We headed for Holiday World shortly after breakfast and made it a few minutes after the 10am opening. Michael and I were both shocked at how many people were there. When we talked about going a few weeks ago, we specifically chose to go on a weekday when most of the schools had already started. Kindergarten starts a week after the regular school at St. Henry and it looked like public schools in Indiana would be back in session, so we thought it was be the perfect time. I guess a lot of other people had the same idea.
The parking was free and really close to the theme park entrance which was really nice. I was also really glad that we purchased our tickets in advance, because the line to purchase tickets was ridiculous! It was HOT when we arrived and we were pretty much all already sweating before even entering the park. I really wanted a picture with the Santa Claus statue but there was such a long line that we planned to do it on the way back. There ended up being a long line all day, so we chose to skip it all together.
We headed straight for the 4th of July section of the park to the Holidog section, which is where the majority of the kiddie rides are. We stopped at Eagles Flight on the way and the boys had a blast riding it. We didn't ride many of the rides, but it ended up being their favorite. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them riding the ride.
Next was Holidog Section. When we walked up their was a dance party going on. Unfortunately, they didn't stop to take pictures with anyone, which Patrick was pretty bummed about.
We instead decided to take a picture with the Holidog statue instead
The boys ran to the playground to play for a few minutes. The slides were already really really hot, so they only played for a few minutes.
We jumped on the Holidog Express train next, then the Doggone Trail. Peyton and I rode the Howler and it was a terrible ride. It was so rough and Peyton hit his head. He decided he did not want to ride any other rides after that.
None of the boys were tall enough to ride any of their famous wooden roller coasters, so we decided it was time to head to the water park portion of the park. We changed the boys in the family bathroom and then rented a locker for the rest of our stuff. The bathrooms were fine, but it took a long time to change everyone, so I would definitely change the kids into their swimsuits under their clothes before entering the waterpark.
The first water park as you walk in is Monsoon Lagoon. It is a little overwhelming at first with how much is going on, so they were all a little timid at the beginning. We played for a little while and Michael was ready to try one of the big water rides. While Peyton, Conor and I stayed at Monsoon Lagoon, Michael and Patrick decided to try one of the bigger water slides. Patrick was tall enough to ride any ride in the water park. He looked at how big the water rides were and was a little intimidated, but decided to go on it anyway. Michael said he was terrified the whole time. Sweet Peyton fussed the whole time about not being able to go with daddy and Patrick. So if you have younger ones, I wouldn't even attempt the bigger slides. There is plenty to do without going on the really large rides.
Monsoon Lagoon gets crowded since it is the first one in the park and it is for little kids as well as bigger kids. So after a while, we decided it was time for lunch and we headed to the back of the park for a little lunch. Most of the places serve the typical hot dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets and french fries. It was so hot that Michael and I decided to try out Wildbeestro, which was the only place in the waterpark that had a few wraps and sandwiches. It was a hike to the back of the park, but I am glad we decided to try that place out. Hard to eat greasy hot food when it is 100 degrees outside and you are in a bathing suit :) Michael and I both put our phones in the locker, so I don't have any pictures from the first part of the day.
After lunch we headed to Safari Sam's SplashLand, which was definitely the kids favorite part of the waterpark. It had 8 different kids slides in 1 foot of water, so it was absolutely perfect for their age group. The only way to take pictures is to take your phone and wade out into the water with a bunch of other people splashing, so I only have a few pictures of the boys. They literally played for 2 hours running up and down and sliding constantly.
Their favorite slide
Sweet little Conor napped the entire time
Then came every parents nightmare....we lost Peyton. Yes, he ran away and we lost him for 20 minutes. 20 minutes is an absolute eternity for a scared parent. It was easily the most scared I have ever been.
So let me back up and explain what happened. Conor was napping in the stroller, so Michael was sitting at the entrance while Conor napped. He was sitting at the only entrance and exit. The boys could not leave without passing within a foot of Michael. His cell phone was in the locker, so he was actively watching the two older boys from a little farther away, while I was wading in the pool watching them.
For a little background, we rely heavily on the buddy system in this house. Since the boys and I try and do a lot of activities in the day, it is difficult for me to keep up with the two big boys (who are both still very small themselves) while I am helping Conor as well. Patrick and Peyton know to stay close to each other and look out for one another and to not be far in front of me. I have to put a good bit of trust in Patrick and he does a really good job of helping me keep Peyton in check. Because let's be honest, three year old boys are runners and have trouble keeping up with the rules. If they don't follow this rule of the buddy system, we go home. They know this and do very well with it.
