Holidays on a budget

First weekend of June found us bound for Silver Dollar City. In preparing for our trip to China, we are cutting back as much as possible so a summer that one could easily dream of spending in far more exotic locales, we chose to concentrate on a couple of spots that would bring 1. tremendous kid excitement and 2. not be exorbitant. Thanks to a gracious aunt of Ben's, our stay was practically free and thanks to Ben's mom, who secured discount tickets to SDC, this met both criteria. I had never been but it is very familiar territory to the Utter family, so I deferred to their experience.

Branson is not my favorite place for many reasons but the land is lush and beautiful. I had no expectations for the amusement park but was delighted to find it beautified on every corner, around every bend with flowers and fauna and wonderful shade! 

As my sister in law and I hoped, Serena and her cousin had an absolute blast in the way a 5 year old can. Serena shouted "Look out SDC, here I come!" They took turns getting soaking wet from rides, shared Dippin' Dots, held hands to stay together, and screamed with delight on very grown up roller coasters! I looked over at her face of pure joy on a ride and felt such deep happiness and so so blessed with this beautiful daughter of mine! 

We also spent a good bit of time waiting for all the reasons one does when traveling to a place that other people go as well. I was delighted to see how S entertained herself (pretty well, with a few minor exceptions) and thought it good practice for long airport lines. 

Southwest Missouri is really truly beautiful land I always find myself drawn to water, to stars, away from crowds and billboards and flashiness. We caught a few breaths of this type of Branson air. 

In the midst of the excitement, we learned that our dossier is through translation and in "the review room," which sounds like something out of a bad 80s movie but hopefully means LOA next week!