the last hurrah!

My brother heads back to college in a week.  He loves roller coasters.  We have season pass tickets to Silver Dollar City.  Add those together and what do you get?  The last hurrah before the end of summer.  The party included my parents, siblings & boys.  Too bad for all our husbands, they had to be grown-ups and work.

 Someone took a nap on the way down!!! Yea!

 And was happy when he woke up.

We planned it right, pile everyone into a van, grab donuts for the way and shoot to get there by the park opening.  We accomplished 2 out of 3.  Not bad.  After trekking up the hill from the parking lot to the entrance we entered the park at 11:15am.

Dad swore off roller coasters a couple of summers ago, so he was the designated stroller pusher.  He said that the only things his party, (Amos and Silas) were concerned about we're food and drink.  He didn't get his run in that day, but I think he still got a work-out.  He quickly realized how hilly the park was by pushing a double stroller, loaded down, around every inch.

Our plans were to ride all the roller coasters.  We quickly made our way over to the first on the list, hoping for a short line.  The line wasn't bad, and we were excited to check one off quickly.  That's when the rain started.  It quickly turned to a down pour.  We were getting wet even under covering.  Once we heard the lightning, we knew the ride was closed.

 Enjoying the show!  Can't you tell?

It rained from 12pm-2pm.  At the time,  when we didn't know if it was going to stop, we were pretty bummed.  We decided to catch the Saloon show and then grab lunch. Everyone had the same idea about lunch.  Half of our lunch was in the rain.

We were in luck, though.  Around 2pm the rain stopped and rides were re-opening.  Dad pushed the boys around in the stroller to keep them asleep for their naps.  Yes!  Both boys fell asleep in the stroller.  I was prepared for the worst, but luckily, we didn't see it.  The rest of us hit up all the rides now that the sun was out.

The boys both did a GREAT JOB!  They were content riding, the ate a good lunch, they took naps and then Amos was ready to ride some rides.  There were two rides that any height could rides as long as they were with a parent.  He was an inch short for a lot of the rest of them.  Next time!  He made up for it in the amount of times he rode the "Froggies" and the "Butterflies."  The only meltdown of the day came when Mom said we were done with the rides.  A little cheese, helped end that one quickly.

 Joseph and Amos entering Grandfather's mansion.

I think my Dad and Silas' favorite part of the day was stopping at Famous Dave's BBQ for dinner on the way home.  He ate up that barbeque like nobody's business.