Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving PeePaw came to visit.  We took the opportunity to head to Branson, MO for some Holiday fun.  We did a ton!  A lot of things wouldn't allow picture taking, or I just didn't take any.


We decided to Ride the Ducks.  We heard lots of one-liners!  Did we ever!  Each of the kids got to drive the boat for a bit.

Each of the kids got a License as well

We also went to the butterfly museum.  It was a lot of fun, and pretty amazing.  They had a  mirror maze too and the kids had a ton of fun in the maze.  It was pretty difficult too!

This butterfly landed on me and took a ride with me for quite some time!  I couldn't believe it.  I even got it off of me a couple times, but it would always come flying back.

That night Chris and I went out on a date.  We ate dinner at Dobyns Dining Room in The Keeter Center at the College of the Ozarks, aka Hard Work U.  It is a really cool idea for a school.  There is no tuition and all the students graduate without debt.  Each student works for the school for 15 hrs/wk as part of their education.  The food was amazing.  I loved it!  After dinner we went to the Titanic Museum.  I didn't get to take a picture because we literally drove-up as they were preparing to close the doors.  They were kind enough to let us sneak in.  We had to kinda hurry through a bit since they were closing-up in 90 min.  It was really neat.  As you enter you are given a passport and travel through the museum as that person.  I was Norah Murphy, 28.  She was a "Spirited lass" from Ireland. I was thought to be escaping an abusive husband.  She was traveling with a Michael McEvoy.  We were 3rd class passengers.  Chris was Mathew Sadlier, 20.  Because I was female, I lived, but my travel companion was not so lucky; neither was Mr. Sadlier.  Neither of their bodies were ever recovered.... or if they were, they were one of the bodies that were never identified.


The museum was a neat experience.  I learned so much.  It was also fun to touch an "iceberg," test how long I could keep my hand in water the same temperature as that night, see how hard it was to walk on a sinking boat.  Not to mention all the  artifacts.  AND the scare of my lifetime, when I ran into, and almost toppled a display case!  I am not sure I have ever hugged and inanimate object so tightly.  It was fun in the end.  I was actually with a museum guide.  We both turned around to walk... I just happened to be close to an exhibit case.  I have no idea how I caught it from falling.  He laughed at me because I just stood there and hugged the thing for a moment.  It still makes my stomach turn a bit to think about.

Wednesday we went to the Fish Hatchery.  The fish hatchery there produces 800,000 trout each year.  We got to feed some of the fish.  we also got to see them ejecting eggs from some fish.  After the Hatchery we went to Silver Dollar City.  It was fun taking Kiah on her first REAL roller coaster.   Eli didn't enjoy it as much.

The kids really enjoyed this ride

We bought this little sailor cap for her when we Rode the Duck.  She wouldn't take it off the entire trip!

Eli fell asleep

While Eli napped, and Kiah was on a ride with PeePaw, Anna collected some leaves.   I kinda wish she had napped!  Notice the binky I tried to bribe her with!

Thursday for Thanksgiving we went to the Dixie Stampede.  We were on the North Pole Team and we won!  It was a ton of food.  Of course we had tons extras cuz the kids didn't eat much.  Kiah constantly surprises me with her memory and observation skills.  As you walk between the parking lot and the building you pass by all the horses and their stalls.  Above their stalls are their names and a little info about each horse.  As we were walking back to our car after the show Kiah noticed that the horses were not in their correct stalls.  The clincher was "Star."  Somehow she knew that the horse in Star's stall was not actually Star.

we enjoyed some popcorn while we watched the pre-show!