Family fun weekend

That was the theme of this past weekend- family fun weekend! We had planned to make a trip to the state fair in Sedalia, MO on our way to the lake for the weekend. But...we had a huge storm come through the night before. As a result, the fair had closed down until further notice for security inspections of all of the exhibits. Not being the most spontaneous person in the world, I was thankful Daddy had another plan! We decided to detour down to Springfield, MO and spend the afternoon there. In route, we stopped at Osceola Cheese in Osceola, MO. Being a cheese-loving family, we had to check it out.

They had lots of free samples and we were able to get a little snack tray to hold us over until we made it to Springfield (another 45 minutes or so) for lunch.
Once we arrived in Springfield, we stopped at McAlister's Deli for lunch and then headed to the Discovery Center. Thank goodness for our smartphones! I was Googling "fun places to go with kids" our whole way down to Springfield and the Discovery Center kept popping up. The reviews were right, too. It was a great place for Lily & Jackson....and Mommy & Daddy, too! We spent about 3 hours there touring their 7 floors of fun, hands-on, scientific activities. Here are some of the highlights of our time there:

In the Japanese cultural section
learning about DNA and talking to the Lab Assistant about a sick goldfish she was nursing back to health
Weathergirl Lily
and Newscaster Lily
in the water play section
Daddy and Lily creating a huge flowing bubble

in the electricity section, having a "hair raising" experience :-)
even Jackson had a good time in the "under 5 exploratory room"
shopping at the market

After our time at the Discovery Center, we made a quick stop to the Bass Pro Shop. Being the national headquarters, Daddy had to stop and make sure he wasn't missing something! Jackson was sleeping so I stayed in the car while Lily & Daddy checked it out.
To end the day, we headed to the lake for the weekend to spend time with the family!

the cousins with the turtles they found

the babies doing what they love...eating!

You would think that would be plenty of fun for one weekend, but since it was the last weekend for the state fair and we had originally planned to check it out, we decided to spend a few hours there in the morning on our way home.

at the Dept. of Conservation exhibit- Daddy's favorite

petting a turtle

checking out the rabbits
Daddy dreaming....
petting the show horses

We had such a fun weekend full of entertainment and laughter. Looking forward to another family fun weekend soon!