Fall Break

The kids had a Friday off from school at the end of October and Matt took a day off and we headed to Branson for the weekend. It was so good to get away for a few days. The stretch of school from Labor Day to Thanksgiving gets long -- one of the reasons we are excited about being on a CLC calendar next year -- a week off in October! Woohoo! But, for this year we enjoyed our long weekend.

 

It was actually a very cold start to the morning. We got up super early and drove to Branson on Friday. We stopped to "fuel up" at the Pancake House that we love in Branson before heading to Silver Dollar City. And, brrrrrrr, it was cold out! But, it was not crowded at all! We had the place to ourselves -- we were able to walk up and ride most rides which was wonderful! We rode all of our favorites several times! And, the Scogins were there and we met up with them and rode some together! 

Since it was so cold, we left SCD in early afternoon. Poor Charlotte was freezing. At one point I took her to the bathroom and she was covered in chill bumps. The kids were asking to go because they were cold -- and we'd done many trips to SDC over the summer so they were ready to go and explore our hotel.

We stayed at Castle Rock this time which was a new hotel for us. And, it was great!! It had an indoor waterpark that was so cool. The water was nice and warm and perfect. I called as we left SDC to see what was the earliest we could check in and they said our room was ready so we headed to the hotel. We quickly checked in and changed and headed to try out the water park. It was perfect for our kids at their age -- just enough to keep them happy and small enough that I felt like they were safe. We will definitely be doing this again!

After 3 or more hours at the waterpark, we were hungry! We ended up going to get BBQ and it was quite a hit. I can't remember the last time we've gone out for BBQ, but the kids loved it! We had chicken, pork, sausage and ribs. They looooved those ribs!

We took the long way back to the hotel that night and discovered a lights display that was being put up. It even had music to go with it!

One of the best parts of the hotel was the bunk beds in their own "room" for the big kids. They even had their own TV. They had such fun sleeping in their own special spot for the night!

The next morning we grabbed Lindsey and headed to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. Yum! Poor Harrison kept saying that he was "girl trapped" the whole time. :)

After all those donuts the kids headed back to swim and work off all that sugar! The water park wasn't busy at all and we had a great time that morning!

One of the things that Madeleine & Harrison really wanted to do that weekend was the Titanic Museum. It was so neat! I would do it again sometime. It really catered to kids even though it was so nice inside. They had their own listening tour and there were things that they could touch and explore -- turning the captains wheel and touching a real iceburg were some of their favs. The workers (dressed as captains) also catered to the kids and at one point one of them came over and told the kids a really neat story about a boy named "Jack" on the ship. They kept them interested in what happened that night.

And, we can't take a trip to Branson without a stop at Fuddruckers! Sooo yummy!

Sweet Daddy shared his "milkshape" with Charlotte.