Little Labor Day road trip

We didn't take a vacation this summer, so something possessed me to suggest a trip to Scheels in Springfield.  We had never been there before, but that place turned out to be a whole vacation in one building!  It was a store, restaurant, museum, amusement park, and zoo, all with free admission.  We spent a dollar to ride the Ferris Wheel, and we bought food and cheap gas ($2.28/gal), but it was a pretty inexpensive vacation.  The kids behaved badly enough in the car on the way there that we threatened to "turn this car around right now!" but I'm glad we made it.

 Strangely, there were lots of Presidents at Scheels.

Words of wisdom from George Washington

 Sitting on Abe Lincoln's lap like he's Santa Claus (which is a little more respectful than the one where Noah is pretending to poop in Abe's top hat).

 Hanging out with Reagan.  Mike says in the background you can see Jefferson doing skateboard tricks.

The face that says, "Seriously, Mom. No more pictures with dead Presidents!"

 The huge fish tank is amazing!

 And so is the Ferris Wheel!

 They were making fudge right before our very eyes.  The delicious caramel swirly looking ones are called "chewy praline".  We bought 6 pieces for $12.  I was the one who insisted on buying fudge, so I didn't get any food when the rest of them bought lunch.  Hence, I ate fudge for lunch and supper. By the end of the day, I had a sugar headache and felt like my head was full of cotton candy.  After lunch, I did something silly (I don't even remember what now), and I overheard Noah say to Mike, "Mom's all hopped up on fudge."

 We thought about test riding this bike just to see if it was worth its $1650 price tag, but there's no way it could be.

 Rock climbing and playing at the playground

 Sarah caught a huge fish

 and bagged a grizzly.

 Trying out the bungee chairs, which were very comfortable. I spent considerable time in one while looking at the incredible display of stuffed animals right across from them.

There's a very impressive array of stuffed animals, all labeled and posed and lifelike.