I took advantage of a half day of school Thursday and decided to take the kids to Silver Dollar City. As season ticket holders this year, we get several free passes to share throughout the season. So my mom and Charlie came along for the ride. We stayed the night at our friend's house in Forsyth (Brooke & Sasha). They didn't end up coming with us in the morning, because although the forecast was perfect (high in low 70's and sunny), it was still chilly in the morning, and they were to be on the road to Kansas City for the Easter holiday by noon.
It was super busy and took a good half hour just waiting in line to exchange the free vouchers for tickets for mom & Charlie. We first headed to the measuring station and rode all the kiddie rides in that area, since they are right there. With the crowds, what we should have done is made a run for it and done Thunderation first. Once I took Noah & Charlie to Thunderation (mom had Elliot in the little kid area), we had quite a long wait in line. They ate some snacks and waited as patiently as possible. They both thought it was worth it and had a blast on the roller coaster.
We were enjoying a nice lunch (who would have thought an amusement park with good food? SDC has really great food. Mom & I shared a skillet with chicken, okra, peppers, onions, corn, etc. Charlie had pulled pork that smelled amazing. And the little kids had hot dogs. While I was eating a caterpillar fell from a tree right onto my leg. It was the second one we had seen and Noah and Charlie played with it for our entire lunch break. We saw one near Thunderation, too and one in the parking lot as we were leaving.
Elliot provided a mixture of comedic relief and embarrassment. He is in the process of learning modesty when it comes to potty training. He is fine indoors, but outside he will just drop trou' anywhere and pee. He started to do this in line at a kids ride. I scooped him up fast and put him behind a fence near a tree. It was clear he couldn't wait for a bathroom by then. Another time, while we were eating funnel cake he just stood up and peed. Right there in front of our picnic table. He's a work in progress. But, so cute you can't get mad.
Elliot is still a napper and was tired by noon, and asking to go home and sleep by 2 or 3. We stuck with our plan to stay all day and left around 5:30. We had left it up in the air if we would drive home that night or stay in a hotel and come back Saturday. I still had an extra free pass. But, the kids were clearly exhausted and although we had a lot of fun, mom and I both thought we had enough. It turned out to be a wise decision. The kids were so tired. The next day Noah was down for a nap by 10:15 and didn't wake up until 1:40. And he doesn't nap. I think the best option to avoid that level of exhaustion, but still fit in all the fun, would be to go until 2 or 3, let the kids rest, stay the night and come back another half day. Regardless, we all had a good time, even if we did take half a day Saturday to recover :)
After we left the park, we drove down the strip to see the Tornado damage. It wasn't nearly as bad as we imagined. It was a very spotty tornado. Though we saw some horrible pictures of the strip, it was all cleaned up and open for business. The damage we did see was mostly being repaired. We saw a few buildings that really did get hit hard and destroyed. Mom managed a few shots from an open window while I was driving in traffic. I don't think this will hurt their tourist season at all. SDC was very busy, as was driving down the strip.
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| Just inside entrance - so excited! |
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| Playing with a caterpillar |
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| BOO! In a long line for Thunderation |
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| Almost there! |
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| Lunch time |
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| Soaked from getting into some water play outside Geyser Gulch |
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| Funnel.Cake. |
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| Enjoying his funnel cake |
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| One tired little puddin' resting on mommy |
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| Teacups |
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| Charlie on the pirate ship |
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| The boys & I on the pirate ship |
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| Tornado damage on the strip |
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| More tornado damage |
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| The worst of the damage |
