Santa Claus, Indiana!

Some of you may only know Santa Claus, Indiana, because it is the birthplace of football great Jay Cutler (gag. me. with. a. spoon.)  But not me - I've known Santa Claus, Indiana, for much better things than Jay Cutler - and probably since before Jay Cutler was born!  And a few weekends ago, I introduced my eldest to the fun, childhood joy that is Holiday World!

Can't you see the enthusiasm in their eyes?
I promise, they were excited on the way over. Something about the giant porcelin Santa Claus scared the bejezus out of 'em.

On Wednesday, July 27th (I know, I'm a tad behind.  Deal with it. :), Nana loaded up her two eldest granddaughters (and their Mommas..and the crowd favorite, Auntie MyMy :) in the Denali and headed over for a day of fun at Holiday World and Splash & Safari Water Park (the water park is a new addition since my yearly Flora Band Trip jaunts in middle school) - and what fun it was!  Besides the unbearable heat and humidity, we all had a really good time. 

First we headed to the 4th of July area where we found plenty of rides for the little ones:

Salmon Run, the first ride of the day.

Canoe-ing around.

Tanner's first driving lesson.

When I was growing up, this seemed like such a cool ride, and the road seemed so long!
As an adult, my perspective's a bit different.

Landrey drives Courtney & Nana in her (favorite) blue buggy.

After a while, the Mommas stepped in and decided we got to pick a ride.

Just me & Court?

No, no.  We convinced the girls to go with us.
Tanner likes it! (at this point)

At the end, Landrey was laughing and giggling with squeals of glee.
Tanner, on the other hand, was just squealing.

I think Courtney and I were also surprised by how different it is to ride a turn-around-and-go-up-and-down ride when you're thirty-ish.  To counter balance, next we tried a much calmer ride:

But Ack!  Scary!
(Tanner still talks about Auntie MyMy's tiger and his "real" teeth)

Only up-and-down.  Much calmer.

Next, we headed to a play area...

...where the girls drenched their clothes.

The obvious next place to head was Splashin' Safari Water Park where we traded wet clothes for wet swimwuits and had a blast!

...But not without a rough start.

After getting dressed in our swimsuit bests, we headed to the Lazy River...where Tanner wanted NONE.  OF.  IT.  I thought the lifeguards were seriously going to boot us out (either that or child protective services was going to be waiting for me at the exit gates).  There was lots of screaming and tears (and Tanner was upset, too :) but finallly, with coaxing, she gave it a whirl.  And guess what, folks?!?!!??!?!!  She moderately tolerated it like a pro (you thought I was gonna say she loved it, didn't you :)

Other than the Lazy River incident, Tanner and Landrey played and splashed and slid around the toddler areas of Splashin' Safari like they owned the place.  I didn't get pictures, unfortunately, because I was too busy playing with them!  (And, in case you're interested....I actually ended up getting Tanner in another lazy river later in the afternoon, where she sat with her bootie in an inner-tube - with only a smidge of coaxing - and floated.  Now THAT is progress).

All in all, Tanner and Landrey had such a fun day being cousin-besties at Holiday World!  They are so cute to watch and listen to - don't for a minute think that they EVER stop talking.

Bestie cousins after a fun day.
They were asleep in the car in no time!

Last but not least, I thought I'd throw in a pic of Illinois Elle, just for fun:

One little girl, one bushel of onry cuteness.

I have lots of blogs planned for the near future...so stay tuned! :)