Branson (yes, really)

Last spring, Mom called and asked if we would like to book a trip to Branson with them at the end of the summer.  I’m not a big Branson person.  I’m not interested in the shows and the town is a little, well, um -- conservative for me.  The only restaurant that we ever really liked there has closed down.  But – I do love the outlet malls and I do love to take the kids to Silver Dollar City, so I decided that it sounded like a great way to wrap up the summer.  It seemed so far away at the time.  Well, the time went by quickly as always and sure enough, before we knew it, the trip had arrived.  We stayed at a fabulous resort complex called Marriott Vacation Resorts.  It was absolutely wonderful. (Thanks, Jenn!!!) It had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  Caleb slept in the king bed with Lala and Pops.  The other bedroom had 2 queen beds, so Nola slept in one of them bolstered by pillows and Rudy and I got the other one.  It worked out perfectly.

Our trip started last Tuesday (7/26).  Our condo was right by the amazing pool.  Caleb wasted no time getting in the pool and Nola followed right along behind him.  They both love the water.  Because I’m still recovering from my Novasure procedure, I wasn’t able to get in the pool with them, which was a bummer.  It was so HOT and all I wanted to do was get in the water!  Rudy graciously offered to plan and cook our meals for us. The first night, he grilled whole chickens and stuffed peppers that he had prepared before we left home. We had the peach delight dessert that I brought.

On Wednesday, we braved the soaring temperatures and went to Silver Dollar City.  With our season passes and some coupons that we had, it only cost us an additional $30 for Mom and Mr. L to go with us.  Because they were with us, we got to do some things that we don’t usually do.  Rudy and I actually got to ride the Wildfire and the Powderkeg…twice…while they took the kids on the train ride and to the new Half Dollar Holler.  It was a fun day and we were TIRED when it was over.  (Scroll over pictures for descriptions.)

Here’s a (sideways) video of Caleb dancing in the creek to the cajun band.  That child is a mess.

 

Wednesday night, the kids swam and we had burgers for dinner.  Then, we took advantage of the resort activities menu and joined in the fun of making s’mores at the firepit.  It was really cool that they had all of these things you could choose from to do.  That was the only one we were able to participate in and it was so much fun.

Thursday was our shopping day.  The boys went to Springfield to the big Bass Pro Shop and out for a BBQ lunch.  Mom, Nola and I hit the outlet malls looking for deals!  Nola’s ready to move up to 24 month clothes and we were hoping to find some things for her to carry her over until the weather gets cooler.  We didn’t have much luck.  They already had winter sweaters in the stores!  It was 102 degrees outside!!!  We did find a few things for Caleb’s back-to-school clothes and a couple of things for each of us.  We had lunch at Panera and then took Nola back to the condo to nap with the boys while Mom and I finished making our rounds.  We really enjoyed our day.  When we got back, the boys and Nola were in the pool.  We joined them poolside for a while and then came in for dinner.  Rudy grilled steaks for us that night.  He was quite the chef!  We spent the rest of the night getting our stuff together for our trip home on Friday.

 

Friday morning, we loaded up the cars.  The kids went to Hot Springs with Lala and Pops.  Rudy and I did a little kid-free shopping and then drove home in a very quiet car.  I didn’t have to fish anything out of the backseat floorboard, figure out why the DVD wasn’t working, clean up any spills or calm any crying and nobody once had to pull over on the side of the road to go to the bathroom.

Spiro

After church on Sunday, we went to Spiro for a little visit with Grandma and Grandpa Morris.  Janice was there as well and we were glad to see her too.  We had pizza and homemade apple pie and had a great visit. 

St. Louis 2011 ~ Friday & Saturday

Every year, we look forward to our trip to St. Louis.  Rudy starts getting all nostalgic and we both start planning every activity and meal.  Our first stop on Friday (7/1) was in our old neighborhood – Glenn Brooke Woods.  We were excited to see and catch up with our friends Jen and Broc and their kids.  The kids played and we visited and got all caught up on the latest happenings in the neighborhood.  It was wonderful to see our sweet friends and they even treated us to dinner.  I was awful and didn’t get a single good picture.  I was too busy chasing kids and talking!

We left the Browns’ house and headed north to Florissant.  We got to Jerry and Sherry’s house and felt like we were at home.  We let the kids stay up waaaay past their bedtimes while they got reacquainted with their great aunt and uncle who love them as though they were their very own grandkids. 

Saturday, we had a lazy morning, then went to the neighborhood pool (which is much more awesome than ours) and had fun splashing and playing in the water for a while.  When we got back to the house, we had burgers and hot dogs.  After our late lunch, we loaded up for our trip downtown.  We’ve spent some portion of the 4th of July weekend at the Arch 10 out of the last 13 years.  The group that goes with us changes a little every year, but we are always there with Jerry and Sherry.  It’s always unbearably hot.  It’s always crowded.  There’s always a chance of rain (and we’ve gotten rained on several times).  But…there’s always a great fireworks show.  There’s usually a great concert (Best = Hootie & the Blowfish, Worst = Cyndi Lauper).  There’s always a fabulous opportunity for people-watching.  There’s always overpriced fair food and cold lemonade.

