora will be joining us thanks to their Aunt Stasia and Uncle Ben driving them up here by Monday night.  SO, we aren't going to Chicago regardless of ASEN until Tuesday, and return on Thursday.  We have also decided not to go to Ohio after all because we need some rest and recover time.  Uncle Bill also needs some time to recover from his busy week, so it worked out well.  That gives me more breathing room to catch up on these blogs.  I'm not doing too bad and I have a plan to chip away at them as the weekend progresses.  I have all day Saturday, a good portion of Sunday, and part of the day on Monday.  I don't have a set goal but will work diligently at it.

Therefore, I worked on the blog and then ended up taking a 2 hr nap while the kids had their electronic time.  They actually had extra amounts of screen time, and I'm ok with that because it meant we all stayed quiet and they hadn't hardly any over the past week.  Even Abishai was willing to go potty between shows on the tablet.  The kids had showers, a load laundry got done, supper made, chores done, nose wiped a million times over, and movie watched over at Grandma and Grandpa's.  We decided to rent the new "Paul" movie from Redbox and Grandma popped popcorn instead of going out to a movie.  We would have had to split up to see different ones and that's no fun.  And Abishai got to run around at Grandma's house and play with her cars, and headbutted the back of Grandpa's chair full force, falling straight down, cried for 10 seconds, got up and ran another lap.  This happened at the very end of the movie when the pivotal moments were being played, but we couldn't stop laughing!  It was so comical!  He also chattered our ear off during the whole movie.  Some of us even went in our PJ's!  Justin even got to work for Grandpa and will finish up on Saturday.

I just feel much more at peace having these next few days to rest up before tackling Chicago.  Between this nasty headcold and my normal aches and pains, I've been pretty moody.  I've had to drug myself up just so my nose won't run and then I can't think straight long enough to think rationally and make decisions.  So I took a break from those kinds of medications and even my essential oils so that my whole body could rest. And rest it did, along with some bad dreams, this afternoon.  I'm finding that I'm not very happy with how my home looks but have no motivation again as to what to do with it.  But I don't have to really think about that until next week.  I'll spend the next few days still "on vacation" and only work on the blog and having fun with the kids.  We all needed time apart from one another and time in the dry, air conditioned air!  I've been having trouble taking deep breaths because of the heat and humidity and this cold, which scares me.  And I know the kids are worn out from each other and the excitement, too.   Now, if I can only convince the men that we are still on vacation, that would be grand.  I really don't like that they are going in and out of the office, but that's the nature of ministry I guess.  I just want to be cut off from the world, thanks.

He wanted a knife to cut his own pancake himself.  He even tried to put the knife in between the tines of his fork!

Um, yes, this happened.  I'm in the backseat and Benaiah is driving us from Gary and Leah's to our house.  And yes, he's got a longer torso than Jared.  Ah!

And sssshhhhh, he drove barefoot!  We had gone over there to watch a movie, so some didn't even put their shoes on or change out of their pj's!  We watched the new Paul movie.  It is well done, although I was expecting more of a chronological approach, not a flashback approach when he was old and in prison in Rome.  Lots of great messages.  Not gory, but a little scary for Keturah.  I'm glad Abishai didn't actually watch it but wandered around and played and talked to us the whole time.  And Abishai even ran so hard and fast that he ran directly into Gary's recliner at top speed, fell down, cried for 10 seconds, got up, and ran another loop.  Crazy children!

