Silver Dollar City...again

The second day at Silver Dollar City we only had a couple of hours. We let the kids pick their favorite rides to do again. Both kids loved the swings, and of course Brody wanted to do his pirate ride again. We also caught a Stunt Dog Show that was fun.

Here is Ella rockin her Branson souvineer t-shirt...she is totally our rock princess

Daddy and Ella on the pirate ride. Ella didn't want to go on this originally, she said it was too scary. This ride was nothing compared to some of the others she went on!

Hamner & Barber

Hamner and Barber is a variety show that we saw while we were in Branson. The Hamners (husband and wife) do a magic act with different illusions. Brody and Ella enjoyed watching them make birds appear from no where and then seeing them fly around the theatre. Barber is a comedian and ventriloquist. He has been on the Tonight Show and David Letterman show and is really really good! The kids loved it when he talked for his puppet that was a baby. It was a little cheesy at times, but we were glad we went. They ended their show with a tribute to all veterans and current military service people. They sang a song "Thank you's not enough" and then they made a statue of Iwo Jima appear on stage. It was really neat. Even though we kind of thing that Branson is the redneck vacation spot of the United States, everyone was really patriotic and recognized our military...and redneck or not, that is cool.

In the theatre. We were so pleased with our kids. The show started at 8pm and they did great! Brody fell asleep during the second half, but for the most part they enjoyed it.
In the lobby during intermission

Table Rock Lake Fish Hatchery

I've never seen a fish hatchery before. Different than I thought, but still interesting. Trout are not indigineous to Missouri, so they are born and raised at this fish hatchery and then released into the lakes around the area. It takes about 14 months before a trout is released into the lake.

Ella in front of one of the fish beds
Can you see all the trout in there? There is about 90,000 in one bed until they are about 7 inches long and then they slpit it into two beds.

Funny story about the hatchery...we were walking along outside and I was being extra paranoid because of all the areas the kids could fall into the water. Ella went charging for one of the places she could have fallen in and Brandon ran up behind her and scared her. He meant to scare her away from the water, but she started crying hysterically as we walked along. I asked her what happened and she started crying even harder saying "Daddy scared me!" She got a few extra cuddles and was fine, but it was so funny!!

Table Rock Dam & Letterboxing take 2

We headed to Table Rock Lake to see the lake and the dam and to attempt letterboxing once again. This time we had Brandon with us, so that gave me some comfort. The treasure wasn't too hard to find, and no bug spray was even necessary!

Mom and kids on the Table Rock Lake side of the dam

Brody and Ella holding the book showing our stamps that we found the treasure!

Brandon and kids on the other side of the dam (the Lake Taneycomo side) It looks like more of a river and less of a lake, but I guess the fishing is good.

Silver Dollar City

Silver Dollar City is Branson's Amusement Park - very similar to Knotts Berry Farm (only smaller) We enjoyed walking around and going on the rides and smelling the yummy food! Ella was tall enough to ride on almost everything and she had NO FEAR! When asked what her favortie was she'd say the rollar coaster, but you wouldn't think that by the look on her face after it was over! Brody loved it too. He said his favorite was the pirate boat ride where you got to shoot guns.

Daddy and Ella on the suspension bridge

Daddy and Brody on his favorite Pirate ride where you got to shoot guns

Brody and Ella on the train ride. We thought this was neat because we live right next to Frisco, Texas (a big train hub from back in the day) The Frisco city logo is the same as what is painted on the train.

Daddy and Brody on the "flying elephant" ride (not to be confused with the Dumbo ride at Disneyland)

Ella shooting water at Geyser Gulch

Brody and Ella meet the Backyardigans

Ella gave this one a hug all on her own. She was so friendly to them!

Of course, we had to find a train to play on

and in.

By the end of day one at Silver Dollar City we were hot, sweaty and worn out! Both kids fell asleep in the car right away. We stopped for dinner on the way back to the hotel and they slept through the wait time...ironically we had less wait times at the amusement park than we did anywhere else in Branson.

Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede

The Dixie Stampede Mansion

Our first night we had tickets to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. It was a really fun show! It started with this comic as the pre-show. He was hilarious and totally family friendly. He juggled and told jokes. He ended his routine with balancing a golf balls and golf clubs and he made a tower with them. It is hard to explain, and looks impossible to do. Similar to Medieval Times, they bring you dinner while you watch the show. They have trick riding horses and they go through a lot of the history of the country. There was a competition between the North and the South to do different events. The kids really enjoyed watching the horses. It was very patriotic at the end (which we LOVE!) and can even make you a bit teary-eyed. The horses and riders were decked out in their red white and blue and they carried out flags and did really cool marching routines (if that's what they are called?) All the while Dolly Parton is on the big screen singing the national anthem. It is a really cool thing to watch.

Eating was a bit tricky, they don't give you silverware...but we got through it and I think the kids got enough to eat.

The kids with one of the girls in the lobby. They didn't allow photos at the show, bummer.

The cutest cheerleaders for the North. We didn't win, but we should have. In the end it was a tie, but we should have won.

Branson Trip

We left last Thursday for a long weekend trip to Branson, Missouri. We'd heard good things about how fun it was there and what a nice place it was for families so we thought we'd try it out. It is about a 7 1/2 hour drive from our house, so we left really early in the morning and made it there at 1:00 in the afternoon. The drive was super pretty and Brandon and I both could see ourselves living in Arkansas someday. It is really pretty.

The kids did the drive really well, one stop to drive through and get breakfast and another 20 minutes later to go potty and that was it. Ella slept most of the way and Brody talked our ears off.