carseat forward

Yesterday we turned lazarus's car seat forward since he's now too tall to be rear-facing, and we figured this week would be fun since we'll start to see Christmas lights. He loved his new view--commenting on when we were going up hills, and seeing everything evalana saw. We set up a mirror so they could still see each other's faces, and they were happy they could still hold hands, too. Evalana liked it better when lazarus was rear-facing, but she was happy when i reminded her she's going to have a rear-facing baby with her in about six more months. Evalana was about the same age when she got too tall to ride backwards, too. Besides my appreciating the safety benefits of rear-facing, Lazarus also now can't get into his seat on his own anymore. Thankfully he has some growing to do before we'll need to buy him a new seat like evalana's. By the way, Evalana's frequently taking about how much she loves her comfy Frontier seat.

lamberts

Sunday morning we got to celebrate Curtis's 4th birthday.

Lazarus (1), Gracie (5), Evalana (4), Brent, Curtis (3), Trinity (10), Noah (5)

Evalana, Curtis, Trinity, Noah, Aunt Kristen, Shelby (4 months), Lazarus, Gracie

 

 

Lazarus is still talking about the chocolate cake and cow milk that Aunt Kristen gave him.

Then we packed up, and it was time for us to go. About 45 minutes into our drive home is a restaurant called  Lambert's. When evalana found out they're famous for throwing rolls, she told Meema, "that's illegal."

We all enjoyed our meals! They gave us enough food that we brought several meals-worth home with us, too. I got the turkey dinner, but i would order something else next time. Everyone else loved their food. Lazarus was so happy with the fried okra that he squealed and danced and asked for more. I couldn't even tell you how many rolls evalana ate. And she was very excited when she got to catch one herself. Although we had an hour wait to get in, it was certainly a worthwhile stop.
During our drive home, we left our weekend of mid-70s, which turned colder and wetter as we drove. When we stopped for a break at Osceola Cheese, it was sleeting. We got home to upper 20s, but it the weather was dry, so the drive wasn't bad.  We had such a great weekend experiencing new things together and spending good time with family. I'm so thankful we were able to have this branson weekend.

silver dollar city

Friday night Brent and his three kids and Kristen, Noah, and Shelby all arrived at the cabin, too. The kids were a little sleepy but had a great time together. This was the first time we got to meet Brent's kids, and they're really great kids. We had such a good time together over the weekend, and we're looking forward to many more visits with them. Saturday Silver Dollar City didn't open until noon, so we had breakfast and then Brent took some of the kids on a walk. Then we were off to Silver Dollar City, which was so much fun. They were having their Christmas festival, and i was so impressed with how all the Christmas stuff was focused on Jesus! There was way more to do than there was time for in one day. The only thing i'd skip next time was the parade at the end--the two-minute parade was certainly not worth the crowd. Our family's already looking forward to going back in hopefully a year or two. There were so many things we wanted to do and weren't able to.
We started off with watching a few crafts on the way to the the measuring station, where each of the kids got a bracelet color-coded by which rides they were tall enough for and also had our cell number on it. Then they were onto the rides!

   

watching fudge-making and glass-blowing

We started in an area where Lazarus was tall enough to ride all the rides, but we didn't have enough adults with us for all the kids who needed an adult beside them to be able to all ride on some of them.

Evalana, Noah, Trinity, Gracie, and Curtis all started with the Magnificent Wave Carousel.
Then all but Shelby went on the Grand Exposition Coaster. Lazarus started with his arms up in the air, but then looked a little more nervous as the ride sped up. Meema had to hold his head to keep his face from bumping against the lapbar. He said he thought it was fun, though.


Then Evalana and the girls went on the Royal Tea Party while Lazarus and Joshua went on the Elephant March, where we also saw Anna Duggar with her two kids.


Evalana went on her first real rollercoaster, too. Joshua tried to record her reaction the whole time, but his video turned off after about 20 seconds. Maybe he can at least get me that video to share sometime. Here's someone else's video of Thunderation. Evalana says it was a lot of fun, although Joshua says she looked pretty nervous during the ride.

The kids (except Lazarus and Shelby) were so excited to ride Fire in the Hole. Evalana says it and the fast rollercoaster were her favorite rides. Lazarus fell asleep while we were waiting for them.
Here's someone else's video of Fire in the Hole (in case you want to kind of see what they rode)


The one ride I (being pregnant) got to do with the kids was the Flooded Mine. We also stopped at Geyser Gulch, where the kids got to climb around play with lots of balls, and they climbed around some more at Half Dollar Hollar. Then we finished up our evening with a ride on the train, which was great--we got to see lots of the Christmas lights that are all over SDC, and we got to hear about Jesus's birth. Lazarus worked hard to wave at everyone we passed by.

minigolf

After the train, we met Meema at a miniature golf place. It wasn't the greatest minigolf place since there weren't a lot of fun tunnels or anything like that, but it was in a good location for what we were needing, and the price was decent. Both kids loved it.

Lazarus liked to pick up the balls after a person hit one, place it in the hole for them, and then hand it back to that person. Evalana actually got a hole-in-one! 

After the golfing, Evalana and Meema went to the Joseph musical, which sounded really great. I didn't think Lazarus would sit through 2 1/2 hours, so he, Joshua, and I went back to the cabin that Meema had gotten for the weekend. Evalana and Meema had a really great time. It sounds like both of them loved the show. Evalana brought home a stuffed white horse, which she has named Ellen and has now replaced Ellie the little pink blanket elephant as Evalana's sleeping cuddler. 

Here's the theater's advertisement for Joseph:

branson scenic railway

Friday morning Joshua took the day off, and we headed to Branson. The kids did great on the drive. First we went to the Branson Scenic Railway. I'm so glad we did it. It seemed like the perfect time of year for it, too since we could see through all the trees along the tracks, and there were beautiful colors on the hills.

  

the train's moving!

  

 

 

    

View Larger Map  This shows the road near that railroad, but we went on the train tracks close to there, from the Branson train station to the Barren Fork Tressel in Arkansas (big bridge near the B on this map).

Here's another view of the train, from their video:

I'm so glad we found out about this train and were able to do it; we really had a great time. My only complaints were that, right before we boarded, they told us no food was allowed, other than snacks and drinks for kids, and they had food for sale on the train, but you had to have cash (which i never do). They said they needed to look at everyone's bags, but they really just glanced and said okay. We weren't about to leave behind our packed lunches since it was lunch time, and a hungry 4yo, 1yo, pregnant mama, and daddy would not be a good crowd for 2hrs. So we did go ahead and eat our sandwiches on the train, and it wasn't an issue. I just wish we had brought more water with us; i never found a place on the train or in the station to refill water. I was actually surprised at how crowded the train was, but there were a couple of tour buses on there. Everyone on the train was so nice.