Our Holiday World Trip

Yesterday we went to Holiday World with uncle Andy. As usual, the kids had a blast. It was interesting to contrast our experience at Holiday World with the King's Island trip we had last summer. In thinking about it, I would have to say, I like Holiday World a LOT better. Paramount's King Island has a bigger park, more rides, and they are branded with characters that are popular with the kids. But there were a number of factors with King's Island that I just simply did not like.

Getting in and out of King's Island is a nightmare and it takes forever. Holiday World is a little further away (distance-wise), but I can park much closer to the gate than I ever could at King's Island, and if I remember right, you had to pay a premium at King's Island for similar parking. Leaving Holiday World, even at the peak of traffic when the park was closing, was a breeze. No problem at all (and it didn't require a force a traffic officers either). Although Holiday World may not have as many rides as King's Island, they do have a very good selection of rides, and in some respects, I would say they even have a BETTER selection of rides - particularly with roller coasters.

I love the roller coasters at Holiday World. It is obvious that the rides were designed around the riders and not around the Park's need to cram as many occupants on the ride as possible. If you are a man over 6'2" riding some of the rides at King's Island is PUH (Pure Unadulterated Hades). Son of Beast is the absolute worst. I hate that ride and will never ride it again. It took an act of contortion to get on that ride and I regretted it the whole way. Uncle Andy complained that he feels completely beat up after riding SOB. I agree as do many others I am sure. I am 6'4" and of reasonable build. Regardless of my girth (again, not that substantial), the problem is with my legs. They simply do not fit on that ride. Tip to King's Island: If you are going to make your rides THAT cramped, make sure that you advertise the MAXIMUM heights for your rides. I'm thinking 6'2" is the cutoff. Top Gun is another ride that is terrible in this regard. If you are over 6'2" and would like to enjoy the rides WITH your kids, Holiday World is MUCH better. By the way, I read an article in the newspaper a couple weeks after our trip to King's Island where SOB (what an appropriate acronym) came to a sudden stop coming out of some high speed portion. I can only imagine that any tall persons riding on that ride had to come away from that with deep thigh contusions at minimum and broken femurs, shins, and/or clavicles at worst. Hopefully, they were not stuck upside down as well.

The rides that are available at Holiday World may not be as numerous as King's Islands, but there are plenty to ride and they are all very enjoyable. Their roller coasters are some of the best around. Even roller coaster enthusiasts from around the country who have experienced what the industry has to offer agree that Holiday world's offerings of the Raven, the Legend, and the Voyage are some of the best (all in the top 10). I agree. The rides may not be branded with popular cartoon characters, but honestly, the kids do not care (and I appreciate that they are watching their bottom lines and providing a family experience at an affordable price). The other rides Holiday World has to offer are every bit as enjoyable as the rides offered elsewhere by other parks. Like any park, the rides have lines, but they are not nearly so long, so kids are actually able to experience most of what the park has to offer, including the rides in their excellent water park.

Holiday World's water park (Splashin' Safari) is hard to beat and the great thing is that it's part and parcel of the bargain it is already to get into the park. Kids could easily spend the whole day in either part of the park, but because they can move through lines as quickly as they do, it's easy for them to fully enjoy all the park's offerings within a single day. If it's a little chilly, they can stay in Holiday World and if it's roasting, Splashin' Safari offers welcome relief from the heat.

Holiday World's attention to the park visitor is also evidenced by its free sunscreen stations and Pepsi soda fountains spread liberally throughout the park. We visited Holiday World a couple summers ago on what had to be THE hottest two days of the summer. We were roasting. The weather was PUH, but we were able to enjoy our time at Holiday World regardless without bankrupting the family because of the amenities Holiday World offered. Holiday World is constantly recognized for its family friendliness and it's park cleanliness. I don't think you can go much more than 30 feet without seeing a trashcan and for the most part I think the patrons are fairly self-policing as far as litter goes, but for the occasional litter-bug, the park employs a conscientious staff that does a great job of keeping the park very clean.

