Fall Break Part 2

The second half of FB was just as good as the first half but you have to throw in some tired parents, cranky kids, and tears (mostly from the kids:) Thanks to late nights and shows that didn't even begin until 8pm, we had some children who broke down at certain points of the weekend over this or that.  That's to be expected though and I think, overall, the kids did great.  I do believe that we made it through with only 3 of the 5 having breaking points at some hour on the trip!  That's a success in my book!

Thursday night was the Acrobats of China  I'm gonna be honest with you and tell you that we weren't too sure how this show was going to pan out.  I mean, it didn't even start until 8:00, we had been going for 2 days now, and how long can you really watch little people fly around?  We were WRONG!  This show was awesome, it held all of our attention spans, the kids were captivated the whole time, they served snacks before, during, and after the show...and did I mention the flying little people?  Geez!  Do these Chinese acrobats have bones?  We watched an 11 year old boy hold his body sideways on a pole, upside down, inside out, on one arm, ON A POLE.  He was 11.  We watched grown men lift grown men over their heads on one hand or balanced on, wait for it, just their heads.  We saw men fly through hoops at incredible speeds, flip handsprings like they were Gumby, and swing on ropes as if the ropes were glued to their bodies instead of just hooked on a toe or in between their teeth.  It had me on the edge of my seat, gasping for their safety, for 2 hours.  It helped that we were on the 2nd row.  First hand action!

Friday morning was Silver Dollar City (along with most all of Branson and near cities).  Honestly, for as busy as it was the lines were not uber terrible.  I think Saturday would have been worse so I'm glad we decided to come on Wednesday so we could leave by Saturday because by then the traffic in the city was becoming challenging. 

Let me preface by saying Steven and I had a massive parent fail while at SDC.  No, we didn't lose our children (thanks in part to one of my friends brilliant ideas to dress the boys in neon) BUT we mistook a ride to be "not scary" when in fact, it was probably the fastest most scariest roller coaster Steven and I have ever ridden.  I mean, it was wooden!  How scary can a wooden roller coaster be?  We've never seen a wooden roller coaster that can go ON IT'S SIDE and UPSIDE DOWN!  Ooooopppssss.  We got the boys to go on it with us (Owen was being incredibly brave this day because he wanted to do everything Paxton was doing).  After the ride was over and I was almost in tears, I fully expected to turn around and see my precious children missing a head (mine almost flew off), puking (insert Will's name), or crying hysterically (insert either boys name).  Instead, I saw two boys that were in such shock they didn't know what to say.  They weren't crying, they actually weren't talking at all, and they had a look of sheer terror written all over their faces. So, like I said.  Massive parent fail as we should've rode it first to be the judge of whether or not our offspring should have risked their lives to be on it.  

Thanks to getting older, rides effect me way more than they used to.  I just can't ride ride after ride over and over and feel normal.  Thank you to the roller coaster from HELL for making me feel like (same word as used before) for 2 hours after. Will and I just couldn't do anymore so while others were riding fun things, I took that precious opportunity to teach Will how to take selfies.  I mean, why not right?  This was the first one he took on his own.  He got half his face.  Great first attempt! 

Fall Break is over, kids are back to school, I am now caught back up on laundry, Norman is happy his family arrived safely back home to feed him dog treats, and now...many days later, my head has forgiven me for riding that stupid roller coaster.  I hope my boys have forgiven me too.

200% parent fail.  It happens.....