Big Cedar:: Day 3

When I was little, going to Six Flags or any amusement park with rides was the highlight of my year. I loved the thrill of spinning in circles or feeling my tummy jump around while plunging down a roller coater. I loved it! Couldn't get enough of it! Now? Not so much. I get dizzy just looking at the Tilt-a-Whirl. My 36 year old self just can't manage the big thrill rides anymore. But, my kids (especially Hannah and Leah) have been wanting to check out an amusement park for quite some time now. They see commercials for theme parks with crazy big roller coasters and they have been dreaming of the day they can try to ride one.

Enter.....SILVER DOLLAR CITY.

 Mike, Hannah, Leah, Lucas, me, my Dad

Silver Dollar City is a family friendly amusement park situated in the mountains near Branson, Missouri. The thing I like about it is the absence of Looney Tune characters or any other cartoon theme. Silver Dollar City looks like an old Ozark town from the 1880's. There are shady streets and people dressed in clothing from that era. There are real craftsmen and women demonstrating their skills for the public. We stopped to see a man blowing glass and an older woman making chocolate fudge. The girls were fascinated! In addition, there are several rides throughout the park. The enormous roller coasters ended up scaring the girls and they decided, according to Leah, to ride them "when they are 12." Instead, we settled for the moderately scary rides. Including:

* The Log Ride

* The River Rapids

* Fire in the Hole! (a roller coaster in the dark)

* River Blasters

* A train ride through the park

*The Carousel

The theme for this day was "water rides" because just about everything we rode got us extremely wet. My kids went nuts and had a blast. We also met our junk food quota for the year by consuming:

* A Cinnamon Roll

* Dippin Dots

* Kettle Chips

* Popcorn

* Saltwater Taffy

After seven hours of Silver Dollar Fun, we packed up and headed to dinner, then home for baths and bedtime. The kids crashed hard from a very full day.

 Building block towers with PaPa

 Lucas + Legos = match made in heaven

 Papa, Sally, Hannah and Leah

Tired and wet, but having fun!

 Lucas looking out the train window

 Lucas and his new friend he named "Cow Iron Giant"

 This is what little brothers look like after seven hours at Silver Dollar City

Daddy removed the youngest child and now there are smiles from the two sisters

Leah and Hannah are holding their new rag dolls Sally bought them.