I will drive a little further to take my family to Holiday World. They are a hard bargain to beat for family amusement park enjoyment. Holiday World is quickly becoming a family tradition. Maybe if we ever get to the point we can buy a vacation home, it just might be in Santa Claus, Indiana. I don't think the kids would mind a summer of Holiday World.

Congratulations Nathaniel!

Nathaniel won the spelling bee at his school and is moving on to the regionals. Suprisingly, he studied very little (he even lost the book with the words he needed to practice for a while). He did get some help though. His great aunt Ginny (she is great, isn't she?) helped him at Granma Linda's B-day. If he wants to do well at Regionals, he is going to have to study more than he did this last time.

How Prettiful!

The other day, Becky decided on a whim to do her nails (a rarity) and pulled out a bottle of polish. Jeremy decided he wanted his nails done too and soon after Dallin and Ammon wanted theirs done as well. Becky obligingly painted the nails of the three boys a nice bright red. Nathaniel was out playing with friends, but I think it is safe to say that even had he been home, he would not have participated in the little nail salon. Later she rounded the boys up and came to pick me up at work (the van was broke and it was a school night for Becky).

Becky informed me of the pedi and manicures the boys had. Ammon decided that the nail polish was wearing old and he wanted it off. "I don't want this anymore. I'm going to wash my hands when we get home." That's when we set him straight about the permanency of nail polish and how it requires a special chemical to get it off.

Somewhere, somehow, Ammon did manage to get the polish off his finger nails.

That Sunday, Ammon was in primary and volunteered for a demonstration in sharing time with the rest of the primary. He had no idea what the demonstration was. Then the primary president asked him to take off his shoes and socks. Since his toenails were covered up, Ammon never bothered to get the polish off his toenails. The primary presidency and the rest of primary were shocked to see pretty painted toenails on Ammon when he took his shoes off. They had not singled him out (Ammon had volunteered) and they had no idea that his toenails were red. Needless to say, everybody got a good laugh out of it.

Aerial view of our land purchase

For those of you who are not aware of it, Becky and I purchased 3.5 acres of land this last summer with the intention of building on it in three years once Becky is out of school and bringing in another income.

For those of you not aware of it, Becky is working on a degree in nursing, and doing very well in her studies. She's aceing her studies and setting the bar high for her classmates. So far she has been getting straight A's. I hope this can translate into a higher salary when she joins the [paid] workforce.

Anyway, here is an aerial photo of our land (ala Google Earth):




You can see that the property has two old grain silo pads on it. They are both in good shape, so I think we are going to try and use them for something, like a gazebo and a greenhouse. We may even erect a tower above the gazebo and run a zipline down from it. We even have a game we want to play called zipline bombadier, where the zipline rider tries to release a water balloon from between their legs to hit any of the other players standing motionless somewhere beneath the zipline path. The players rotate with each pass. Three strikes, you're out and the last player remaining wins.

We have had other ideas for the pads. You can read about them and other ideas we have for the house on our personal blog at www.blawblawblog.com. Becky and I are going to the Home and Garden show today to get additional ideas and gather refernces for building. At this point we are gathering any and all ideas, and in three years we'll ascertain our budget and start prioritizing and whittling down from the money-is-no-object plan.

Did you get your invite?

If you are a member of the Law family, you should have received an invite to be an author on this blog. You should get an email with the subject line: You have been invited to contribute to bylaw's blog.

In the email, there will be a link to the Blogger sign on page. You will have to use the logon for your Google account. If you do not have one, there is a link where you can sign up for one. Once you sign in, you canstart posting to the blog.

If you did not get an invite, let me know and I can resend you the invite.

Welcome to the Law family blog!

This is inaugural post to the Law family blog. It is my Christmas gift to the family. I would have preferred to have lawfamily.blogspot.com as the domain, but unfortunately it was already taken. We'll just have to remember the blog is for the family of H. B. Law. I will send out an email soon notifying everyone of the new blog and providing family members with logon and posting instructions. I look forward to everybody's posts to the family blog in the upcoming year.