We went on vacation and other stories

Right after Erik was done with school, and before summer session started, we took a little jaunt with Stephen and my parents. Look very closely at the GPS... no we weren't in the middle of nowhere, I swear - we were driving on a 2 lane highway, actually! I guess driving in the middle of the Ozarks threw the computer off a little bit!

Can you guess where we are?

No, not Hollywood...

We went to Branson! While it seems strange to go on vacation there with a 4 year old (who wont' sit through a show to save his life!), there were a TON of things to do with him! We went to Silver Dollar City, an Old West themed Amusement park.

Stephen loved it, of course, especially the teacup rides, which he rode on FIVE TIMES!

There was a fun Christmas Shop there, and Stephen was fascinated by the large snowmen.

He also took a little tumble while running around, but he's tough, and is ok now.

He went on this roller coaster with his dad twice!

This was the view from our hotel... our back porch went right out to Table Rock Lake! It was gorgeous.

One afternoon, we took Stephen to the Fish Hatchery, to feed the fish. He really enjoyed that!

Here are the fish scrambling all over each other to get fed!

We also looked at tanks inside with turtles and fish!

There was a small mini-golf course at our hotel...

This was NOT Stephen's favorite activity, but he tolerated our nonsense pretty well!

I didn't manage to get any pictures of Stephen participating in his favorite activity while we were on vacation - SWIMMING! There was an indoor heated pool, and while we were gone, Stephen managed to learn the Doggy Paddle. We went to the pool several times a day on some days, so he got in a lot of practice. He also started using his iPad to tell us when he needed to go to the bathroom, which was a big step for him!

Since returning home, Stephen has been back at school, and doing very well. Tomorrow is his last day of school, and then he will be a pre-kindergarten student! He will be in a classroom with typical students and some extra supports for his needs, which will be a great opportunity for him to have some good peer models. We are still trying to decide if he will be riding the bus TO school next year (but not home - I like to hear from his teachers about how his day went). He will be going 5 days a week next year, instead of 4, and since it's not his home school, it's a little farther to drive. We'll make a decision this week, though!