The entire day the two boys stayed together and went down the slides together. Well Patrick was getting tired and hungry, so after he slid down a slide he made his way over to me. I was standing in the water watching them. Peyton didn't notice that he made his way over to me and went up the stairs to go down the slide again. I glanced at Peyton, saw that there was a long line for the slide and figured I had enough time to take Patrick the 15 feet back to the stroller while still keeping an eye on Peyton. I turned for maybe 30 seconds to walk back to the stroller and glanced back and couldn't see Peyton. I thought he was just in line and someone was blocking him, and that I just couldn't spot him. So I quickly made my way back to the slide and went up the stairs to look for him. I looked everywhere and could not see him anywhere. I started to panic and I went back to the stroller and told Michael he needed to look for Peyton and maybe I was just missing him. Again, Michael was sitting by the only entrance and exit.
Michael couldn't see him either and immediately alerted one of the lifeguards who are all actively walking in the water. There are no lifeguard stands at this place, they are actively in the water with you. He immediately alerted every lifeguard in the entire place over his walky talky. They came over to get a description of Peyton, which was very easy since I dressed all of the children exactly alike. It was easy for him to give a very thorough description to everyone else in the water park by what Patrick and Conor were wearing.
Michael confirmed that there was only one entry and exit to this water park. However, we discovered later that there was one other very difficult place to get out. There was a gate around the entire water park except for about one foot. However, there were prickly bushes there and you would have to crawl through the prickly bushes and then jump over a wall. You would have to pretty motivated to get out there. It was, however, right next to the stairs that Peyton had gone up to go down the slide. Peyton can swim, but he isn't that strong of a swimmer and he did not have on his water wings. I stood at the entrance, and searched from farther away with Patrick and Conor (in case Peyton came back) and Michael ran out to the rest of the park. The concrete was hot and Peyton didn't have on his water shoes, so I was surprised that he would jump out. Michael mentioned that every person he ran past in the entire place was on their walky talky saying over and over three year old boy, blonde hair, blue eyes, turquoise blue whale shirt missing. There were also a bunch of other parents that heard and were helping us search.
Michael did not have his cell phone, so he decided to run to search for Peyton on the way to the front of the waterpark to grab it so we could communicate with each other about looking for him. He also wanted to be towards the front of the park in case anyone was to grab him and try and take him out with them. I heard another mother mention that a little boy had been yelling mommy really loudly and it fit his description. It's how we figured out how he got out of that portion of the water park in the first place.
I finally had a lifeguard run up to me saying that someone brought a little boy to the front of the water park but that he wouldn't tell them his name. I grabbed Conor and Patrick and started running towards the front of the park. Both boys did not have on their shoes, and I didn't want to take the time from searching or finding Peyton to put them on. So I ran holding both Patrick and Conor (who are both 30 pounds) on my hips the half mile to the front of the park. I heard the lifeguards walky talky say that the boy finally said his name was "Paxton." Peyton is so shy and I was assuming they just misunderstood him. I cannot explain the moment I saw that sweet little boy. I was pretty much sobbing when I saw that precious child. I immediately texted Michael who thought I meant that we had found him at the front of the entire park, instead of the front of the waterpark and he ran almost the whole way there.
It was an experience I wouldn't wish on either other parent ever. I was beyond thankful we found him. I was also thankful for how helpful the employees were. You could tell they had been trained on what to do. Employees came out of the woodworks to search for him. You couldn't walk a couple feet without hearing his description and the employees searching. The people there were also so helpful. When I heard they found him, I ran without my stuff. Some people yelled to me if I wanted my stuff and I pretty much said no (I was actually thinking... fuck the stuff I can buy new stuff but not a child). When Michael went back to get our stuff, some of the families were guarding it and still looking for Peyton. It was amazing how helpful everyone was.
I would also highly recommend dressing your children alike. It was very easy for them to know exactly what he looked like. And you could see a lot of employees glance back a few times at us to remember what he looked like since they were all dressed the same.
I was ready to leave after the whole experience, but Patrick was pretty much in tears the entire time Peyton was gone. He was so worried someone took him and he kept saying over and over again that he really wanted his brother back to play with. After we found Peyton he gave him the biggest hug and told him he was so worried and to never do that to us again. It was precious. So when Patrick asked to go to a different part of the water park because he had searched so hard for Peyton, I just couldn't tell him no. We went back to the very back of the park to a new area called Kima Bay.
Can you spy Peyton on the bottom slide? He loved that orange slide.
Peyton is still so excited to be there. I think his excitement was what got him lost in the first place!
The water park closes an hour before the rest of the park, so we decided to grab some ice cream on the way back at Kringle's Ice Cream. It was PACKED and I think everyone else in the park had the exact same idea! That smile was definitely worth it though.
We stayed from open until close and the children still begged to come back to the water park the next day. We had planned to do other activities the next day, but they were too excited about the water park so we bought a next day ticket before leaving for a discounted price.
Angry bird suckers on the way home
Off to the hotel for dinner and some much needed rest!
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