We are a theme park type of family. In January for our family vacation we went to Disneyworld, and today–for my son Nathan’s 20th birthday–we went to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.
When I say “we” I mean the whole family. (Minus our daughter in the Czech Republic.) Who went? Our oldest son, daughter-in-law, and their two kids. (The cutest grandkids ever.) Our 20-year-old son, my husband and I and our three little kids.
Why theme parks?
1. Rides.
2. Togetherness.
3. People watching. (Ok, so maybe #3 is all me.)
In our family, long road trips are something we train our children for when they were young. Last year it was a 31 hour (one way!) trip to Montana. Chloe wasn’t born then, so we’re warming her up to this 3 1/2 trip to Branson. (She did great on the 8-hour trip to Sarasota, too.)
John and I both discovered our love of theme parks when we were dating. We took a mini-vacation to Great America in California after I weaned Leslie. Nine months later Nathan was born!
Happy 20th Birthday Nathan!
We also train our kids young on roller coasters. Almost daily John throws them around the living room to warm them up. 🙂 All of our little kids did GREAT on the kiddie rollar coaster. Casey, on the other hand, doesn’t like anything with real-looking animals. Can you see the concern in his eyes as I placed him on the carousel? This photo was snapped about 30 seconds before he had a complete melt-down and wanted to get off the bear. Don’t worry, I hugged him tight and we made it through. Whew.
While we love big, fast rides, we spent most of our time at Silver Dollar City in the kiddie area. John, Katie, and I took turns riding on the rides with the little kids. (But it does look like Katie is having fun!)
I also had a very important job. While the rest of the crew went on the white water ride, Chloe and I hung out. I taught her to do selfies. I think she does a pretty good job!
And here is one of us together! Don’t you love her Zoolander stare?
What about you? What does your family like to do for fun?
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