Indiana Beach

One of these days, I will learn important lessons about trips and retain the gleaned information. For now, I just keep repeating the same old lessons.

Lesson #1: Make a list of necessary items to pack over the course of the previous week. Then, just before you walk out the door, you can refer to the list and check off each item as you confirm it is in the vehicle. This would include things like ... a stroller, when you are taking a two-year-old to a location where there will be over ten minutes of walking, and a pack-n-play to assure safe sleep.

Lesson #2: Pack during the day before departure. Packing on the morning of departure, with husband absent and kids in a fever pitch of excitement, is neither fun nor effective. I should realize, by now, that they cannot contain their excitement in such circumstances. Even though they knew we were not planning on leaving until one, they pestered me the entire morning. It's amazing I didn't forget more. As it was, Bryce, in his impatience, threw everything I had packed into the back of the van. I blame his impatience for my forgetting the stroller and the pack-n-play. In the end, it turned out fine. We rented a stroller and Sean slept with Bryce on a big bed with a chair to keep him from rolling out.

Besides the fact that packing under pressure leads to forgotten items, it is also a sure-fire way to add to your pre-departure cleaning load. I spent the morning packing and straightening the house. (Bryce reminded me that this step was unnecessary. This is a big requirement for my husband, but not one I feel compulsive about. I did this for him, and yet, I was the one who returned to the house first with the little boys. He didn't see the house, until the following afternoon, when the little boys had reduced it to its normal state of near-tornadic appearance.) The boys spent the morning playing outside. In the press to leave, I hadn't noticed the mayhem they had wrought outside, but when I returned my headlights fell upon bicycles left in the driveway, sand littered all over, and a garage sure to raise my husband's ire.

Lesson #3: When attending Indiana Beach it is smart to put sunscreen on in the hotel room before you leave for the park. However, it is even more effective to apply the sunscreen again, when you are in your swimming suit (thus reaching areas you may not have covered when dressed in your t-shirt and shorts).

We usually ride the rides at the beginning and save our trip to the beachfront for just after lunch. Although my husband intended to accompany me and the little boys, as we were driving to the amusement park, I realized that Bryce's friend had forgotten his swimming suit and towel. Rather than return to the hotel, I suggested (yes - it was me, even though it benefited hubby and earned him a get-out-of-the-sandy-beach free ticket) that the friend use my husband's suit and towel. This meant that I was in the changing area, managing potty breaks beforehand, changing two toddlers and myself, juggling the swim bag full of clothes, shoes and towels, and - out of exhaustion - skipping the second sunscreen application. Now, I am sporting a brilliant burn, at the itching, peeling stage. Yah-rah!

Lesson #4: Put swimming suits on under clothes before heading to the amusement park. This would have cut down on the circus atmosphere of changing three individuals in a 4 x 4 foot cubicle. Can this be our fourth or fifth year of visiting Indiana Beach, and I still haven't gotten this lesson down???

Lesson #5: Pack a cooler full of nutritious foods and drinks to keep in the back of the vehicle. We love Indiana Beach, but the various expenses add up. We would never give up meals entirely there, because part of the appeal is in eating the foot long corn dogs and elephant ears. However, healthy fare is scarce in these amusement park settings (I believe we found a salad, but seldom find fruit or yogurt). And, redundant heavy food merely makes you feel uncomfortable.

After the beach-front (when hubby had his peaceful lunch alone), I had some quiet time in the van while YS took a brief nap. I watched a huge family (in two vans) return to their vehicles to grab some nourishment. Their fare was unhealthy (chips, cookies, water and pop), but I'm sure it saved them some money.

Lesson #6: If your husband calls to give you a list of last-minute things to do before leaving the house, don't scoff at the need for a list. Ask him to prepare the list long before, so you will know that every. Single. Possible. Detail is on the list.

My husband's list included the details you would assume any intelligent adult would remember to execute before leaving their home: take out the kitchen trash, dump the water from the humidifier, turn off all lights, check all windows, turn down the thermostat and set the alarm, etc. By two, Bryce had already packed the van and was champing at the bit to leave. I enlisted his help in checking the windows and lights. After setting the alarm, I had to go back in and disengage it because I had forgotten my cell phone still on the charger in my room. Finally, I secured the doors to the house, reset the alarm and drove off.

About twenty minutes into our drive, I realized that I hadn't checked the door from the garage to the outside. With an inkling that Trevor probably opened it, I made the dreaded call to hubby to tell him that, even with a list, I had failed to secure all the doors. He called his mother, and she got a neighbor to come lock the door leading to the garage. Groan.

I plan to read this post again for our next trip to Indiana Beach. Any bets on whether I will manage every detail??

Still, we had a wonderful time. We arrived just at the hotel's check-in time (see boys, it wouldn't have mattered if we had left one second earlier) and once our things were in the room, we went down to the pool. Hubby, who was driving from his parent's house (after visiting his ailing father for Father's Day) arrived and we gave him wet Father's Day greetings.

We had hoped to do a bit of riding on Sunday night, but when we arrived, we remembered why we never visit Indiana Beach during a weekend. That night, they were offering a special, and the place was MOBBED. The bigger boys played some games, and we returned to the hotel pool.

Monday turned out to be a perfect day. The forecast had suggested the possibility of thunderstorms, but the entire day was clear. The little boys enjoyed their rides just as much as the big boys. Here are some photos:







The afternoon engineer for the train (Sean's favorite ride, despite the scary tunnel bits) allowed both boys to climb up into the engineer's seat and ring the bell and blow the whistle. That was a rare treat. I tipped him with a generous two thumbs up!

If you want to view photos from last year's visit to Indiana Beach, head here. It is always fun to see how much my two little guys have grown in one year's time. Thankfully, Sleepy Bear made it through the whole trip without getting lost. He even rode with us on the large Ferris wheel.

Bryce and his friend rode the AirCoaster twice. This is one of those contraptions where they secure you in a life-vest attached to a bungee cord and raise you to an astonishing height. Then, they drop you and you swing back and forth. I'm sure this was thrilling for them, since the ride makes you fly out over the waters of Lake Shafer. But I'm not offering to ride it with Bryce any time soon.

In fact, it was interesting to contemplate what the next several years will be like. Trevor has grown more daring. He and Sean both rode the pirate ship ride with us (the large one which swings back and forth and makes your stomach lurch). As they become more daring, there is an exponential decline in their parent's ability to handle these rides.

My husband could only go on the Air Crow with Trevor once in a go (despite Trevor's desire to ride it repeatedly) because it made him dizzy. After pooh-poohing his sentiments, I rode the thing twice and found I couldn't handle it a third time either. Something about aging makes once thrilling rides seem less thrilling or enjoyable. Good thing these two little guys have a big brother or they might just have to ride things all alone in the coming years ... especially those "roaster-coasters" (as YS calls roller coasters)!

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For other Indiana Beach posts: a further 2009 visit, our 2010 visit, 2011 visit, and 2016 visit.