Branson

Thanks to NaNa and PaPa, we now have season passes to Silver Dollar City! With school finally out, we decided to make our first trip of the year to Branson!

We got kind of a late start heading out of town. Daddy had to work on Friday, so we left after dinner. The biggest problem we ran into immediately was just trying to get out of our little town! The shortcut we had found last year was out of commission due to a bridge being out! We saw the detour signs and figured there was an alternate route. Yeah...10 miles later, we found out there was no detour. The road simply ended where the bridge was out. Gee...thanks! So, 10 miles of backtracking later, we were finally on the road.

We had purposely not given Chase an afternoon nap, thinking he could sleep in the car on the way down. Yeah...that was a total backfire! He slept maybe 30 minutes tops and ended up being awake the entire drive! When we finally got checked into the hotel and unpacked, we fell into bed at 11:30pm! Talk about 2 tired boys!

Saturday morning, our first stop had to be Krispy Kreme! The boys have talked about going to "the donut factory" ever since we took them there last year! Unfortunately, when we arrived, there was no place to park. Even worse, had we found parking, there were no tables available inside. It was standing room only. So, we opted to use the drive-thru (and didn't get to see the donuts being made...) and ate breakfast in the car on the road to Silver Dollar City. Once there, the boys had a great time!

The boys got their Sheriff badges right when we walked through the gate!

















Riding the swings in the brand new children's area.














Next stop....the train!














Then, we had to go find the haunted house! The boys have talked about this for a year too!


















Cole...standing the area where we ate lunch!

















Silly boy...on the teacups!















Sharing a Coke/Blueberry/Orange/Cherry Slurpee!















Chase trying to figure out what is inside that fountain!



















Riding the bugs....the last ride of the day!















After Silver Dollar City, the boys CRASHED in the truck while we drove back to town. But, boy did they wake right up when they saw that we were going to eat at a brand new restaurant with a giant chicken standing outside! This turned out to be a real hit with the boys....live band, noisy and kid-friendly, and buckets of fried pickles for Chase!

Here are the boys doing their best chicken impersonation...

Summer School

Cole started summer school this week and is having soooo much fun!!! Summer school certainly isn't what it used to be...these kids can take classes in sports, cooking, science, acting, and world studies! Cole chose 2 classes: Cooking and Science Experiments!

In cooking class, he will be making no-bake cookies, puppy chow, muffins, pancakes, and all sorts of fun treats. And, they are cooking nearly every day! At the end of class, he will come home with a cookbook of all the yummy kid-friendly recipes he has cooked this summer!

In science class, he has made "flubber," a volcano, and learned lots already about matter and energy. He loves summer school!

Chase also started a summer program at Rainbow Kingdom! He, too, loves summer school! He is in Ms. Theresa's class (the class/teacher he has always wanted to have!), and she has them making really fun craft projects, aside from playing and hanging out with friends. To top it off, they will be walking every Wednesday to the library for story time!

Once Cole's summer school is over through the school district, he will join Chase at Rainbow Kingdom a few days each week. This summer a new "school-age" class was formed, and Cole can't wait to go to play with his old buddies, David and Peyton!

It looks like it is shaping up to be a fun summer!