Wednesday morning we loaded up and headed out of town to Branson. We had told the kids we were going on a vacation for Spring Break but kept the location a surprise. We gave them hints every night and they figured it out the day before we left and were SO excited! We went to Branson and stayed at a hotel with an indoor waterpark and planned to go to Silver Dollar City.
Matt and I both knew we were a little crazy to take three kids and an infant by ourselves to a water park and amusement park, but we pushed through our crazy and our anxieties and did it, and I'm so glad because we all had a wonderful time. We have to be intentional in doing things with the kids even when they're hard. If we kept saying, "We'll wait until Katherine is older to do this or to do that" we'd miss out on so much fun with the kids.
We got to Branson around lunchtime and stopped to eat at Braums for lunch. The kids thought Daddy's vacation rule that we eat ice cream everyday on a vacation was a good one :).
We got to our hotel around 1:00 and our room wasn't ready, so we ran over to the outlet mall for an hour. The kids were not super cooperative or patient, but we managed to get some new shoes, swim suits, and Daddy got some much needed new jeans.
We were at Old Navy, and Elisabeth asked for some new water shoes. Nathan wanted to know why she got so many new shoes, so I asked him if he wanted to look for some new shoes, and his response cracked me up. He said, "No, I don't want any because that will take longer." He's just like his dad :). At least my girls will like shopping.
We headed back to the hotel and while Matt waited in line to get our room, the kids and I changed and headed to the water park. They ran and played and swam for two hours. The boys loved this huge bucket drop that dropped water on them every few minutes. When Matt joined us, we took a family float along the lazy river. Katherine did great in the water. She loved to splash in the toddler splash pad and she even liked going down the toddler water slide with Elisabeth. We had a great time!
When we all started to get hungry, we changed clothes and headed out to dinner. Elisabeth's favorite, favorite meal is spaghetti and meatballs, and the boys like it too, so I knew we had to go to Pasgettis for dinner.
We had to wait for a table and the kids were starving, but they behaved really well for being so hungry and tired. They chowed down as soon as the waitress brought some bread sticks to our table, and they enjoyed their giant meatball and spaghetti.
It was after 8:30 when we left the restaurant, and Nathan was so shocked that we ate dinner so late. He said, "I can't believe we were eating dinner when it was our bedtime." Ha! We get crazy on vacations :)
We went back to our room and called it a night because we had big plans the next morning!
We woke up early on Thursday and grabbed breakfast at the hotel and headed straight for Silver Dollar City. We wanted to get there early because we knew it would be crowded for Spring Break. Here's a little glimpse of our crazy at 8:45 in the morning.
We made it to the park before it opened and anxiously awaited the rope to drop so we could ride rides. Elisabeth kept asking over and over on Wednesday to ride the little rides at the outlet mall. I kept telling her she could ride an extra ride on Thursday instead of riding those.
We had planned to ride a big roller coaster (the Powder Keg) first thing since we knew the line would get long later in the day, but we found out that they couldn't open that coaster until the temperature warmed up, so we headed to Fire in the Hole since it was right next to it. The boys loved Fire in the Hole (Samuel said it was his favorite ride), and Elisabeth hated it. She got scared in the middle and cried and asked to get out for the whole rest of the ride. Mom fail.
I thought she might be ruined for the rest of the day, but I took her over to the little kids area while the boys rode a big roller coaster with Matt and she recovered.
She did say that she didn't want to push the button to go high on the butterflies because it was too scary.
While the girls and I hung out and Elisabeth rode the little kid rides, the boys run Thunderation. I can't believe they are big enough (and brave enough) to be riding the big coasters. Samuel is fearless.
We joined back up at Fireman's landing and rode the rides there.
Elisabeth asked several times to meet the Fire Dog. She was disappointed when we told her there weren't any Disney characters at Silver Dollar City :).
I think Nathan was a little bored (and impatient) riding the smaller rides, but we encouraged him to have a good attitude. Before lunch the kids played in the Fireman play place. Nathan remembered it from two years ago when we went to SDC and asked over and over to play in it.
When Matt and I got too hungry for lunch, we made them stop playing and went to eat.
After lunch we headed to the Grand Exposition to ride some more rides.
The kids loved the ship. Elisabeth looked terrified during the whole ride, but as soon as it was over she asked to ride it again. We also forced her to ride the flooded mine (because it was the only ride our whole family could ride together- Katherine could ride it too), and she hated it as much as Fire in the Hole. She kept saying, "I knew I wouldn't like it, I knew I wouldn't like it." Oops! Katherine was fine, ha!
During the afternoon the lines were super long, so we took a break and let the kids play on the playground and went to a comeday/magic show and stopped for a snack.
By 5:00 the kids were ready to ride again. The line for the Powder Keg was super long, and I didn't think we'd get to ride it. Nathan was really disappointed. We had talked it up to him and it was the ride he was most looking forward to riding.
Elisabeth asked to ride the big swings, and we had to take turns riding it three times for all the kids to get a chance. During Samuel's turn, they had to stop the ride early because someone wouldn't put their cell phone away after being asked by the attendant six times. Grr. But, it turned out okay because we were standing at the front of the line waiting for Nathan's turn to ride and some people complained about the ride being short. The attendant gave them a fast pass to any ride in the park, and I overheard them, and then politely asked for one too! We were going to get to ride the Powder Keg after all :)
We rode a few more rides in that Grand Exposition area and then headed to the Powder Keg.
We did rider swap, so Matt and I could both ride. Nathan and I were up first. We had told Nathan he had to keep his head against the head rest because the coaster accelerated so fast. He was so worried about that rule. He talked about it over and over. "When do I put my head back?" "Do I do it now?" "How long do I have to keep my head back?" Ha! I almost wish we wouldn't have said anything until the ride started.
I watched him during the ride, and he looked terrified. When we got off, he said he thought he was going to die, and then in the next breath asked to ride it again! He said it was his favorite ride of the day.
Then it was Samuel's turn. I didn't get a good picture, but I had to document his tiny little feet dangling in the car. Matt said he was really still and looked like he was in shock during the whole ride, but as soon as he got off he asked to ride it again. He said it was his second favorite ride of the day.
We finished the ride at 6:55 (5 minutes until closing), and the kids insisted on riding one more ride, so they ran across to Fire in the Hole. Elisabeth sat that one out :).
We arrived at SDC at 8:45 that morning and headed out at 7:15.
It was an awesome, memorable, fun, tiring day! I can't believe that the kids lasted all day, and Katherine did awesome. Best. Day. Ever.
Elisabeth crashed as soon as we started driving to the hotel. We wore her out!
When we got back to the hotel, Samuel was shocked that our room was clean. We explained that hotels have people that clean the rooms everyday. And his response was, "I wish they did that at our house, so we didn't have to clean up." Me too, Buddy, me too.
Matt ran and grabbed a pizza for dinner and Katherine and I chatted about how our crazy family opened the park and shut it down. I still don't know how we did that, Baby Girl :)
Friday morning we had a lazy morning since the water park didn't open until 10:00. We had donuts for breakfast, and packed and loaded the car and then headed to the water park for the morning. We had a fun morning playing in the water.
All the swimming wore that baby out :)
We swam until around 1:00 and then changed, grabbed lunch and played a round of mini golf at the hotel before we left town.
We drove home about 3:00 that afternoon. We had such a fun time together as a family playing together, relaxing together, and making memories together. Family vacations are my favorite :)
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