Branson: June 15, 2015

(click here for today's pictures)

We had told the people upstairs to not come down until 7 but at 5, someone opened the door and was peering into our room.  I took a chance that it was one of the kids and told them to come and get in bed with us.  It was Anderson and he said that he couldn't sleep but within a few minutes of laying down in our bed he was sound asleep.

At 7 exactly we heard the footsteps of everyone else who had slept upstairs (Graham, Reagan and Lilli) coming downstairs.  Reagan came into our room to get their kindles and they hung out in our living room until breakfast.  Keaton and Campbell had slept with Dana and they woke up and watched cartoons in her room until almost breakfast time.  Whitman snoozed until breakfast was half over and then he was woken up for his breakfast.

Robby and Grannymom went to town cooking waffles.  Two waffle makers were going and 2 boxes of waffle mix were emptied plus grapes, strawberries and sausage.  It was a delicious breakfast and I could eat some of the leftovers right about now.  My kids all wanted to put on their clothes but I held them off as long as I could since we were going swimming as our next activity.

And swim we did-we swam and swam and swam!  We went back to the big pool this morning and off and on the kids pretty much had the pool to themselves.  Around 11, Dana went back to the house and brought back all of our leftovers so we had lunch at the pool.  Then we had time to swim some more.  Graham, Campbell and Keaton went with Robby to the store to buy some more drinks while Reagan and Anderson stayed and played a game in the pool with Lilli and Cash.  Whitman was at the pool too but he was in and out.  That last hour of the pool is when I probably should have put more sunscreen on them since those two are a little red tonight.

After swimming, we came back and changed for Silver Dollar City.  It had been raining off and on all day long but never more than a few minutes and never more than a sprinkle.  But as soon as we had planned on leaving the bottom fell out.  We waited for a bit and when the rain slowed, we crossed our fingers that the storm was gone and headed to the park.

It took a minute to pick up everyone's tickets but then we were at the entrance gates going in.  The crowds weren't too bad today (at least not when we arrived at the park after 3).  We walked right to Thunderation-the calm roller coaster in the trees.  That was my poor Keaton's first time to be disappointed because she was too short to ride it.  Campbell almost backed out of riding it but Robby wouldn't let her.  She did start crying on the ride but as soon as she started getting upset the ride was over and she began talking about that she might do it again tomorrow.

Then we all went to the a show with the Harlem Globetrotters.  The show put Keaton to sleep and Whitman who had fallen asleep on the stroller ride over never woke up but the rest of us had a good time.  Cash was even called up on the stage during the show which was very exciting.  The show was entertaining but not nearly as entertaining as I remember the Harlem Globetrotters game that I went to when I was a little girl.

After the show, we spilt up into groups-Robby, me, Campbell, Keaton, Whitman, Grannymom and Grandpa and then everyone else.  The everyone else group went to ride rides and the rest of us went to ride rides as well but just a different set of rides.  We started off with some rides that Whitman could do-the butterflies, the frogs (my personal favorite) and the ladybugs.  Then we moved over to the kiddie coaster for Keaton and Campbell.  

Then we walked towards the train-this is the ride that my Whitman was the most excited about and he loved every minute of it.  I had thought that the loud train whistle would bother him and even though he quickly covered his mouth in shock when he heard it, it didn't bother him one bit.  After the train, we did the mine train which is always a good one to cool off during.

We had just made it to the new fireman area when Robby went to get the big kids-they had been roller coaster riding.  My Graham rode quite a few but he didn't want to ride any that went upside down so he hung back with Uncle Les.  About this time, I ended up on a ride with my 3 little ones that I didn't really want to do either-the balloon swings.  I can't really do any ride that goes in circles and up and down-makes me want to hurl but I didn't!  Whitman, Keaton and Campbell loved that one though and probably could have gone again.

The girls then rode the covered wagon ride as Robby showed up with the big kids, drinks and chicken.  We all munched on that as we walked toward the big round raft ride.  Everyone but Whitman rode on that, he stayed back with Grannymom and Granpda.  Keaton was a bit scared during this one but did like it and I liked that I didn't get too wet.  When the ride was over, Robby said that I could take Keaton potty which she needed to do while everyone else rode again-she wanted to ride again too so that is what we did...except this time, we all ended up soaking wet.  The man as you get on tells everyone that you will get "bath tub wet" and that is the truth.  I was a bit on the miserable side after getting that wet but the kids loved it and we screamed throughout the ride.

The park closed at 7 and it was nearly 7 by that time.  We walked back to the front and met the others and then waited for a bit to catch the shuttle.  Les, Dana and their crew had not had supper so they headed off to eat real food but we counted our two chicken baskets that we ate on the go as supper and headed out to eat ice cream at Andys.

Despite being soaking wet, the ice cream was good.  Reagan and Anderson had coke floats and weren't that crazy about them (since they had never had one) and Whitman had a spoonful of every one's ice cream and also ate most of Grannymom's ice cream.

Once back at the vacation house, Robby offered to take people swimming and he only had 3 takers-Reagan, Anderson and Campbell.  My Keaton and Graham were wet and cold.  They had showers and then sat on the couch with Grannymom and Whitman.  I also had a crazy hot shower to make up for the time that I was in wet clothes.  

Soon the others returned and my swimmers returned and then it was to bed for everyone-tonight Anderson is sleeping in the room with Zach and Josh, Graham is sleeping with Cash and Dana, Lilli is upstairs here with Campbell and Reagan, Keaton is sleeping on our room and Whitman remains in the closet.  I still here someone talking upstairs so I better go and "shush" them since tomorrow will be a long day as well!

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