Christmas and Caves???

Ever wondered what -1 degrees feels like??? I suggest you keep wondering and hopefully NEVER have to experience it because it is FREEZING!!!!!!! That is the current temperature right now as I am writing this BLOG at 11:30pm. This morning when I woke up, it was 5 degrees...I thought that was cold! Here I am in my driveway getting ready to venture out on a trip to Southern Indiana with Ryan ...Like my beanie? My friend Liz made it for me for Christmas! Thanks Liz!!!Since we are both off until January 5th, we figured we shouldn't spend the entire time cooped up in the casa, so we hopped in our car and waved goodbye to our new hometown...

We wanted to start off our Christmas Break with a little Holiday Cheer, so we headed 3 hours south of us to the town of Santa Claus, Indiana!!! The drive was lengthy, but the scenery kept us entertained...even in the frigid weather, the surroundings were BREATHTAKING!!!We are enjoying the 4 seasons we get to experience living in the Midwest...even barren, the trees amaze us.Santa Claus, Indiana is located in the very southern part of Indiana, near Louisville, Kentucky. In fact, we briefly saw the skyline of Louisville on our way to Santa Claus.This is the ONLY town in the United States to be named after Jolly Ol' Saint Nick! Here we are in front of the Post Office.We had to stop at Santa's Candy Castle:

The castle was built in 1935:

We went inside and they had an interactive set-up where children could talk to Santa's elves. Here is Ryan trying to figure out if he has been naughty or nice...heehee :)

Here I am sitting next to the Christmas tree near the front entrance:

We ventured into the candy shop to purchase some tasty treats...

Ryan couldn't make up his mind- so many choices!!!

We finally decided on some carmel hot cocoa mix, candy cane variety pack (30 flavors to sample) and 2 hot chocolates to go...
We took our sweet delights and perused the town. Everything had a Christmas theme...
From museums....to churches...

the town hall...even the campground...

the hardware store too... Everything exuded Christmas and all of its wonder!!!

As we were leaving, we drove past "Holiday World." How appropriate that this amusement park reside in the town of Santa Claus- wouldn't you agree??? Holiday World is only open during the warm months- Don't let these clear blue skies fool you....brrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Holiday World opened on August 3, 1946; it was founded by Louis J. Koch under the name Santa Claus Land. Holiday World was the first themed amusement park in the United States.Here is Christmas Lake:

We also drove to the town of Marengo to check out its AWESOME cave!!!Here is Ryan at the cave's entrance:Picture of the "Reflection Pool:"

Boo!!! Did I scare you???
The cave is made of Limestone and is still considered "active."We really enjoyed checking it out...caves, Santa, I know we are NERDS- but that's what you love about us, right???

Here is Ryan trying to throw a coin at the ceiling of the cave...the coins stick to the mud, and become sort of a make-shift "wishing well" that is cleaned off every couple of years. The proceeds are donated to charity.

Those are some fine looking stalactites and stalagmites don't ya think??? That column is pretty amazing too!!!

Do we look cold...we had on SO many layers!!! Ryan made fun of me because I wore two jackets and long underwear...I may look like a sumo-wrestler, but at least I was warm...LOL!

Here is a pic of our tourguide, Leslie. She was a cutie patootie!!!We had a BLAST...if you ever decide to visit Indy, this is a MUST SEE!!!

We want to wish ALL of our friends and family a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We love and miss everyone!!! Thank you for all of your cards and gifts...we have had 3 things shipped to our house in the last week...we cannot even begin to tell you how fun it is for us to come home and see a box waiting for us on our porch from one of our loved ones...
Ryan and I have not bought presents for each other in 3 years!!! We were working so diligently to save money that we basically skipped giving gifts to one another. This year though, we are finally able to splurge a little on each other. To boot, our parents shipped us loot to open ( and homemade fudge to eat)!!! We feel like 5 year olds and are sooooo excited for Christmas morning! We are soooo immature!!!

This is right off State Road 37 in Noblesville. I wish we had a better camera...these pics DO NOT do this light display justice!!!It is put on by the John Deere tractor company....
I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE IT!!!!!
You know what else I love??? Being off for the next two weeks with my 3 boys!!! I am so thankful! Not a day goes by that I do not thank God for all the wonderful blessings in my life!!!

Until next time...xo