Saturday:
Saturday was rainy and an errand running kind of day.  I've been working on putting captions on pictures for the blog posts from last week, the kids did their chores, and they all had electronic time.I played a game with each of the three youngest.  Abishai tried cheating at Hungry Hippos.  Justin beat me soundly at Othello but I beat Keturah, but barely.  Benaiah worked a long shift at CFA. I'm now coughing and my nose isn't dripping, but it's pretty stuffed up.  I'm trying not to get overwhelmed by my seemingly disorganized house (which usually happens when I've been out and about and see the simplicity some people live in) and remembering what my goals for these very welcome and needed, but unexpected days of rest.  We are still "on vacation."  We will go to Indian Creek tomorrow, but the grandparents will visit other churches.  I'm just feeling that "I have energy when I'm out for vacation, why don't I have it at home?" blues.  I think it's mental state of being overwhlemed.  We'll have fun next week and then I'll set up my mind and my goals on our drive home, ready to dig into the rest of the summer projects before our schooling starts.  Most schools start in about two weeks or less here.  Benaiah doesn't start for another month, and we'll start soon after that probably.  It will depend on if I feel finished with the major projects or not.  I have a plan, I just need to work it when we are back from Chicago.  Patience, rest, catch up on blog stuff, it's ok.  I wasn't supposed to be home these days anyway.  And now I won't be so far behind on the blog, so relax, chill, you will be ok.  That's what anxious people have to do to calm themselves.  Take those thoughts captive like the Bible says.  You WILL have those evil/misguided/false thoughts, there's no doubt it.  But it's what you do with them that counts.  Feel them for a moment.  Sit with them if you need to, and then say good bye to them and move on.  That's why I need my time outs, even if it's holing myself up in the bathroom sometimes.

It was a good day for the most part.  Hey! Abishai did most of his pottying on the big potty today, including poop again!  He did dribble a couple of times, but the training pants were enough to keep his actual pants dry AND he went to the grocery store in underwear!  That's major progress!  We'll do pull ups exclusively again in Chicago, and probably at church tomorrow, but at home or when we have short amounts of time out and about, he's in underwear.  He's running to the potty on his own now and can do the whole routine in time! I'll take it!  And he wakes up dry, too.  So he does have a lot of control.  I don't know why I was so worried about it.  It does eventually happen.  I know that.  So I'm shaking my head at myself, silly goose.  We'll have to check what "potty trained" means when September 1st comes around, but I think he'll be able to move up.  Not sure if a pull up is allowed or not, so we'll see.  I hope so!

Like I said, it rained a good portion of the day.  Justin was able to finish working for Grandpa today.  He's doing things that Benaiah has done the last couple of years but doesn't have time to do it now.  Now, if they all could come to my house and work in our flower beds.....I wonder if Grandma and Grandpa would be willing to assist them if we paid the kids.  I just don't know the first thing about flower beds.  Or I need to pay my friend in the spring to do it.  It makes me mad it wasn't done this past spring.  I just need Alisha to get here and do it, and I'll pay her.  She's my favorite person to work with on these types of things and she LOVES to garden.  Next year I guess.  We'll start planning in January.  And set aside some money, as well as try to save for our own vacation.  So much to plan and save and do!

Ok, back to the older blogs now.

Mommy, you have an apple on your phone! And someone ate it! (See the video below where he was doing his morning snuggles and wrestle time with us).

Grandpa cleaned out his garage so it was time to bring this high chair back to us.  He's so big but he wanted to use it!  It needs to be cleaned and put away.  I don't know if I'm ready to part with it yet or not.  There's a possibility of letting it go, but I wasn't mentally prepared to make that decision yet.  I DID have a relevation today about how to get some things into more permanent storage without buying more containers!  Well, at least the bulky picture box of baby things and the bassinet could be wrapped in heavy duty plastic wrap that they use for shipping skid loads of stuff!  $20 for a roll that will last forever!  Then I would be ok putting it in the shed and keeping an eye on it for mice that might chew through the wrap.  The other clothes stuff can easily be transferred to Rubbermaid roughnecks after I purchase some.  I was waiting until August to do that.  But I could also wrap those boxes, too.  Then I need to buy two more pieces of furniture for our bedroom so I can get the book boxes taken care of.  Also part of August's budget I hope.  We'll buy them from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  I have plans.  Now to execute them.

