No need to back your bags. You don’t have to travel far to visit the largest indoor train display in the world! It’s right in Butler County!
Let’s go on a ride through our visit to EnterTRAINment junction last weekend!
Two weekends ago Derrek and I took the boys on a road trip. Derrek had been planning a little day trip for us to go to the Outdoor, Travel and Boat Expo in Indy. I typically like to take things to the next level so as soon as he told me he was planning a day trip, I was thinking over night trip. I googled some places to stay and not much stood out to me. Last minute, I was on Instagram and noticed one of my favorite Indy bloggers to follow Kathleen Post (click to follow her, she’s adorable!) shared her stay at Iron Works hotel. Her photos of this hotel gave me all the feels. After seeing the decor and visiting Iron Works website, I knew we had to stay.
So remember when I told you my family and I were stuck on the cruise during Hurricane Irma, Jose, and Katia? Well we ended up making so many friends from all over the world. It was incredible. One friend in particular is my new found friend Amy. She’s a beautiful flight attendant from Sweden who I feel like I’ve known forever. We started talking on the cruise and continued our friendship through out the past couple months via social media and sending silly face filtered snap chats.
Last week Amy got on a plane and flew 14 hours to spend Thanksgiving week with my family and I. I picked her up Monday night with a week full of fun in store. We had an absolute blast! My children fell in love with her. She flew home Sunday and the boys are telling me they miss her already. My husband, Derrek, enjoyed their love of making fun of me and my blonde self 😑
(see their face swap below)
The day before Thanksgiving we packed up the car and headed off to Holiday in Lights at Sharon Woods. We were excited to share one of our favorite traditions with Amy while she was visiting.
Holiday in lights is a little over one mile drive through the woods with a beautiful light show. We listened to Sia’s new Christmas album (highly recommend) and sang and danced in the comfort of our car. We gasped at the beautiful light tunnels and laughed as we seen animals and dinosaurs in the lights. We were so excited to even see Saint Lucia representing Sweden. A little piece of home for Amy.
The boys loved all of the lights and music. Trevor kept yelling “turn this song up!” Amy said there was nothing like this back home to celebrate Christmas and she enjoyed it very much. Sharon Woods even has a Santaland inside with refreshments, entertainment, and Santa himself! This part wasn’t open when we went, but we will definitely be back for Santaland! Local? I highly encourage you to check out this light show and Santaland.
Click Here for information and even a coupon! I recommend adding Holiday In Lights to your list of holiday traditions.
After the light show we did what any Americans would do and go out for pizza.
We decided to check out a new pizza place we have never been to called Pizzeria Locale. It is a cross between Italian fine dining and fast food.
You order your pizza any way you’d like it, and they toss it into their 900 degree fire oven…two quick minutes later and your pizza is ready to enjoy.
The boys shared a cheese pizza while Amy and Derrek ordered pepperoni. I am a little more bold decided to try the 4 cheese mushroom.
The pizza was amazing. It tastes like it took way more than 2 minutes to make!
The boys were very excited to try the Nutella pizza for desert (my new favorite desert) The boys fell in love too. Even Amy who “doesn’t really like sweets” enjoyed a slice.
We had such a fun dinner out. The food was so good. We laughed so hard and made some real fun memories. The customer service at Pizzeria Locale was great! They really took care of us. We will be back again for sure. I want that Nutella pizza right now as I write this.
Click Here for information on your local Pizzeria Locale.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Stay tuned for more fun with Amy here on the blog. We really enjoyed her stay and can’t wait for her to visit again…or me to hop over to Sweden.
Xoxo
Ddotts
This beautiful weekend we've had in Cincinnati has inspired me to throw this outfit up on the blog. Fall is hands down my FAVORITE season for fashion…HANDS DOWN! Give me all the jeans/boots/sweaters! I'm literally counting down until fall/winter right now when I should be looking forward to my cruise next month. I'm thinking my new found work schedule may be swaying my love for the fall/winter months so much more! Working in a school I now get the same holiday schedule as the boys.
Can I get a snow day?!
I am leaving some fall inspo here for you to check out! I'm loving everything about this outfit. This top in incredibly soft and I love the print. Buy it here! I actually have the background on my phone as a floral print very similar. These jeggings are Gap, my favorite fall color: olive. These wedge booties are my favorite obsession. I wear them everywhere…even girls night out this Friday. They're as comfortable as slippers but look like I actually care what I look like out in public. Check them out here and shop Savvy Wool!
As I was putting this post together I was on Pink Blush getting links and decided to step back from fall and think about my upcoming trip. Be on the look out for more details on this adorable off the shoulder teal/floral number I just snagged. I will be stalking the mail man until it comes. Pink Blush is amazing…I'm warning you. You will not get clothes anywhere else once you feel how soft it all is.
Side note: washing is also very easy and everything is still just as comfortable and soft! Cold wash-hang dry!
I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday. Enjoy the peace of the weekend as you prepare for another week ahead 🙂
xoxo
Ddotts
How we made a day trip out of our “Day Out With Thomas” train ride adventure!
