This is the story of....

....Mike and Rachel on Vacation!!!

Day 1: 7/3/2008

We started out the day at 5:30

am with the intention of going to Holiday World theme park... so we got up early, packed the bags, and opened the door... to find that it was raining cats and dogs! You see, our apartment is incredibly insulated that you seriously can't hear the rain unless you are directly next to the window. Then on to Plan B: taking an actual vacation day by doing a lot of nothing!! YES! Just what w

e were looking forward to! Since it was 7am and we were wide awake, we went over to Bob Evans for a calorie-licious breakfast. Then back home to start watching Season 5 of 24! (The best season EVER) What a great day! After a while it continued to rain so we drove to Metropolis for a movie day! First was Hancock with Will Smith (a little weird, but good), then lunch at Panera, and Wall-E!

Here's a picture of us very excited to be on vacation:

Day 2: 7/4/2008

Alas! Plans once again thwarted by the rain! Our original plan for the 4th of July was to go boating but after checking out weather.com, we decided otherwise.... we pretty much laid around (what we really needed to be doing) and Rachel came down with a small case of cabin fever... which was somewhat cured by an afternoon of baking! Oh and just so you know, mint extract does not make a good substitute for vanilla extract in homemade chocolate chip cookies. Anyway, that night we really didn't feel like driving downtown and messing with crowds, so we went over to Plainfield to watch fireworks at Hummel Park, one of our favorite walking/rollerblading spots. The day was not a total loss! And yes, we were wearing sweatshirts!

Day 3: 7/5/2008

Finally a day out of Indy!! Saturday we headed to Santa Claus, IN (yeah I know) to Holiday World! Of course first came a trip to Bass Pro Shop in Clarksville, IN... and then we were off to ride the rides! We started out at the waterpark and it was so fun. Did I mention that this theme park has free unlimited soft drinks? Yeah you just walk up, grab a 12-oz cup and fill it up with whatever soft drink they have! Free of charge. Oh and they also have free sunscreen. At Holiday World, each section of the park is devoted to a different holiday, and the Christmas section was at the front. They had a life-size nativity scene at the front of the park, which you don't see every day. After the waterpark, we had some lunch and very large ice cream cones, and we were ready to hit the coasters! We were able to walk right up to 

one of the 3 rollercoasters at the park (all are extremely fast, wooden coasters), The Voyage, and I realized why there are only 3 coasters at this park. They will beat you up. I don't do well on wooden coasters because of the rods in my back, but I am stupidly fearless sometimes and just go for it. I was fine for the first 30 seconds or so, and then it got so fast and jerky and rough that I started to worry about my back. My screams went to cries toward the end and that's when Mike did the sweetest thing he's ever done for me. I'll never forget it... he let go of his bar and leaned over and wrapped his arms around me to keep me stable. I cried as we got off the ride, and I had whiplash the next day. After that ride, we both decided that we were definitely done for the day. It was all better later b/c we stopped at Sonic on the way home. Fun day overall!

  

Day 4: 7/6/2008

What a fun Sunday! After church we drove up to Peru, IN to Lake Mississenewa and went boating with our good friend Mike Rainey! Pro: I got to drive the boat, Con: I got sunburned! No really it was so fun. We only pulled the tubes around a little while, then parked the boat in a cove and talked for a while. Yeah, definitely could have used a girl-friend out there...

Day 5: 7/7/2008

On Monday we headed down to Petersburg, KY for the Creation Museum. What an amazing place! The whole museum was dedicated to the scriptures, and compared what the world tells us about "how we got here" to what the Bible says. It was so awesome, I would highly recommend it to anyone!

Day 6: 7/8/2008

Maybe not the best choice on our part... since it was the last day of our traveling vacation, we went into it exhausted. On Monday night we got a hotel in Lawrenceburg, IN and then went to Mason, OH Kings Island on Tuesday. Honestly we were too exhausted for another day at a theme park.... but we went for it anyway! After the water park we did one roller coaster and Mike was done for the day... but I was good to go! So I rode the Backlot Stunt Coaster (which is a ride based on The Italian Job-- the coaster cars are actually little Mini Coopers!) all by myself, which was a different experience. Maybe we'll do better next year!

So that's our vacation! Actually the last few days we slept in, read, did some laundry, watched 24, and just relaxed. NICE. It was a good time for us to focus on spending time with each other and saving money in the process. Only 365 days until our next vacation!!!