I'm still loving this "radio station" even when they play things I don't know because it's from the 80's.  But this song is a song that my dance instructor choreographed for me, the star of the "The Apple" that she and her husband wrote.  It was about a girl who wanted to steal an apple and there was a spiritual war going on.  Think Carmen and his awesome songs about the devil and his minions.  It was awesome!  And I was even lifted up by her husband, which is like a dancer's dream!  I loved ballet, but my legs weren't built for it so I never moved on to pointe.  But I have incredible memories of those lessons and recitals.  And it was cool to be "the star" too.  I think I was about Keturah's age when I did it.

Keturah put the sunglasses on him after he fell asleep during our first couple of errands.  I'm glad he slept only about 15 minutes because we don't need him staying up so late!

I walked right past our little bunny friend who was not even three feet from the sidewalk.  I had to come back to it after Keturah pointed it out.  I feel like sometimes I could just reach out and pick him or her up.  Such a sweet cottontail bunny eating the goodies we've left in the garden for him.  He sticks around for a long time before hopping off.

Isn't he or she beautiful? She looks so healthy, too!  Wildlife in our front yard is a GREAT thing!  We even planted some baby vegetable plants just for her.  Love it!

Year 3, July 19th, 2018: Thursday, V5, The World of Holidays (aka Holiday World)

After a late night, we were able to sleep in because, we were right on the border of the eastern and central time zones.  Our hotel was less than 30 minutes to Holiday World, but the hotel is on Eastern time and the park was on Central time.  That meant, we could leave at 10 am from our hotel, but be at Holiday World by 9:30am.  That totally worked in our favor!  I was able to methodically get us ready, everyone pre made their sandwhiches for lunch, kids could have some calming electronic time, sunscreen could be applied beforehand, etc.  The main part of the park doesn't open until 10 am anyway, so we had plenty of time to get scanned in, bags checked, get our family picture and little kids' rides started.  Gary, Benaiah, and Justin made a beeline for a certain roller coaster as soon as the big part of the park opened, and then did the same thing for the water park, which opened at 11 am because they like the more popular big rides.  Jared, Leah, Keturah, Abishai and I took it much slower and the kids rode on most of the littler kid rides.  Keturah was so cute showing Abishai around and helping him on the rides where a parent didn't have to go on it with them.  I think this is her 2nd or 3rd time to this park.  The boys went with Grandma and Grandpa when they were 4 and 7 yrs old and camped at the Rudoph camping park.  We also went in spring of 2012 right before we left for Canada.  We were supposed to go the previous fall, and had stayed there overnight, but that Saturday morning I got the phone call that my Dad might not make it through the day (he died the following Monday).  Then Gary and Leah took Justin and Keturah in 2016 before the rest of us got back from Canada.  So I guess this trip was Justin's 4th time, Benaiah's 3rd, Keturah's 3rd, my 2nd, and Abishai's 1st.  I don't know if/when Jared would have gone before we were married.  Probably once or twice at most.  It's nice going to a place you've been before so you aren't scrambling to figure out the layout of the park or what you need to bring into the park or not. 

One thing about Holiday World that we love is that a significant portion of the park is dedicated to the little kids.  I'm not talking about one little splashpad for the 0-5 yr olds or a roller coaster and carousel.  I'm talking about a good 1/3 or or more are accessible to them.  There are other amusement parks within the same driving distance that have a lot more of the bigger roller coasters and water rides for the pre teens and up, which the boys love.  We also love Holiday World because you get free water and pop all day, plus free sunscreen.  They have lots of shade from trees and awnings, benches and lounges (in the water park), are very good with checking safety on the rides, and have very friendly staff.  They are pretty strict on their rules about wearing clothing over your bathing suit when you are not in the water park and on height restrictions.  And because of all of this, we see more families in more modest bathing suits, and less of bunches of teens in their bikini's, which we appreciate.

