Poppy Ford: YouTube Video Editor

Our first sleep-in for a week!  We relaxed in our lovely Courtyard Marriott room and played cards and playdough.  We have a fridge and microwave so were able to make cereal for breakfast.  Fred came over around 11am and we took him back to work so we could have the truck for the afternoon.  We did a little shopping and Poppy found some Minnie Mouse knickers at Target she fell in love with!  For lunch we went to McDonalds to play in the air-conditioned playground – I choose apple slices and milk as the options for Poppy’s first ever Happy Meal!  She hardly ate anything because she couldn’t wait to hit the slides and play with the other kids.  She wore herself out so we went back to our room for a sleep before picking up Fred from work.  We finished off our day with a run around and feeding the ducks at Rat Park (Girard Park – where the Nutria live).

When I asked Poppy what she’d like for breakfast this morning, she replied “A Roller Coaster!”  Fair enough!

Today we were on the road again and drove around 8 hours to Lafayette, Louisiana.  On the way we stopped at an outlet mall in Batesville, Mississippi for some shopping and then had lunch somewhere around Jackson, Mississippi.  My new plan to keep Poppy amused when she got bored was to let her play some of her games on the laptop.  It worked brilliantly and she was completely immersed for about an hour.

Goodbye to Madison – hello to Memphis (again!).  After a long and exhausting day on the road, we are back in Memphis and having an early night before another long day of driving tomorrow.  Poppy is coping really well as I have a bag of tricks with me in the truck and we take frequent stops!  We have also been listening to XM Kids radio channel which is really, really fantastic and makes us laugh.

After sleeping in this morning, we went into town for some shopping and lunch.  We packed up in preparation for leaving tomorrow morning then Poppy had a wee sleep before we all got ready for Amanda’s wedding.  Poppy had a fun time meeting all her American relatives and really enjoyed the bubbles provided instead of throwing rice.  The buffet was awesome and the dancing had Poppy spinning!  Lots and lots of love and happiness to Amanda and Levi.  Another late night put us in bed after midnight with a big day of driving tomorrow.

This morning we returned to Holiday World to spend some time at the Splashin’ Safari Water Park.  Before heading to the water, we went to the Official Measuring Station again.  Yesterday we had Poppy measured to see if she qualified for the more demanding rides.  The minimum height is 36 inches and she was 35 and a half!  So after dinner yesterday we bought her some new shoes with a little wedge heel…. and today she qualified!  This allowed us to take her on a few more rides and she absolutely LOVED them.  With her thrill-seeker personality type she couldn’t get enough of these theme park adventures!

After a morning riding some bigger rides and spending time in the water, we had lunch at the truck and visited the Santa Claus Museum.  The city where Holiday World resides is named Santa Claus, Indiana and the whole town has a Christmassy theme.  Fred bought a t-shirt saying “I’m on the Santa diet” then we encouraged Poppy have an hour’s sleep before heading back into the park and spending another couple of hours having fun.  After an icecream to finish off the day, we headed back to Bob’s house (around 2 hours drive) and finally got to bed around midnight.  It was a very exciting couple of days and Fred commented that he absolutely got his money’s worth seeing Poppy so thrilled!  I reckon one of the best moments was Poppy being measured in her new shoes… they cost $5 on clearance and made our day SO MUCH more fun!

Poppy had an unbelievable day in the sun at Indiana’s best theme park, Holiday World.  She was so exhasted after all her amazing adventures, she literally fell asleep in the truck before I could even buckle her seatbelt. We are staying at a local hotel and going back tomorrow to spend the day at Splashin’ Safari Water Park.