Last summer we drove over to Connersville, Indiana for a fun Day Out With Thomas train ride! We had a little 45 minute drive so I decided to surprise the boys and make a day trip out of it! You’ll find everything you need in this blog to create a jam packed adventure of a day trip!
It’s the week before Christmas and all through the house, the family was packing for a vacation down south!
I call my husband & say “we are going to take a vacation to Paintsville, Kentucky the weekend before Christmas! I’ve got it all planned and taken care of.”
-This is typical Shelbie behavior…I tend to do and not ask.
My husband and I have been together for 10 years now. He has adapted and learned to say “okay”, go with the flow, & hold on tight! I don’t think I’ve ever steered him towards an adventure he didn’t enjoy!
Saturday morning we got up and hit the road.
We packed up the kids with some road trip essentials:
- snacks
- water
- baby wipes
- books
- country music (fun fact: Paintsville is home to Loretta Lynn, Chris Stapleton & many more amazing music artists!)
We only had to make one bathroom stop the entire 3 hour drive…and it was actually just for the husband and I!
We stayed at The Ramada in Paintsville. We pulled in to see the entire outside decorated with Christmas inflatables! Santa, snoopy, snowmen…so fun for the kids to see! We walked in and the inside was even more decorated than the outside! I can’t even explain how beautiful! Trees everywhere…all with different themes. Some trees even rotated! I’ve never seen a hotel more beautiful and unique. We rode the glass elevator up to our 3rd floor room. Looking out the glass you seen what looked like a beautiful town…inside! Cobblestone floors, a beautiful fountain in the middle, balcony with outside looking windows, spiral fire escape style staircases. The restaurant inside the hotel blended into the street look with a beautiful awning and welcoming front door. I felt like I was back home walking down Clifton Ave…I was blown away! Can I please have this inside my home? A bloggers dream! The room was just what we needed, a quiet place to regroup before we headed out to Mountain Homplace!
The reason we came to Paintsville was the Mountain Homeplace Christmas. It is a beautiful 1850’s working farm in which they decorate for Christmas. It was absolutely stunning. It was a beautiful night reaching 70 degrees! We couldn’t have asked for better weather. We arrived at the farm a little after 5pm. It already dark out. The Christmas lights strung lit the way. We visited the welcome center with tons of gifts and homemade jarred goodies. The boys rocked in the rocking chairs on the front porch while looking at all the lights. We then got a ride from a horse-drawn carriage covered in Christmas lights! It was not only the boys, but also my first time riding a horse-drawn carriage! We loved it!
We then walked down the lighted trail. The first stop was on the right to see a live nativity seen! The kids loved seeing baby Jesus in the manger! They hugged Mary & Joseph. We have read the story of Jesus’ birth plenty of times, but this was a great way for me to remind them of the story while they see it person.
We headed to a cabin on the left for hot coco and cookies (the absolute best hot coco I’ve EVER had!) We met with Jeremiah from Painstville Tourism, he gave us some amazing history on the cabin. He told us It had a pull away kitchen. In case of a kitchen fire, they would have hooked the horses up to actually pull the kitchen away, preventing the fire from spreading to the rest of the home. How cool is that? He also showed us the gutters on the cabin roof proving it would have been a luxury home at the time. The family who built it were considered wealthy. We headed down the trail to the church. This was absolutely breathtaking. We walked in to hear Christmas carols being sung from the choir. We sat down and sang along. After the caroling, a sweet woman asked if the boys would like to hear a story. She brought them to the front and let them pick from a healthy selection of Christmas favorites. Trevor would have stayed all night picking out books to read. Her story telling was interactive and engaging. The boys were in awe! I could have walked the trail all night. It was perfect. It really encompassed everything Christmas is about…family, faith, fun. This was a beautiful reminder, Jesus is the reason for the season. Spending time with family and loved ones holds more value than any item wrapped under the tree.
We went to the local Ponderosa for dinner & headed back to the hotel. We got into our swim suites and hit the heated, indoor pool! We had so much fun. All the giggles and smiles made my heart burst. We even ventured over to the outdoor pool attached! It was 70 degrees after all! It was really weird to think we were swimming outside, in Kentucky, in December! After all the swimming, bubble baths, and fresh PJs…the kids were fast to sleep. They were snuggled together in their bed while my husband and I broke out the travel Yahtzee and watched National Treasure.
We woke up to the boys crawling in our bed asking for breakfast. We got on our shoes and walked down to the restaurant for the free continental breakfast. It was really amazing. I’ve had the free continental breakfast at plenty of hotels, this was by far the best! A great selection & friendly staff. As soon as I finished the coffee in the carafe, the waitress was right behind me filling it up. I gave her a mental fist bump!
We were planning on seeing the Highway 23 Country Music Museum before heading home, but we’ve decided to save that for a mommy & daddy trip…or maybe next year when the boys are a little older. I really want to come visit in the spring to see the Mountain Homeplace Farm in bloom. There is also a beautiful Dawkins Line Rail Trail I would love to see!
Spring, summer, winter, or fall…Paintsville has so much to offer! I am already planning our spring trip!
To see more information visit https://visitpaintsvilleky.com/ 🙂
Wanna see the vlog of this trip?