And they have divided the park up into holiday themes, especially in the smaller kid areas, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July and Halloween.  They have "Dogiland" for some of the littlest kid stuff, too.  The water park is one big luau party theme.  At about noon, we met up for lunch at the large picnic shelter outside the park.  You aren't allowed to bring food into the park, but they also recognize that families do like to save money and pack their own lunches.  They even have a bathroom right there, outside the park, for guests!  You do have to get a special stamp in order to go back in, of course. And they didn't throw a fit about water bottles and didn't see my special snack bucket as I normally have on me.  They just don't want you taking in gobs of food instead of spending money on their food.  They did have a gluten free stand for pizzas and subs I noticed.  They also warn you not to abuse the pop fountains.  I.e., you can't fill up your own containers.  You use their small paper cups or buy an approved container.  Same with the sunscreen.  That should be obvious not to do that, but I find that more and more, people are greedy.  I know that they are already making a profit overall, but I also understand that for a business, everything has a cost.  There's no need to take more than we need.

After lunch we all went to the water park.  We put some of our stuff in very cool locker that opened via barcode on a wristband you wore.  No more keys to lose! And then we found a spot to put the rest of our stuff centrally located, like my kleenix box and my phone, both of which was necessary.  I thought about it too late that maybe I shouldn't be here with a runny nose.  But I don't have a fever and I'm not vomiting, and those are definitely no no's.  I didn't want to miss Abishai's first water park experience!  So yes, I kept my phone on me most of the time.  I saw several people where there phones in water proofed pouch on a lanyard and wish I had done the same.  But it all worked out.  I got a few pictures and videos, I left the phone with another adult so I could get in the pool a couple of times, and I knew what time it was since I don't own a watch.  I'm just not used to having to put it down.  The others left their phones in the car or locker, so I couldn't exactly communicate with them.  We did split up, but made plans to check back regularly, even after moving to a different spot from the little kid water slides to the elementary sized dump bucket and slides.  (which was colder water so I didn't get in).  Everybody got to a little bit of everything.  Jared and Justin got to go on a big roller caster.  Jared took Keturah on some big water slides.  Jared, I, Keturah, and Abishai got to go twice around the lazy river and hang out in the wave pool.  There weren't any high waves when were were there though because they are doing a dance show right in front of it.  Grandma got to the lazy river.  Abishai got to go down water slides all by himself and experience the big dump bucket.  Benaiah got to ride the Wildebeest 6 times!  It was crowded, but not overly crowded as it was a weekday.  The weather was pretty hot, which was perfect for the water park.  That made lines in the regular park much shorter, too.

And Abishai got so exhausted that he fell asleep in the stroller crying for Daddy when Daddy left with Keturah to do water slides!  He ate a granola bar and nodded off to sleep.  I covered up his bare skin to protect him from the sun and he slept fro 90 minutes!  And of course, then, he wouldn't go to sleep in the van until nearly 10pm on the way home.  This kid needs early bedtimes and no more naps!  I asked him, "What your day?" at a different Wendy's we ate for supper on the way home and he said, "Tired."  I think we've worn him out this week!  It's a good thing tomorrow is a totally at home day of rest for all of us.  Well, most of us.  The men have some e2 stuff to take care of and Benaiah needs to practice drums for next Sunday.  I have to make some phone calls and work through emails (and blog posts).  I wish we could truly be on vacation and not have to worry about taking care of work/business/ministry during these supposed days off.  But it's the nature of what we do.  We can never be truly disconnected from the world.  That's life in ministry and the 21st century.  I'm glad I've been able to keep up with social media and email, and even the blog.  It's very helpful to not come back to as much work.  We are leaving our data off on our phones as much as possible, too, so that is a nice disconnect and change of pace.  And now, if we can just rest up the next days so we can enjoy some cooler weather in Chicago next week, that would be great!

Since we didn't have to leave until 10, the kids were able to play board games with Grandma or catch up on their TV show watching.

Jared sent this picture to me.  Gorgeous butterfly!

Abishai's very first amusement park ride! (see other pictures below, they got out of order when loading).

That face says it all!  He LOVES the high thrill rides!

That's my baby up there!  Keturah did not want to ride it because she doesn't like the feeling of her stomach in her throat.  I don't blame her.  I didn't go on it either.  I was having a hard time breathing as it was.

