catch the moment: week forty-one

Gallery posted on October 17, 2014 by mommyinthemidwest

I’m on vacation. It’s our last full day here, but I didn’t want to miss a week of sharing my Catch the Moment post. I have to say that I am pretty disappointed in the photos I’ve taken here with my DSLR. I pictured sunset sessions, catching the boys’ silhouettes with the larger-than-life sun sinking behind the horizon in the background. Well, that just hasn’t happened aside from our very first night here (and that was complete coincidence/luck). We’ve spent a few hours on the beach each day and then went out for dinner and/or some other activity, which always takes place during sunset. Also, I had issues with my lens getting some humidity inside a couple of times so that scared me…so did the thought of dropping my camera in the sand or water. I have taken a lot on my phone and we bought a disposable waterproof camera that you actually have to DEVELOP. It will be fun to see those. My plan is to compile all of my favorites, between my phone, husband’s phone, the disposable, and my DSLR, to make a sweet little memory book. Because what I need in my life is another project…

I forgot to actually link up last week but did share a link to my last post in the private Facebook Catch the Moment group. If anyone wants to see my week 40 pics, just go to the previous post. (I haven’t been blogging much lately – at all!) Visit Mindi, Sarah, or Stephanie to see posts from other members of the group!

281/365 – Wednesday, October 8th: Quick trip to the park on a nice afternoon. Looking back at this, it feels like it was 10 years ago.

282/365 – Thursday, October 9th. Being busy with packing means late night, not good pictures. Sorry, Niko, you don’t get to go to the beach.

283/365 – Friday, October 10th. I finally broke down and bought the boys dual screen DVD players for the car ride. They could not wait to get in the car and start watching movies. Really, the boys were perfect angels – I don’t know how much to attribute that to the DVD players, BUT. They did not sleep ONE wink during the whole trip.

284/365 – Saturday, October 11th: We broke up our drive into two segments. Friday we drove 4 hours and stayed with my best friend in Nashville. Saturday we got up and drove the remaining 7+ hours, arriving a little after 5pm. By the time we unloaded the car and got down to the beach, it was sunset. This was the first time the boys ever felt the sand on the feet and the waves on their legs. Pure magic.

285/365 – Sunday, October 12th: Lounging around the condo in the morning before hitting the beach.

286/365 – Monday, October 13th: Batman chasing sea gulls.

287/365 – Tuesday, October 14th: Napping in the sand. Does life get any better than this? There have been multiple times this week when I thought to myself, “have I ever been more relaxed than I am RIGHT now?” And to have this thought with my kids right next to me…what? Now THAT’S relaxed.

A few more vacation pictures to come next week on Catch the Moment, but I will also post more details about our trip once we get home and I am able to sort through them all better. Which photo do you like best this week? I kind of like the one of Ryan with the boys (Day 284) in the water the best because it just represents the beginning of such a wonderful week for us.

xo,

~C~

Disney vacation savings jar

Posted on August 3, 2014August 4, 2014 by mommyinthemidwest

Since Disney seems to be a big part of my world right now – some part my kids’ daily entertainment – future vacation plans, etc, I decided to just lay it all on the line and freely fly my Disney freak flag. There, I said it. I am in love with Walt Disney World.

I waste too much time googling and pinning all things Disney, like money saving tips, ways to surprise your kids with the news that they’re going, how to manage that LONG car ride with pre-schoolers, etc. I finally took it upon myself to follow through with something that caught my eye. One of the money-saving tips was to create a cute jar and throw your pocket change into it at the end of each day. Or dollar bills. Or Disney gift cards that you just happened to pick up at Target. Or you know, maybe your friends visit and want to empty their pockets in the jar. The idea isn’t necessarily that you will save up enough money for the entire trip, but maybe enough to pay for your food or some souvenirs. Regardless, it’s a fun way to keep a daily reminder that a Disney trip is in the future (however near or far) and to set some spare money aside when possible.

My Disney-loving cousin visited this weekend so I had her school me in the ways of the hot glue gun (I’d never used one before). I think the jar turned out cute – and I bet she’ll be making one of her own soon 😉 …thank you Cousin Kara!

I purchased everything at the craft store. A glass jar with lid, ribbon, and Disney stickers. Luckily Michael’s had TONS of Disney/Walt Disney World stuff in their scrap-booking section. I thought we’d have a hard time choosing a font that looked most like Disney but instead, the problem was deciding which Mickey/Disney stickers would work best on the jar’s shape. Easy Peasy.

Glued two ribbons together to give the savings jar a more festive Disney look.

Settled on glittery red letters for the word “dollars.” We ended up not using/needing the Mickey sticker that you can kind of see in the photos above so he’ll be going back to the store. Hey, $4 is $4! That’s $4 that can go in the jar!

I’m super pleased with how the jar turned out. I think it looks adorable and it wasn’t hard to do at all! We put a total of about $5 in there today just to get it going – I wish we were putting that much in there every day! Now to reserve our next trip…

~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~