branson & silver dollar city

After our camping trip we headed to Branson for a show and then went to silver dollar city. With the hundreds of shows in Branson we were so happy with the one that we saw. SIX. If you are going to Branson anytime you need to see them. Here is a clip that summarizes our show. It was so awesome. Every sound that you hear comes from their voice. There aren't any drums or trumpets- just their voices. Pretty amazing.

This is what Maree thought of the show.
Then we headed to Silver Dollar City. It was such a cute amusement park with things for all ages- a really great place for a family reunion.
We got to ride a train! Dennis was so excited. (no I am not prego... I just look like it in this pic)
Dennis was turned away from the tea cups because of his height. Poor kid only had 6 rides or so that he could ride. But, I am pretty sure he had a blast anyways.
He got to ride the frogs
and the butterflies

There was a bouncy playground of sorts.
Of course, a merry go round.

There were some pretty fun big rides too. Our favorite ride was the powderkeg. This one is the wildfire-2nd favorite.

There was a fun house that totally made me sick but Dennis loved it. In this picture below, Ryan is not leaning over; he is actually sitting straight up.

We got caught.
Nothing is better than ice cream to cool you off after a long day of fun.
Thank you Nonnie and Kristen for coming! We had a blast.

red bluff part 2

We loved Red Bluff so much that we changed our plans from backpacking to camping on the bluffs. The coveted camping site. It was gorgeous- much warmer than two weeks ago and the river was much more calm.

We found the rope swing.


We hung up our hammock for the first time...
you can see the bluffs in the background of this pic

There were so many butterflies of all kinds. This particular one just kept jumping around on us. He even tried to eat my sandwich.

Some animals that we saw were:

-snapping turtle

-frog

-tad poles

-a big snake with a huge tad pole in his mouth

-a fox

-fish

-crawfish

-a deer

sending a present down the river to Kristen
We have such good dogs. They just laid in the shade all day while we swam.

Poor tad poles don't swim very fast.

Kristen was our master tad pole catcher

It wouldn't be a proper camping trip without s'mores


We love them!

red bluff part 1

For memorial day weekend we went camping with our good friends, the Bookers. They brought us to Red Bluff State Park in the Mark Twain National Forest. We had a blast even though we didn't get the camp site that we wanted.

We went for a hike and found this cool turtle. Dennis didn't want to be anywhere near it.
Behind us are the bluffs.
Dennis was so excited to go swimming!
Ryan was excited for Dennis to go swimming too.

The kids with their dads.
Hey Jude.
We also saw a snake and a beaver.
Dennis and Eloise love watermelon.
Here is our camp site- at least it was nice and shady
Dennis is learning to catch a baseball with his new mit. He even knows where the thumb goes.
Eloise doing what she does best... mothering her brother Jude.
We had a great time.

Thanks Emily and Brad! We love Red Bluff.

carnival

As we waited for the train to come with Nonnie and Kristen, we played at the park that had a fountain. There was no way that I was going to win the battle of keeping his clothes dry.
Then, we went to a carnival that was in the neighborhood today. Dennis was so excited when he saw the rides. You can tell that he is pushing with every step... faster!
Kristen was so good to ride with him.
Dennis wanted to ride the roller coaster first!
... at first he was scared
... then he really had fun!

vroom vroom


To end the night, Ryan took me on this rocker... and I got really sick. yuck. Ryan really knows how to spin it.
We are off on a camping trip tomorrow.