Silver Dollar City

My parents wanted to take the kids to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO, so we made a little trip down there while visiting them in Kansas. The kids had fun. It was hot and tiring, but we all survived and Nora only had a meltdown after we got in the car our second day there. 

While we were there we got to see a couple shows, one of which was the Nik Wallenda show. If you don't know who he is (because you are a busy stay at home mom who doesn't watch tv or keep up with the news like me) then just google his name. Apparently, he walked a wire across Niagara Falls recently. Pretty crazy stuff. So the show with his family was in SDC and they DID NOT use any sort of harnesses or nets for safety measures. I was so nervous through the whole thing that I could hardly breath properly. It was pretty amazing, but I don't think I'd want to watch again. There was this part where they asked everyone to be as quiet as possible because they needed absolute concentration and Nora started whining for more food (she had already had 2 chocolate chip granola bars). I pulled out a 3rd one and frantically gave it to her because I could just see the beginnings of a tantrum and I did not want to be responsible for anyone's death.

When I look at this picture of our family it is hard to believe how big our kids are.

We had Nora go on this ride because for some reason the height requirement was only 34 inches instead of 36 inches (which all other rides were). Since she is only 34 inches she couldn't ride many rides but she wanted to ride everything. She is the one that loves a good thrill (remember she was the one who loved tubing).

Well, and as you can see, she did not like this one. She was fine until the water splashed her in the face. Her Daddy didn't think to shield her and she got a rude awakening. Otherwise, I think she would have liked it. 

We had a great time being with my family and it was a great memory making time with the kids. I went to SDC a lot growing up so I have a lot of my own family memories there. It is always fun to continue that tradition now that I have my own children.

Kansas Trip: Summer 2012 Pt. 2

After a great time with Seth's family,  we headed over to my parent's house. For some reason, I decided to get my camera out at this point, so this post will be picture heavy.

 Here's a little bit of what we did: 

 Played games with Mimi

 While the men napped (very typical Sunday afternoon)

 Hugged on Papa

 Went to Deanna Rose

 Pumped water (one of Aidan's favorite things to do at DR)

 Caught a fish for the first time!

 Fed the goats some bottles! Nora LOVED this!

Told those goats about "Mama"

 Rode tractors (his legs are finally long enough!)

Hung out with our Spykerman friends and met baby Levi

 Played in the dirt/sand

Actually, this was only within our first couple of days because we took a trip with my fam to Branson and Silver Dollar City. But, more to come on that later because I've got bread that needs to come out of the oven.

Kansas Trip : Summer 2012

We drove to Kansas June 29th....a whole long 18 hours straight in the car. We left around 6:30am and got in close to midnight. It was a LONG day. I did a lot of prep before this trip so that I would have lots of activities for the kids and also good organization. I will share all of that in another post though.

We arrived late that night and the kids went to sleep around 12, only to wake up at 6am. We couldn't believe it! They were excited to be there, but 6 hours wasn't going to cut it for too long. :)

We spent the first 8 days with Seth's family and had a really nice time. I wish I had taken more pictures, but we spent a lot of time at the pool (it was sooo hot!) and I didn't feel like taking it with us most days. The kids had a blast swimming and being with family.

The husband and I got to go on a few dates while we were there. I made him take some pictures of me the night we went out for Indian food. He bought me this dress for my birthday and I hven't had much of chance to wear it, but I love it!

We tried to beat the heat by doing a few things indoors with the kids too! We went to see a free movie at the Legends one morning and then checked out the Johnson County Museum. They have a free children's exhibit and it was actually really cool. They spent a long time at everything and I couldn't believe that I had never really heard much about it before. 

Nora started feeling sick towards the end of the week and I took her to the doctor where they told me she probably was just dealing with allergies. The very next day (our last day with Seth's family) she woke up from her nap crying hard and saying, "ear hurt." Sure enough, she had an ear infection and the start of pink eye. We started treatment for it right away and thankfully she felt better within a short time and none of us lost much sleep over it.

to be continued...