The Dennison Family: Silver Dollar City

When I was a kid, we went to Silver Dollar City just about every year. My sister accurately described it as a "redneck Disneyworld." As harsh as that sounds, it's very true. But, not the bad kind of redneck... :-) It's in the middle of the Ozarks in Branson, Missouri- so it's a beautiful setting in the hills, with lots and lots of trees. It's perfect for all ages- there's wonderful bluegrass-type shows, super fun roller coasters, neat crafts to watch (we watched a glass-blowing demonstration, and it was SO COOL), yummy "fair" food to consume, and really interesting "period" settings to explore (they have a one-room schoolhouse to see how it looked back in the day, as well as small village set up to be just like in the early 1900's. very cool).

Anyway, we decided to go there with my sister and her girls and my parents after our camping trip...sort of a last few days together before my sister moved to Houston the following week. It's only a 3 hour drive from my parent's house in OK, so it was perfect.

We rented a huge house only 1 mile from SDC, and it was AMAZING. After we got to the house, we went out to explore a little. The houses at the bottom of the hill (below) aren't ours, but the one we stayed in looked just like the one on the left.

For dinner the first night, we went to a singing restaurant where the waiters and waitresses sing to you. Hudson even got serenaded! He was SO embarrassed.

and then we all shared this:

The next morning, we decided to go on a Zipline tour. Emery was too light, and of course, Crew was too small. My mom and Dave opted to hang back with the smaller people... The 3 kids did a great job, and they LOVED it. We went on about 5 different ziplines with varying lengths and speeds. Very fun.

That evening, and then all day the next day we hit Silver Dollar City. It was pretty hot, but with all the trees there was LOTS of shade, so we were very comfortable. And since we went at the end of May, a lot of kids were still in school, so the lines weren't bad at all.

the one room schoolhouse:

Crew became marginally obsessed with popcorn. He couldn't get enough!

see what I mean?

the roller coaster, Thunderation, which everyone rode except me and Crew (I rode it later with Hudson). Dave and Hudson, Tasha and Emery, William and Keira, Mimi and Papa. This was the only "big" roller coaster that William would ride. He was pretty afraid. Keira, on the other hand, was a wild woman. That girl wasn't afraid of ANYTHING. She rode every.single.ride-- except for 1 because she was too short. She couldn't get enough!