Happiest Place in…Missouri?

So we didn't exactly go to Disney World, but we did go to Branson!!!  A few weeks ago we decided to take a spur of the moment trip to Branson.  A nice little 4 day get away with the boys before I had to head back to work.  I know Branson has the stereotype of being for the older generation but I can't lie folks, I love it.  There is so much to do there, and everything is so family friendly you just can't go wrong.  We spent two days at Silver Dollar City and I still don't think we saw half of the place.  Nolan loved the rides, Chad loved the apple dumplings, Bennett loved the christmas lights and I loved reminiscing from the days I used to go their as a child.  All in all, A+ in my book.

Meet our tour guide…

First things first.  We got there and Nolan was all excited about this Santa, he wanted his picture taken.  Great!  This large cement Santa may be as close as we get to seeing Santa Claus this year my friends.  More on that topic to come in later posts.  The train was pretty cool.  We actually waited to ride it until it was dark and we got to see all of Silver Dollar City in it's lit up glory.  The train stopped at one point at a "grandpa's" front porch so he could tell us the true meaning of Christmas.  Cute right?  Not if your kid thinks the Grandpa looks like Santa Claus and is deathly afraid of Santa Claus…awesome.

Here is Nolan enjoying all of the rides.  I have to point out a few things.  Take a gander at the picture of Chad in the elephant.  You see that tiny little hand sticking up…that's Nolan waving to his mama.  Love it. Now take a look at the picture of me and Nolan in the elephant…is that Nolan genuinely smiling with me in the picture.  I think it is, I think it is.

Then there is my favorite, I remember it from when I was a kid.  It's like a huge tree house for kids.  Things to climb on, jump around in, slide down…Nolan was in heaven.

No trip to Silver Dollar City would be complete without a picture in the jail.  We almost didn't get this picture because there is a mannequin in the jail cell that snores and Nolan freaked out.  Finally he ran in, I snapped a picture and he was out.  Now the gingerbread people…he could have played in those for hours. Because people made out of food aren't creepy at all I guess?

My brother and Sister in Law live in Springfield so they came down for the afternoon and met up with us at Branson Landing.  It's a cute little street with shops, restaurants and…another Santa.  This time it was a real life Santa and we were trying to explain to Nolan that he's going to have to talk to Santa at some point if he wants him to bring him a present for Christmas.  I thought it was starting to sink in.  As we passed Santa's house from across the street mind you Nolan shouts out in all of his glory "I WANT A TRANSFORMER".  That totally counts, right?

So I might have a weird quirk about me.  I LOVE light up stuff.  We're talking glow necklaces, spinning wands, swords…as long as it's dark and it lights up I'm game.  Yes, I'm that total sucker at Sesame Street Live with the $15 Light Up Sword.  Not because my child begged me, but because I walked him over there and forced it upon him.  Sick I know.  Anyway, there was a lighting of the tree parade while we were at Silver Dollar City.  That meant we were there at night time so we needed something that lit up, duh. I told Chad to take Nolan over to the stand and let him pick out whatever he wanted.  I can see Nolan checking it all out and Chad looks at me and says what did you think he was going to pick?  Well the most obnoxious gun there was that's what!  It was awesome…this thing had a laser, it made sounds, it had a spinning thing on the back, it moved like a machine gun.  Can you ask for more?  Best $8 every spent, he hasn't put it down since.

Oh the magic of Christmas.  This was obviously the first time Bennett had seen Christmas Lights, and he was absolutely mesmerized by them.  It was so fun to look at his eyes sparkle as the lights flickered on and off to the music.  It was cold, and I'm sure he was tired but he looked at those lights in amazement and it was awesome.

While we were there we stayed at a place with a "water park."  Would I consider this a water park, um no.  But they had some splashy stuff and a water slide and my 3 year old was happy so I was happy too. Nolan loved going down the slide with Dad, even though it was clearly against the rules to go down two at a time.  Rules were made to be broken…we are such rebels.  Nolan couldn't get back up to the top fast enough, his actual words from the picture on the right are "Come on Dad, you're wasting time."  

So that was our trip to Branson.  Good times had by all.  We will most definitely be going back when both the boys can enjoy it even more.  I know I can convince Chad with the slight mention of another apple dumpling!