Summer Send-Off

The same week that school started, my parents called to say they were coming out to Missouri to purchase a car. So that was a fun surprise to have them around for a few days. The girls sure like having their full attention all to themselves. 

We had the end of summer adults only pool party at our neighborhood pool. My parents decided not to attend, but it was nice to have them with the girls at home. It was a fun superhero party. 

Ben even came down to help with set-up. What a guy!

Fun times. A few of us did end up in the pool, so I was glad I wore my bathing suit under my spiderman dress. 

Kara really wanted to go to the Def Leppard and Journey concert. We waited until about a week before the concert, and all the ticket prices dropped, so we were able to get good seats. She was sooooo happy. I was happy too, mostly because it's been a while since I've seen her that excited about anything. 

There was a wide range of people there. But Kara knew as many songs as anyone else. 

Cheap Trick was the opening act. I've seen them before, and thought they were better this time. 

Of course Def Leppard puts on such a fun, exciting concert. I think they're pretty hard to beat. I like Journey more, but Def Leppard has a better show. I thought the exact same thing when I saw them with Poison. 

Thanks to all the football we go to in KC, our stadium dancing game is strong. Someone commented to me that Kara had some impressive moves for staying in a small area. 

I love me some Journey! They had some sound problems, but the crowd was easily able to help fill in when the speakers were cutting out. 

School Days 2018

We missed the back to school events for the elementary school and the middle school while we were in Branson. We were back in time for the CCL back to school day. So Kiersten and Evie did get to meet a couple of their new teachers. 

Kara's school time got pushed back this year by about 15 minutes, which is nice. Last year she had to catch the bus at 6:45, and this year it doesn't come until 7:05. She only sleeps in 5 extra minutes though. She said that 7th grade is going to be her year. 

She was excited to be on the bus with her buddies that are a year behind her. Last year she was the only girl at her bus stop. She gets along with the boys just fine, though. 

Off to do great things. 

The little girls school time got pushed back as well. They catch the bus at 8:45 now instead of 8:30. They were both excited and ready to get back. Kiersten was happy to be a 5th grade up on top of the food chain at last. Evie was very excited for 3rd grade. She said it just sounds so grown up.

Such a pretty princess.

 There are a lot fewer kids at the bus stop this year. I'm sure we've got some little ones waiting in the wings for the next couple years. 

Dolly Parton Stampede and Samson

Of course the kids wanted to go to the Dolly Stampede. We were seated right in the front rows, so that was fun to be able to see unimpeded, but the kids were worried about sand getting kicked up into their food. 

The girls were looking at the horses, and moseying around in general. I insisted we all rush to get in for the pre-dinner show. It turned out to just be a bunch of guys playing banjos. Everyone gave me a pretty hard time about that. Kara started to complain , and Ben said, "Shh! This is mom's favorite. Pretend to have fun". Someone proposed to his girlfriend though, so that was excited and I wasn't sorry to have witnessed that. 

The cast was really good. We had a fun time. The lemonade was really yummy. Ben asked for diet coke, and got an entire pitcher to himself, because everyone else was getting lemonade or water. 

We were on the red team. We lost handily. The kids didn't care too much about losing. 

They were awfully impressed by all of the riders and their cool tricks. 

Eating dinner in the presence of fragrant animals wasn't my favorite. But I manage to keep a smile on my face so the kids wouldn't decided they couldn't eat. 

Everyone had their own chicken for dinner. There were no utensils. Everything had to be eaten by hand. 

Kiersten was seriously not okay with the chicken. I had to take all the meat off the bones, and then she still did not want to eat it. It looked too much like a chicken, she said. Something about seeing it as an intact carcass instead of boneless pieces or nuggets really triggered something in her. It was yummy though, and the rest of us enjoyed it. I took her meat home in a box, but she still didn't want it later. She knew where that meat came from. 

As soon as Ben mentioned that Samson was playing at a local theater, I was excited to go. The kids didn't really know what to expect, but were excited that I was excited. 

The show was amazing. The acting and singing was wonderful, and the kids loved the interactive, wrap around theater. Kara especially loved it. She said it was her favorite thing we did in Branson. It was mine as well. 

The theater is so pretty, and I hope to go back there soon. 

Silver Dollar City

We decided to go to Silver Dollar City after 3PM, so that we could come back for free the next day as well. On the drive there, Ben thought it would be funny to pull into the Butterfly Palace and pretend that was where we were going as Kiersten is terrified of butterflies. She laughed about it after her initial shock. 

We had to get a picture of Eva and Delilah's bakery. Yum!

The girls really liked the time machine ride. We went on that several times. 

They also enjoyed the animals in the petting zoo. We were in there for a really long time. 

The barn swing was fun. I had a dumb, long necklace smacking me in the face the whole time. Why did I wear that thing anyway?

Lock them up! Lock them up!

I was worried it would be too similar to Six Flags, and they wouldn't be that impressed. But it was very unique and a lot of fun!