Playing bumper cars with Daddy and Grandma while I took Abishai up to the Dogiland area to play on the playground.  They said they got stuck in a traffic jam and couldn't get out of it.  Bummers.

Big boys riding big rides!

Yikes! When did they get so big?

There was one operator for two rides so they had to wait a little bit to get on it.  No big deal.  The lines weren't long at all.

Kiddie Roller Coaster selfie.  Perfect sized thrill for the both of us.

Trainride around the dogiland included a covered bridge and the engineer reciting nursery rhymes as we went past the statuettes of them.

The Old Lady who lived in a shoe, Little Jack Horner, Little Bo Peep, Mary Mary Quite Contrary, and Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, were among the nursery rhymes we saw.

Can't have Holiday/Christmas land without the Nativity, yeah!

Keturah seems too big for these but too small for the bigger roller coasters.  She enjoys them though.

Awwww, heading back into the park after lunch.

Official Holiday World picture.  I wish others knew how to zoom in when taking pictures.  Next time we ask someone, I'll make sure they do.

This is the fishy ride that was Abishai's first amusement park ride!  Keturah looks very content.  She like the water park better.

Abishai's First Amusement Park Ride

He was thrilled to be big enough to do these rides on his own.

Rocket ship ride! And I'm grateful that they have canopies or trees over most of these rides, too.   Smart thinking.

Keturah did go on the up and down ride the first time Abishai did it.  He looks so little in there!

Santa's sleigh carousel.  Again, they loved it!

Aww....again!

4th of July zone.

Boston Tea Party is just an example of how they label things in each themed zone.

Red pop to start out our day means a red drink mustache.

So thirsty!

Playing on the playground waiting on the others who were at the bumper cars.

Just a few kids having fun.

Want to go on a jungle safari?

Bye!  The other boys were with Grandpa riding the big rides.

Beep, beep!

I drive!

Abishai again was THRILLED with the higher thrilled rides, including the roller coaster!  He didn't put his hands up, but he didn't cry either!

Just a few ups and downs.  Simple yet thrilling for wee ones.

They got to go around twice.

Keturah and I's turn!

I tried putting my hands up, too.

On the train ride around the dogiland.

Christmas zone.

Lunch at this nice picnic area outside of the park.  Yes, it can be a long walk, but at least they provide tables and shade!

I love the little village area where some of the indoor, air conditioned sit down restaurants are.  The park is always super clean as well.  No bees around trash bins or trash on the ground.  It's a great family place.  You can also rent wagons and wheelchairs.

They have a ton of different water slides for Abishai and Keturah's ages!  I really appreciate this about Holiday Park, they don't just give them one thing per age, but multiple.  Abishai loved going down them by himself, although sometimes he would get a mouthful of water at the end.

Adults weren't allowed to go down them without kids in their laps, so I didn't do them, but they are my speed.

Yes, that's Abishai going down all by himself on his stomach not afraid at all.

Keturah's turn down the same slide.

Abishai is in the center of the picture off to the right of the center a bit.  He didn't have floaties on.  The water came to his waist and he was so confident wading through it.  I'm not sure how it's going to go when I take them to our little water park back home.

Abishai loved doing this double slide with Jared.  I also did go down it once.  Jared let him climb up to the top platform of all these slides by himself, which made me really nervous.  There wasn't a lifeguard up there telling the kids when to go, but a series of green lights and red lights.  Abishai kept cutting in line, too, when we weren't up there with him.  I think there was a little too much freedom.

All of these are for the little ones Keturah's size and smaller.  Right behind this is the smaller wave pool we went in.  But despite being in there for 20 minutes, there were no big waves because a different "show" was being done.  Kind of bummed about that.

Not every moment was a good moment. Poor little guy balled when Daddy left with Keturah to do some of the bigger water slides.  I mean weeping and wailing, "I want Daaaadddddyyyyyy!!!!!!!"  He cried so hard that after a granola bar and a drink of water.....

