First of all, when researching accomodations, *resort* and *luxury condos* don't mean what you think they mean.    Secondly, WHY is Silver Dollar City SO expensive?!  We had a local theme park here and adult tickets were around $30 and kids were about half that.  At SDC it's $53 for an adult ticket and $43 for kids.  Geez.  

We didn't see any shows because of the little ones (and I can't stand country music ) but we had a great time at the Butterfly Palace, the scenic train ride was nice, the animal safari was decent and SDC was fun.  

It wasn't until I was posting this that I noticed the resemblence!  


Assorted butterfly pics.




















Does anyone know what type of bird this is?  They were all over the place in the butterfly habitat but there weren't any signs telling what they were.  I think they were wingless though.  The second pic is their nest of eggs which looked like a pile of olives.  



This little guy landed on the sign and stayed there for about a half hour providing plenty of photo ops for the guests.


And I snapped this one right as he was taking flight from the flower.


We had to take a picture on the butterfly throne.



Sitting on the toadstool.


I was taking her picture when a butterfly flew right in front of her face.  


Playing checkers in front of Lambert's.


On the train ride.





The safari had several ligers.


Wasn't thrilled by this.


Checking out the wolf that I couldn't get a decent picture of.




On the safari bus.  We were the only ones until 4 Arabic men showed up at the last minute and boarded.  My genius daughter says, "Hola!" as they walk past us.  



How YOU doin'?


The baby wasn't thrilled when they'd get close.






This is the bus driver's arm.  That arm belongs to a female.  Seriously.




The horns on this fella almost took off my daughter's hand.  Apparently they're not aware of just how big they are when they sling their heads around.



This one looks like he's got a set growing out of his ass end.  Painful.


This is one of the *honkeys* my 3 year old fed.  




I wanted to give him bangs so he could see, poor thing.











Is there an animal with more *evil* eyes than a goat?  


This was a mean sumbitch.  Kept knocking all the little goats out of the way.


I wanted to take this baby camel home.  He was so sweet.  I didn't even care that he reeked something awful.







This guy just cracked me up.  


All in all a good trip.  It was 12 hours there and back that I was dreading with the 2 youngest ones but they were very good!  The dvd players kept them occupied.  In fact, they don't swivel so the littlest one couldn't see them so on the way up there when she started to act up we decided to try and rig up the portable one for her to watch.  We dug through the car trying to find something to use and I hit the jackpot.  This is also a testament to my husband's redneck improvisation skills.  I found my maternity belly band stashed down in the umbrella holder.  If you look close you can see *Motherhood* on the tag.  Hey, it worked, right?

First?

Wes

ETA - my first first!  It really was a good vacation but the 12 hour each way drive was not part of the fun.  We also went to the fish hatchery with thousands of trout awaiting release.  The train was neat.  It is also a very expansive destination for families.  SDC tickets really aren't that bad if you but the two day passes for the same price as one day passes.  Very nice park, very clean and staffed mainly by seniors/retirees.  DO NOT go on the weekend.

Wes

Could have posted like 80 less butterfly pics.

I was being artistic.  

Looks like you guys had fun,was that an elk the bus driver man-lady was feeding?

I've never really considered Missouri as a vacation destination, but it looks like you had a good time

Hell if I know.  She didn't even know.  She TALKED like she knew she did but it was mostly out of her ass.  She also drove too fast.

Isn't Branson like Vegas for people with no teeth.

Yeah, me either.   I've never had any desire to go to Branson.  It was pretty much a spur of the moment thing and somewhere he wanted to go.  We all needed a vacation though and it fit the bill!  

The whole time I was there I was scouring trucks and shirts for the boltface logo.  I even thought about trying to see who all from here was nearby for a meetup but we'd have had to bring the kids so I didn't bother.  

Great pics. Looks like the kids and every one had a good time.

That's what I always thought!  

It was mostly families with young kids though.  A few retirees thrown into the mix but not a majority by any means.  They have a LOT more things to do for older kids but two of ours are 3 and 1 so those were off limits.  

do they allow hunting off the train? I noticed some nice exotic game. OH, welcome to mo

It's vegas without the sex, gambling, and alcohol.  Oh, and no bums or prostitutes.

Wes

Thanks!  We did.  

I asked my husband if he had an itchy trigger finger.  

He's emo, not blind.









And your ostrich is my background now. Hope you don't mind.

looks like a fun time was had by all.

Good pics. Looks like the girls had fun.

Did you go down to the Branson Landing or Ride the Ducks?

You may be right.  I didn't check his legs for scars.  

I don't mind at all except that's an emu.    I DO have this picture of an ostrich from a different *safari* I went on back in June though.


I'm telling you––––put a picture of Penelope Cruz up there with it and you can't tell the difference.  

