Hannah is a sweetie.

I met her a few seasons ago when she visited the park with her family. Her dad is a journalist from Cincinnati.

Hannah is finishing up 4th grade ("Just like Bart Simpson," her dad told me).

Her proud papa emailed me a theme paper (remember those?) for which Hannah received 25 out of 25 points, plus a one word comment: Great!

Here is that paper, but first a photo of the author loving on her little sister, Lizzie.

HOLIDAY WORLD

The best trip of my life was last summer. I was so excited I actually got a headache from being excited. That turned the whole trip around.

My sister, a young blonde with blue eyes, sat next to me and my dirty blonde hair and shining green eyes. We were going to Holiday World, best theme park ever! (Not Disney or Blizzard Beach, that's a tie). My dad is a writer. He reviews DVDs. He also writes for The Gary Burbank Show and interviews comedians, but for the second time in a row he is reviewing Holiday World. It is located in Santa Clause, Indiana. It is named "Holiday" World because its town is named after Santa Claus. All of the rides and restaurants have a holiday theme, except for Easter, St. Patrick's Day and birthdays. We had to stop at two Lincoln museums, but then went to Holiday World. We stayed in a large wooded area called Rudolph campsite. In the trailer we slept in, I felt excited and I got a headache, but the trip was awesome.

My little sister Lizzie is 4. She was fine and I thought I was too. I ate at a Thanksgiving sever-yourself restaurant. My mom paid me to go on the tallest rollercoaster made. Um, hello mom I have a headache!

A few rollercoasters later, I had barley any headache at all. And right in front of me was my favorite rollercoaster, The Raven. It was tall brown and wooden. The top had 2 flags. On the tallest hill there was a big raven. My mom and I got in the front seat, but oh boy did my head hurt. I would rather have dipped a cookie in orange juice. But once I got off the ride I was fine. So we went in the water park Splashin' Safari. It was connected to Halloweenland. I had my favorite swimsuit, lime green and navy blue. My mom and sister went to a large fenced area and ran through sprinklers. Me and my dad went to my favorite water slide. It was green, yellow and pink and blue. It was slightly steep and went up and down and side to side. My dad and I got spongy blue mats with rubber handles, climbed up the stairs and splashed down the slide. After a while I knew this was the second best day ever. The first best was last year's trip to Holiday World!

Later that night we were at a hotel that was a house. Kind of a condo, but not connected houses. You could sleep in it like a hotel. There was a cozy library, cute rooms and a list of rentals for movies. We rented The Wedding Singer. Halfway through, I got a stomach ache. Then something came out my front end. Didn’t want to get descriptive about that!

This is dedicated to Paula, a worker at Holiday World. She made this trip happen and I can't think of anyone I met at that park who was nicer (including Lizzie, my sister!)

"I would rather have dipped a cookie in orange juice." That's classic. I predict Hannah has a wildly successful writing career in front of her.

...when the sweet, melodic voices of mothers all over southwest Indiana murmur to their darling teen-aged sons:

Work starts on Saturday -- get your hair cut!

Exhibit A:

You probably won't recognize this friendly Holiday World Host from the past several seasons because, well ... you can only see about 30 percent of his face.

His mother (um ... me) and father allowed #2 son to go organic over the winter.

It keeps my head warm. You don't want my brain to freeze do you?

Said parents were more concerned about whiplash. John enjoyed snapping his head to swing his bangs a bit to the side. Within half a second, the hair would slide back down, and the whole process would begin again.

Yes, son, very cool. You rock.

But all good things must come to an end.

Look at the size of that head! (Did I mention John weighed 10 pounds, 11 ounces when he was born via natural childbirth? A reminder to sons with large heads everywhere: 10 shopping days left till Mothers Day.)

The poor stylist was probably ankle deep in clippings as my sheep-dog son was shorn.

But in the end, all is well.

I can see John's blue eyes again and ...

... John will qualify to earn a summer paycheck once again.