Making Memories

This weekend, we decided to take Cale on his first trip to Silver Dollar City. Carl and I both loved this place as kids and were excited for Cale to experience it. We also took along our neice who is in 6th grade. We were excited about the small trip, but dreading the actual drive. Cale has a bad track record for car rides over 20 minutes. Amazingly, he really did really well. It helped a lot that he had a buddy in the back seat to entertain him. We finally made it to Branson at about 8:30Friday night. Cale really just got fussy the last 30 minutes of the trip and once he saw the Branson lights...he was mesmerized.

So, we found our hotel and unloaded our stuff. Then, Carl and Shelby decided to leave Cale and I behind for some go-cart riding. That meant that I was stuck trying to get Cale to bed! Last time we went to Branson and stayed in a hotel we ended up leaving at 2:00 in the morning because Cale wouldn't stop screaming. So, needless to say I was a little nervous about the sleep situation. Cale has never been a baby that will sleep in the bed with us. I don't know if it's because we never put him in our bed when he was little or what. But, we've tried and tried on nights when he was really fussy but he won't even come close to sleeping. So, after a bath (actually a shower holding Cale and trying to wash my hair at the same time), I reluctantly put Cale in his pack-n-play, turned out the lights, climbed into bed, and waited. It only took about 20 seconds for the wailing to begin. It went on and on and I could feel Cale staring at me the whole time as he stood in his pack-n-play. I tried to hide under the covers and be as still as possible, but he knew I was there and he was not happy about it! After about 30 minutes of screaming, Cale finally started to quiet down. Just as I was saying a thank-you prayer, I heard it. The sound of the door handle turning. Yep, wouldn't you know it. Carl and Shelby arrived at the exact moment Cale was almost asleep. So, he ended up crying off and on until 11:30 (latest he's ever been to sleep). But, he sleep from then until 6:00, so even though that wasn't as much sleep as he really needed, we made it through. It could've been worse, much worse!

Saturday morning, after a breakfast at Denny's and a stroll through Branson Landing, we headed to Silver Dollar City. Cale loved every minute of it. From the shuttle ride over on the "bus" (he loves buses) to his first 'ride' on the frogs, he was such a happy boy. I can honestly say he never really fussed in the park and even took a 45 minute nap in his stroller. Besides the nap, Cale didn't want to spend too much time in his stroller which meant that Carl and I took turns toting him our our hips across the park...which was exhausting. But it was worth it. It was a wonderful day and we made great memories that we will never forget.