We have one of the most frequented vacation spots in the US.  It's the Chigger Trail in SE MO.  A beautiful 2.5 mile hike though a scenic forest that guarantees weeks of itching infestation to the point of insanity.  Folks from around the globe partake in the festivities every summer.

No, we opted for the train over the ducks since the train was air conditioned.    But it's something we'd like to do somewhere at some point.  

What got me were y'all's mosquitos!  Not that they're bad or anything but we're used to mosquitos the size of horseflies down here––––-easy to spot and dispatch.  The mosquitos there were so small that we couldn't see them to kill them!  And I think we also chose the hottest and most humid week to be there.  It still was more tolerable than what we have down here but we were hoping to get milder, drier weather for a bit.

Oops. Damn birds look alike. Penelope included.



 

looks like y'all had fun.  

but 3 daughters?  10 years from now you'll hate your life.  

nice looking fam.

Your comments about the camel reminded of something. One of my life goals is to breed camels the size of house cats.

These family trips will provide you with great memories for the rest of your life!

We've had hot, humid garbage weather here for a month and a half.  I'll be broke soon from A/C abuse.

Anyway, your cute kids doing the zoo thing is great.  I did the same with my 2 when I lived in IL.  We would go to similar small animal zoos and have a better time than a real zoo.  We met a Tom Turkey at one, and it made me get one for a pet.

Oh, I know.  We just couldn't make boys!  I really wanted 2 boys and 2 girls but that didn't work out.  Obviously.  I still wanted one more but he was done so he got fixed.    He said with our luck I'd get pregnant again with twin girls or something.  

There's another poster here who has TWO sets of twin girls born less than a year apart!  I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Thank you.  And no comments yet about them all looking so different.    Last time I posted pics someone asked how many fathers they had?  

Sign me up for pick of the litter.  

Well, it's not like we went to South America or anything.  

My husband would go round and round with the eldest at every souvenir shop because she'd want to buy some toy she could get at Walmart and he'd try to get her to choose a t-shirt or something with the name of the place as a constant reminder of the trip.  Of course, he won out every time.  But if she got a stuffed animal at every place, a year from now she wouldn't be able to tell you where she got it from.  

You got a turkey for a pet?  What was that like?  I'd like a pygmy goat but I've heard they can be just as bad as a dog with separation anxiety.  A friend got one and said it bleated all night wanting to come in.  

Those are cool pics.  I would even enjoy a trip like that.  I like seeing animals like this up close and personal.



How do they not get huge though with all the tourists feeding them

Friends went there. Liked it so much they named their first son Branson.

Yes, but where are the pics of the Shoji Tabuki theatre bathrooms?  

You know, I noticed with the adult camel pic that he looked REALLY skinny.  No belly and his ribs showing.  I didn't notice that in person but I was too busy trying to feed him, take pictures and keep him from licking the baby.  I didn't at all like the caged animal habitats.  They were concrete and very small and not at ALL a natural environment like I feel they should have.  I hope they don't keep the animals hungry so that they'll be more likely to feed when the tourists come through.    Granted, none of the other animals looked underfed but that camel sure does!  Maybe it's lupus......

 That's............unfortunate.  Was he conceived there maybe?  A little more understandable.

Didn't do any of the shows although we saw that billboard a lot!  Couldn't figure out what it was.  I think I saw a violin on him though.......

His (is his name Shoji Tabuki?) were always on top of Cassandre'––––voice of an angel.  Have no clue who that is either.     The ones that killed me were all of the hillbilly *comedy* shows and the family variety acts.  Have they no shame?

Honeymoon, so quite possibly.



I love the butterfly pictures. My collection comprises every species in central texas...that is big enough to be pretty.



 

 

I think that was the best time I had.  I could have spent all day taking pictures there.  They'd let you get right up on them.  They'd land on your shirt, in your hair and take a ride.  I actually only posted a portion of all the pictures of them I took.  

You collect the actual butterflies or just the pictures?

The actual butterflies. I also have a book of all the flowering plants.





 

I bet you're a riot at the parties.  

Do you do the whole shebang and catch them yourself or do they have mail order for things like that?  We did that butterfly house thing for our daughter where you order the caterpillars and watch them grow and metamorphosize (is that even a word?) until they *hatch* and then you set them free after a few days.  It was very interesting.  We actually need to do that again before winter comes......

Thanks for the pics. Great looking family you got there.   TT

I catch them myself and preserve with a technique I invented that makes the bodies resistant to mold.



 

Do you like orchids? How about Home Depot cashiers?
 

Thank you!  I think they're pretty great.  

Seriously?  Let me just lay it out there that I'm pretty naive so you could pretty much tell me anything and I'll believe it.  I'm also a riot at parties.  

Awwwwwww, bradleyc......he's been MIA for a while, hasn't he?  Maybe he broke the restraining order.