catch the moment: week thirty-two

Gallery posted on August 15, 2014August 16, 2014 by mommyinthemidwest

I just realized last week as I was looking at some other 365 posts that I’m ahead by a day on my days/dates. It was fine at the beginning of July…somewhere since then I have skipped a day ; I wonder if anyone else in the group is having trouble with this! Meh- I will figure out where I messed up eventually, because I plan to do something cool with this project – meaning (more than likely) a photo book – when it’s over. For now, I just wanted to explain why I ended last week on day 218 and I’m also starting this week on day 218 in case any of my fellow 365ers thought I lost my marbles (likely). Whoopsy!

Every week, I link up with our Catch the Moment 365 hostesses, Mindi from Simply Stavish, Sarah from Nurse Loves Farmer, and Stephanie from Behind the Camera and Dreaming to share one photo a day for the entire year. I know that I would not have stayed motivated without the support of the CTM365 community!

218/365: August 6, 2014 – Dexter’s first day of preschool. He’s adjusting. More about that soon.

219/365: August 7, 2014 – Dexter sleeping. I turned on the hall light and cracked the bedroom door to try to play with the light but didn’t have tons of luck. By the way, you can file this under: Forgot to take a picture until about 11pm.

220/365: August 8, 2014 – Friday afternoon shenanigans at the library.

221/365: August 9, 2014. A Saturday afternoon on the lake. As you can see here, we’ve done a great job of keeping sunscreen on Dexter’s fair little face this summer.

222/365: August 10, 2014. Our day at the Indiana State Fair. A Midwestern family tradition that we love.

223/365: August 11, 2014. Late, late, late night trip to the grocery. File under: Too busy to take a picture until I had a moment alone at 10pm right in the middle of the Kroger chip aisle. As a sidenote, this was the day Robin Williams died. 🙁 His life and death were the only thing I could think about as I wandered through the store.

224/365: August 12, 2014. Theo was proud of the “ship” he built and wanted me to take a picture of it. Sure, son. No problem.

My favorite pic this week? I dunno… it has to be a tie between that first-day-of-school cutie (day 218) and the firefighting astronaut (day 220). Which one do you like best?

~C~

indiana state fair – 2014

Gallery posted on August 13, 2014August 13, 2014 by mommyinthemidwest

A look back: state fair (2013) | state fair (2011)

First things first, we have this tradition every year that we go to the state fair (we didn’t make it there in 2012 due to being in the middle of remodeling our newly purchased home). We take a photo inside a tractor tire. I love doing this – we have several photos that we take each year. I enjoy comparing year to year to see how the boys have grown and this is one of my favorites. Dexter hasn’t been too interested in participating with me so far. Maybe next year.

It’s wild to see the similarities and differences from year to year.

A pit stop at The Dairy Bar to grab a delicious grilled cheese sandwich. The boys had American on White while I enjoyed Pepper Jack on Sourdough.

Funhouse mirror fun:

Last year we were disappointed that we hadn’t planned ahead for the boys to see the Monster Truck show. We failed to plan for it again this year, but felt lucky when we discovered that it was taking place Sunday during our visit. The boys were extremely intrigued! They enjoyed it for a while but after about 45 minutes, Theo’d had enough of the loud engines and was begging to go. Ryan and I pouted a little and Dexter just goes with the flow so he didn’t protest. Wouldn’t you know, it wasn’t long before Mr. Grumpy Pants was passed out, fast asleep.

Since Theo kind of ruined the Monster Truck show for the rest of us, we rewarded Dexter’s good behavior by allowing him to choose a ride to ride. I was not planning to do any rides – I’m just not a fan of fair rides – I don’t trust them at all. So this was a big deal for me, letting him ride these darn boats!

Theo continued sleeping for a bit longer so he missed out on the meet n greet with this Dino. Dex was ALL ABOUT it until we got in line. Then he said “I want you to go with me, Mommy. I want you to hold me.” So I passed my camera off to Ryan and thank goodness I did… we were NOT expecting Dexter’s reaction when T-Rex roared and the lady pictured below tried to hand Dexter the dinosaur’s chain for our photo op. It was so funny and cute. He did get over it and smile towards the end of this brief interaction but those pictures weren’t as adorable. After about six and a half hours we wrapped up our day at the fair. Another Midwest annual tradition done and in the books!

xo,

~C~

Holiday World 2014

Posted on July 25, 2014July 31, 2014 by mommyinthemidwest

So as I mentioned in my CTM365 post, we visited Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari July 17-19. I had never heard of it before moving to Indiana and although it’s about a three hour drive, the park is promoted heavily at home on TV and radio. We had been wanting to go and had talked about it off and on for several years, so when another long-weekend trip we’d planned fell through, we quickly booked our mini-vacation to Holiday World and invited some friends to join us.

Anyway, Holiday World opened in 1946 and has grown into what it is today. Allegedly TIME Magazine rated The Voyage the #1 Wooden Rollercoaster in the Nation* and in 2013 USA Today proclaimed Splashin’ Safari to be the Best Water Park in the USA*. {*SOURCE}I haven’t been on THAT many wooden coasters or to THAT many water parks, bu

t I’d definitely hesitate to disagree with those claims. It. Was. Awesome. We had a blast from the time we got Thursday morning until we pulled away Saturday morning.

Things that I want to brag on Holiday World for:
1. Free tea, gatorade, water, soda, and lemonade all day long. Plentiful. Oasis stations at every turn. Amazing.
2. Free parking. All the time.
3. While we didn’t use theirs, they do offer free sunscreen stations in the water park. 4. The water park and amusement park is all offered at one price. The sections are connected and you don’t have to leave one to go to the other. It’s all one big happy place.
5. So clean. Immaculate. Lots of shade and just a pretty place to walk or take a look around.
6. Tons of attractions for the little kids (at least ones that are 36″ or taller) – from mild to wild.
7. The food. We ate lunch and dinner in the park both days along with snacks and everything that we had was GOOD. Not just so-so but actually really good. And fairly priced. They miss so many chances to bleed their customers dry but they don’t. It’s a refreshing change from any other theme park I’ve been to.
8. Everything. All the stuff. I just loved it and can’t wait to go back.

P.S. Am I getting paid for this mini “review” or was I given tickets? I wish. I just love it that much. On July 24th they announced the next addition to the park – their first steel coaster, the Thunderbird, new for 2015. Definitely ground-breaking and already has me looking forward to our next visit. I can’t wait for Theo to get big enough to ride roller coasters — he is already asking when he will be tall enough. My little adventurer.

Moving on from my new obsession — how about some photos? I didn’t take a lot and while it stings a little to know that I missed a lot of great photo opportunities, I’m okay with it because I really took advantage of living in the moment and making the most of our trip. I didn’t take any photos at all around the water park but my friend was kind enough to share ones that she snapped on her phone with me.

Someone crashed out during the water park both days!

Karate-chopping those geysers!

Look at these little buddies riding the canoes. Big enough to ride without mom and dad. They really thought they were something — splashing each other and breaking the rules by not keeping their hands inside the boat!

Just riding some other rides:

The first place we ate in the parks (yum)…

not the first or last map study breakout session.

End of the first night. Gorgeous weather. We got so lucky.

Dex passed out at the water park Thursday night and I couldn’t bring myself to wake him up just to change his clothes so this is how he hung out for about 2+ hours.

L snoozin’ away.

Obligatory Holiday World posed photos:

I just love looking through all these pictures. I know these are memories that we will always treasure and look back on so fondly. This post has gone on long enough so I’ll shut it down but psst… in case you haven’t heard, you should go to Holiday World sometime.

xo,

~C~