Holiday World!!

Right at the close of school, our family packed up and decided to do a little two day trip to a place we had never been: Holiday World!

Tom and Jen had been before, as well as several other people we know, and raved about the place. We've always wanted to go, and thought now was as good of a time as any! We decided to head down together and let the kids experience the fun!

Checking out the lazy river!

Our kiddos! What a cute little bunch :)

Aiden, Cameron, Ethan, Colin, Brooklyn, and Lola.

The fam--ready for a water adventure!

(possibly one of my new favorite family shots)

I should have known to trust this girl. Holiday World was as great as she said it would be!

I don't have a ton of pictures from day one, because we were in the water all day. The kids were exhausted by the time the park was about to close, so we grabbed something quick to eat, headed back to the hotel, and everyone was asleep in no time. Good thing--we needed good rest to get up and do it all over again the next day!

Holiday World is in a town called Santa Claus, Indiana. 

So, you can guess what the theme of the one hotel in town was, I'm sure!

The kids in Santa's sleigh

Cameron and Ethan were so excited--today we were going to ride some "land" rides--their favorite!

Love this family picture at the entrance of the park!

Colin did a very big boy ride (after muuuuuch convincing)--the Raven.

Then Daddy took the boys on the Scrambler.

I almost throw up just watching that ride. *shudder*

But they loved it!

The big (BIG) boys went on another coaster....

....and then did this one! I like to call it the Super Soaker.

Yeah....this geyser got them GOOD!

We did a few more "baby" rides for Lo and Ethan..... 

(Poor guy--he was just shy of the mark to ride the bigger boy rides. Like by 1/4 inch!)

{My amazing helper....Colin just adores his sister and would do absolutely anything for her!}

Even though they were meant for the littles, the bigs even had a good time riding them!

The canoe

Lolee girl loved this one!

I braved the one ride I can handle with the boys....

....the swings!

I was only sick for a few minutes afterward. LOL

The kiddie coaster

They loved this one, too. Could have ridden it 10 times.....oh, that's right. They DID!

While Daddy took the big boys on a few other rides, I took Ethan and Lola on the train.

The space was as cramped as it looked. I don't know how regular sized grownups fit in here....

seriously you don't want to know how long it took me to get back out.

But the effort of getting in the train was worth it for the smiles on these two's faces!

Holiday World was awesome, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. We will definitely try to make this a Summer tradition with our two families!

Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Haiti--part two

(You can catch part one of our cruise here!)

The next day, day four, we pulled into the port of Labadee, Haiti.

Royal Caribbean owns this whole area, and it was very beautiful!

Shane and I took a morning excursion....

....with Tom and Jen!

We all took a tiny boat out to a coral reef to go snorkeling.

It was very neat and Tom got lots and lots of good pictures with his underwater camera.

Then, we came back to the island, had a little lunch, and went bargain hunting. :)

The afternoon excursion was another boat ride to our own 'private' island!

Stopping to take a picture in front of our gigantic ship. 

It is really hard to understand the scale of one of these things--they are absolutely amazing!

Excited to get to our next beach *grin*

See how excited he is!

There it was!

We were actually a little disappointed with this excursion. 

The beach was very small, and there was to be no thrashing here, due to the lack of waves!

But we can make good of anything!

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Jen. She is such a fun loving person and I don't know what it is about this picture, but it just showcases her hilarious personality and I adore it! She made this trip so much fun for me.  Shane and I really are best friends--and I would have had an amazing time with just him. But something about having her there, in almost everything I did (and Shane having Tom, mind you--bonus!) just made it that much better.  

I love you, my fun-loving friend! I still giggle when I look at this picture 

and think of this moment arriving on our beach!

Shane and Tom, headed to seek out some fun

Right after these pictures, we decided to take some glass-bottom kayaks out and look at the reef we were right above. Unbeknownst to us, something was wrong with the kayak that Tom and Jen were in--and they ended up starting to sink! We had to row them to shore (which, I may add, was super difficult to do because we were all four laughing hysterically at the situation)....

Just one more hilarious memory!!

Then, some relaxing on the very quiet beach.

Ahhhhh.

Back on the boat, it was time for one more formal dinner....

...and a trip around the boat to take pictures of the beauty of it!

(Maps everywhere, in case you got lost!)

We saw a juggler that night for our show!

Not only could he do some amazing things, but he was fuuuunnnnny!

A view from the lounge by where we played cards every night. This is above the pool/spa area.

We had 'brunch' the next morning (because when you are up till 2 in the morning 

playing cards, it's hard to get up in time for breakfast!)

Then we just hung on the ship for our last day at sea.

It was the most gorgeous day!

Shane and Tom got word of a dodge ball tournament...well, Shane couldn't resist! 

So while Jen and I worked on our tans, Shane became....

A DODGE BALL GOLD MEDALIST!!

*giggle*

Last night....*sniff....last show!

It was a musical montage through the ages. This was....the 70's, you guessed it!

Off of the ship, and now waiting in the Ft. Lauderdale airport for our flight.

Still having fun! We just had an incredible time together.

Headed home!

We arrived back around 5 p.m. on Saturday night, almost seven days to the hour of when we left. 

Grandma Jane helped the boys make this sign for us!

Colin did all the drawing...love the cruise ship and the fish in the water. 

That kid is so creative!

It was an amazing trip--and hard to leave those beaches and sun behind--but I think

 we returned to some awesomeness that can not be found anywhere else!!