Silver Dollar City...

On our last full day in MO... we made our annual spring break trek to Silver Dollar City.

The kids were very excited to try out the new roller coaster, Outlaw Run, but wanted to warm up on Powder Keg first...

They headed straight to Outlaw Run from here and LOVED it!  I'm not sure why, but the only photos I took were with my phone, not my big camera.  I included them in my PL pages a few weeks back, but I'm not going to repost them here.

It was a great day with minimal lines...

Thunderation is an old favorite as it was the one of the first real roller coasters for them...

See... very short lines...

They used to let them stay on and ride again if no one was in line, but this time they had to get off and go around again. 

The mere sight of the barn swing makes me nauseous.  There's no way you would get me on there.... not because it looks scary, but because I'm pretty sure I would get sick :-(  Alex had never ridden it, until last summer when they went to SDC on a field trip with camp.  His cabin rode it together and this time he wanted to try it alone...

 Once was enough for him... lol!

After riding all of the dry rides a few times, they asked if they could get ponchos and ride the wet ones.  It was one of those in between spring weather days.. warm enough to be pleasant but not warm enough that you would want to get wet.  Which meant the water rides had absolutely no lines.

It was worth the $5 each to be able to comfortably ride a bunch more stuff!

The Great American Plunge...

No clue what this ride was called...

The Lost River...

After the wet stuff, they decided to go back to riding roller coasters.  Clara wanted to try Wildfire... so the three of us all rode it together.  Then she wanted to go again with her brother...

 Thank goodness for Clara's bright pink jacket and shoes... it makes her easier to spot!

Finally, we trekked over to the Grand Exposition for a ride on one of Clara's long time favorites... the swings...

We had a really good day!  I have to go back and officially count, but this may have been something like our kids' 10 year in a row of going to SDC!

the spring...

After the museums, we decided to go check out Stone Mill Spring...

The kids decided to see how cold the water was...

And then Alex ventured downstream a bit...

and had a bit of a "Lord of the Rings" moment...

He looks a little Gollum-ish here, no?  :-)

Fort Leonard Wood

On Thursday of spring break, we went to the museum complex at Fort Leonard Wood. 

We wandered around outside a bit before we headed in.

First museum was the Army Engineer Museum...

Followed by the Military Police Museum...

And finally, the Chemical Corps Museum.

Anyone else find the Mickey Mouse gas mask for kids a little creepy?

A piece of the Berlin Wall...

Next we went across the street, to check out the various vehicles (? is that the correct term?)...

And then to the World War II complex...

Clara in the mess hall...

The section about the prisoners of war who were held at Fort Leonard Wood...

The WWII barracks...

 And the Vietnam era barracks...

Last stop was the museum campus chapel...

The kids really enjoyed the museums (Alex more than Clara, of course).  And my dad had a good time (I hope!) answering all of Alex's questions and telling him about his time in the service!