On the flip side, this gave us time to think what else could we do with the children and still enjoy our 'vacation'?? We decided a trip to Branson, Mo sounded great! It's been years since we've been there. Our last Silver dollar city trip saw Kim at 9, Josh about 6, and Joe at 3...Now we have Josh at 16, Joe at 14, Miss K 7, Miss M 5, and Miss A 3.
We were blessed to have my mother, T as a guest. This was the first vacation she'd been on in years and the first we'd gotten to take together since I was a little girl. She and the girls played games in the van on the way up. She taught them each to count the mile markers all the way to the state line. It became more challenging once we got to Missouri. Their mile markers come every tenth of a mile(!!) meaning they have five times the amount of signs we have. Imagine trying to explain to a three year old we're now at 1.4 miles, 1.6 m, 1.8 m, 2 m. (whew!)
We spent 3 nights in Branson. The first day we went to Silver Dollar City and rode lots of 'family rides'. The giant swings were a family hit...especially with the little girls!! They were each SO BRAVE, wanting to ride everything they were tall enough to get on. Miss A would cry when she was too short, but this momma was secretly relieved that my baby couldn't ride the really big stuff...no matter how brave she acted!
That night we got to see the incredible 'Dixie Stampede', Dolly Parton's dinner show. We were served a wonderful dinner (but they don't let you use silverware) and a fabulous dinner show. Horses, magic tricks, trick riders, dancing, singing, and stunts...this was the place to be!
On Friday we headed once again to SDC. We started the day off with a trip down into Marvel Cave. Learned two or three neat new facts that we don't remember from the last trip down. All in all it was close to 700 steps down and back out...it's such a neat cave to travel through. The beginning room is big enough to fly multiple hot air balloons in or have a 20 story building in or hold the Statue of Liberty if her torch stuck out the opening! That's one HUGE mouth to this cave...
Next we saw the award winning show 'Heading West'. Our whole family enjoyed that!! SDC does hire some very talented performers. Finally back to the rides we went. On Tom and Huck's river raft we shot water guns, got soaked, and had a great time playing around. After a few more rides the kids were exhausted! We took them back to the room with Grandma, while Josh, My beloved, and I returned to the park for a night concert. It was great, but after just a little while it got rained out.
A new tradition for us is to take a picture in the GIANT rocking chair at the Lumberjack Camp. I hope they still have it when we go back in ten more years!
Here's an old photo of me and the three older children the last time we visited SDC...how things change over the years!!
The rain caused us to be back in our rooms in time to let the girls go 'swimming' in the HUGE jacuzzi tubs. They thought that was great to have their own pool right in the bath room. After a good nights sleep we headed for home on a nice leisurely back highway thanks to our TOM-TOM...a few times we wondered where it was taking us. Once it even left the main road, went through a neighborhood then circled right back to the main road...guess we were on the scenic route!!
We stopped in Tulsa to see my Kim and pick Leelee up. She'll be going to stay with my mom for a while. I know she was blessed to see all of us as we were to see her. We ate a quick lunch and then back on the road with all 9 of us.
I'm thankful that we were given this opportunity to make memories with the kids. Even though car rides with children can be stressful, I wouldn't change any of it! I had been hoping to get some fall pictures with our family and SDC provided the perfect background props.
Finally, here's a old fall favorite of mine...Kim age 8 at the Pumpkin Patch.
Have a Happy Fall Ya'll!!
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