....he fell asleep for a good 90 minutes.  It was hot but I went ahead and covered up any exposed skin so he wouldn't burn.  I think this will be the last time he actually falls asleep like this in public.  He's growing up too fast!

Finally, my favorite area of the water park was reopened.  They had been fixing some pipes when we walked by the first time.  This dump bucket playground has so much going on!  4 medium water slides perfect for Keturah's size.  I remember going down them the last time we were here and them being perfect for me.  The water this time around felt much colder than I had remembered, so I stayed out of it.  The other kids' area had warmer water, as well as the wave pool and lazy river.  It took a little bit before Abishai was comfortable with all the activity, but he soon loved it, even the dump bucket itself.    There's literally something for everyone here!

There goes Jared walking across a bridge with Abishai.  Kudos to Jared for giving up all the big roller coasters so he could help me and Grandma with Abishai.  He said he would love to do a couple of the big ones, but mostly, he just wanted to see his kids have fun and that's what he did.

Abishai climbed down this net into the water.

Lots of different water spouts and sprayers and water water everywhere!

And so many things to climb on!

Trooping through the water like he owns the place, because he does.  Call him "Aquaman!"  Next to the other DC character there, Superman, lol.

Climbing, climbing, climbing.

Dump bucket!!

Let's do it again!

Ready, set, go!!!  After this, was when we went to the lazy river, Keturah, Abishai, Jared, and I.  We went around it twice and Abishai kept going in and out of the tubes.  He couldn't touch the bottom, so he kept making me nervous.  Keturah also was in and out of the tubes.  They had 4 different sizes of tubes which was perfect for every shape and size.  I can remember when Benaiah was 4 or 5 yrs old and we got him to a water park with a lazy river in it.  Uncle Aaron was there as well, and he accidentally hit Benaiah in the mouth and Benaiah's front tooth fell out!  He told Grandma that when they drain the lazy river at night, they'll find his tooth!  Not quite, but it makes for an interesting story.  Jared actually hit Benaiah's mouth for a second time later that summer and his other front tooth came out.  Poor Benaiah.  Now he's bigger than the both of them, so they better watch out!

One of Jared's trees that he thinks he planted.  I think it looks like a Christmas tree or that they shaped it that way.  He says that's how it naturally grows.

So, he took pictures on my phone of his beloved trees because I was the only one who brought a phone into the water park.  Did I mention that we had to do the old fashioned thing of "meet me at this time at this place?" instead of texting each other?  Yup.  I don't own a watch, so I would have had to ask strangers what time it was.  I'm glad I brought my phone with me instead.  And next time, I'm going to get one of those waterproof pooches, too.

#treehugger

Last big ride of the day.  Jared took Justin on the Raven.  Jared prefers the usually smaller wooden coasters to the bigger metal coasters because they shake more.

There they go! In the best spot on the ride, the way back.

The others had gone on towards the cars, so it was just Justin, Jared, Abishai and I.  Cell phone service wasn't good at all in the park, so even when I tried to text them it wouldn't go through.  They sat in the cars for a good 20 minutes because.....

.....little man had to ride the up and down ride for the third time and there was a little line before him.  #spoiledmorethantheothers

Thrilled to pieces!

Good bye Holiday World!

I guarantee you that the boys and Grandpa probably rode these bigger ones.  But I don't know which ones or what they are called.

Lots of redness on those cheeks from the sunshine.  No one got sunburned though!  Not even Jared for once!  I'm a bit itchy from a slight burn from earlier in the week.  But we all applied 30 spf sunblock on and some even reapplied theirs.  Yeah!  Plus, our kids had a good tan before we went anyway.

We ate at Wendy's on the way home, which has fairly safe options for me.  Benaiah saw this cool sauce called "Side of S'Awesome" and had to try it. He said it tasted great!  But not as good as the sauces at Chick Fil A of course.

Open road on the way home.  We got in very, very late because of the time change.  Thankfully, we were going to be home all day Friday and a good part of the day on Saturday to recover from our exhausting week!