We left Thursday after R got off of work and hit the road! The kids were sooooo good in the car! I am really glad to have both kids to the age of eating real food. Last summer we had to stop every 4 hours for a bottle and burping, which makes for a much longer trip. With a few snacks, a quick dinner stop and a DVD player... what else do you need!?! (and my Kindle) :)
Notice how "into" the movie Cole is! Bizarre. He is 16 months old and it seems like he really watches it. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad! The kids watched Kung Fu Panda on the way there and Rio on the way back. They also played with some toys and read books.
We ended up staying at The Hall's house Thursday night in Springfield. We got there at about 11:30... it was a late night! both kids were super excited to see Mimi and Papa (who were there too) and G couldn't wait to see his cousins.
Friday morning we woke up early and quite a few of us headed to Silver Dollar City! It was really hot, but we had a great day!
There were funny "Did You Know" signs hanging all throughout the park... hmm...
Is it possible I have this?!?
All of these rides, especially the big swings, brought back such fun memories of doing all of this when I was a kid!
After G came off this ride he told us he thought his "heart was cracked" because of the force I guess - silly boy!
Grady and Cousin Andrew
Cole's favorite place to ride!
They had this cool little kids play area that we took full advantage of... it was full of shade!
G finishing off Cousin Brandon's giant pickle!
This kid loves pickles.
The babies aren't in this but here are my cousins kids... which is why G calls them his cousins!
Abby, Andrew, Lauren, Grady, Sarah and Brandon in the front
Cole, Tucker and Tyler were in strollers and baby William was at home in the air conditioning. Alden and Marina couldn't make this trip this time. Great Grandma Speight has 12 great grand-kids!
They range from 8 weeks to 8th grade!
You can only imagine how much fun these kids have together. I had the BEST time with my own cousins (their parents) growing up, and now our own kiddos get to continue the tradition.
It's pretty special! Not to mention, some of us big kids get to revert back to those days during this trip every summer! HA!
Grady finally got to have Dippin Dots... this kid has been begging for years.
I LOVE this big rocking chair...
Cole was sleeping, but next time we are getting a family pic in front of this!
Cole actually slept for 2 hours in his stroller. NEVER has this happened before.
He was o-u-t! Maybe we are turning over a new leaf?
Grady and Cousin Lauren - these two are only 2 months apart!
My boys - all smiles after a long, hot day!
He looks scared here but he wasn't at all! G had so much fun on the roller coasters. Now that he is 48 inches, he could ride all but one and he was in heaven!
As if we didn't have enough fun in one day, we went to our condo(every family stayed in the same building which opened onto a pool), unpacked and went right to the pool! The big kids threw the little kids around and consumed plenty of adult beverages. We ordered pizza and the little kids watched a movie all snuggled up in bed...
It was the perfect ending to the perfect day!
The next morning, we took the kiddos to the Cool Off Water Chute. Oh, the memories. Craig and I went there every summer as kids with our cousins and had such a crazy time! The boys followed none of the rules and got kicked out numerous times. Such proud moments! Our kids didn't get kicked out, don't worry! (And we all turned out to be pretty normal adults - ha!)
G got the hang of it real fast!
Once they figured out how to do chains they ended up doing them over and over and over again!
I love these kiddos!
This will surely be a repeat event next year!
After the water chute, we went back to the condo for some more swimming, some shopped at the outlets, and then dinner and smores - yum! Some went to ride Go Carts as well!
My cousin Kristin with Cole
G got to ride with Uncle Craig... one of his very favorite people in the world!
Next year this big kid will get to ride all by himself - yikes!
Today we all had a family breakfast, said our goodbyes and then we went to visit Great Grandma Speight!
The little kids burning off some energy in the lobby!
She always loves seeing her grand-kids and great grand-kids!
We honestly couldn't have had a better time! Grady has been looking forward to seeing his cousins for months now, and was so sad to leave them today. I love that Grady and Cole are lucky enough to have this kind of relationship with their (2nd - I think) cousins. There really is nothing better than family! Can't wait until next year! Next year I promise to pull out the good camera and take some real pictures!