 

We’ve taken babies (sometimes not so intelligently) and we’ve taken grandparents.  We’ve taken Caleb every single year of his life – and Nola too, for that matter.  This year was no exception to the rules.  It was over 100 degrees when we got down there.  I wasn’t sure how we were going to make it.  We had water-spraying fans, lots of water to drink and we took turns taking the kids into the shade. 

At one point, I took Caleb to look for the kids’ area.  We walked all the way around the Arch and back.  He was excited to see the flooded river.  By the time we got back to our seats, I was starting to feel sick from the heat.  I was glad to see that some shaded space had come available and our crew had moved into it.  It made all the difference in the world.  We were joined this year by Rudy’s uncle Doug and aunt Lisa, as well as our friend Joy and her kids.  We thoroughly enjoyed the Steve Miller Band concert, which was the reason we chose to go on the 2nd instead of the 4th.  Nola entertained us with her dancing throughout the concert.  After the concert, we enjoyed the fireworks.  Caleb was able to watch it without covering his ears (or eyes) and Nola sat in my lap for most of it.  She would laugh when the sky would light up and would even sometimes cry when they fizzled out.  Both kids were sound asleep by the time we got out of the city traffic.

Oklahoma Weekend

The Friday night after VBS, we had a great time swimming with our friends, the Sharplesses.  They stayed afterwards for a cookout and we enjoyed their company.  I enjoyed it so much that I completely forgot to take any pictures, but here’s a link to the ones that Sheila posted. 

Saturday morning, we drove over to Owasso to see Jan and Bill.  Caleb got to play with Gabe and they even got out the slip & slide to try to escape the ridiculous heat that we’ve had this June.

After the slip & slide fun, the boys all went to Bass Pro Shop while Jan & I stayed home for Nola’s naptime.  Bill’s son, Tyler and his wife Andrea joined us for dinner.  They have an adorable little boy named Will who is just a few months older than Nola.  Here’s Jan holding both of the little ones.

On Sunday, Bill and Rudy played golf.  Jan and I spent the morning playing with the kids and then took them to lunch.  When the golfers came home, we gathered up our things and headed for home to get ready for another summer week.

Easing Back Into Reality

When we got back to Hot Springs on Friday evening, Caleb came running out to greet us with the biggest hugs ever.  He nearly suffocated me by squeezing so hard.  That lasted about 2 minutes and he was off and running again – chasing lizards, following in Pops’ shadow and peeing off the porch (one of his favorite things to do at the lake).  Nola was glad to see us, but held a little bit of a grudge before she finally warmed up to me.  She made sure I knew that she was officially LaLa & Pops’ girl after spending so much time with them. 

We eased ourselves back into parenthood with an extra day in Hot Springs.  Mr. L. bought a tube for Caleb this summer since he’s finally big enough to ride one and he’s now had 2 years of swimming lessons.  (That’s something he did while we were in Florida.)  We decided to spend Saturday on the lake.  A few pictures from our fun in the sun…

Captain Caleb:

 

Nola and LaLa and Pops

Caleb tubing with Daddy and Mama (Yep – I got in the tube.)

Nola loved to stand at the front of the boat and watch the water

Swimming Practice (he eventually got brave enough to take off the life jacket)

After we boated, we had a good old Southern shrimp boil and then sat around and watched the kids play while we visited.  These two silly monkeys put on LaLa’s old glasses. 

By the time we got ready to come home on Sunday morning, Mom had washed all of our laundry.  (Hallelujah for her laundry addiction!)  We loaded up the car to the gills and hit the road.  Nola (as usual) fell asleep 30 minutes before we pulled in the driveway.  Caleb watched movies all the way home.  Summer was definitely off to a good start.

Perdido Key

Monday (6/13), Rudy and I got up and the crack of dawn, kissed the kids goodbye and left them with LaLa and Pops for the week.  Destination:  Perdido Key, FL! 
While we drove, we listened to a John Grisham audiobook.  I paused it as we went through Southeast Arkansas to show Rudy (for the millionth time) the landmarks of my childhood that you can see from Hwy 65.

We made it to Perdido around 4:30, checked in at our condo and unloaded the car.  We smiled as we opened the blinds of our balcony to find this view waiting for us:

We were hungry and ready for some seafood, so we freshened up and went to dinner.  We ate shrimp (me) and oysters (Rudy) from the Oyster Bar at the Flora-Bama on Monday night.  Nothing fancy, but perfect gulf seafood for road-weary travelers.  Would you look at the size of that shrimp?  The view from our barstools wasn’t so bad either.

It was open mic night at the Bama, so we stuck around and listened to some good and not-so-good entertainment.  You just never know what’s going to happen in that place and there was some fabulous people-watching!
When we got back to the condo, I was long overdue to put my toes in the sand.  Sometime during that late night walk on the beach, I was able to exhale.  I realized how much stress I had been carrying and how tense I was.  The sound of those ocean waves and feel of that warm, white sand underfoot was overwhelmingly cathartic.  I sat on a chair on the beach and wondered at the magnitude and perfection of it.
Tuesday morning, we got up and made a quick trip into town for some groceries and breakfast.  As we were pulling into the parking lot, we saw the Blue Angels fly overhead as they were practicing.  After we got back to the condo, Rudy went out and set up our canopy on the beach while I packed our beach bags and put on my swimsuit.  I spent the afternoon alternating every 15-20 minutes between these two views:

     

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, right?
We had dinner at a place called The Original Point, where Rudy had soft-shelled crab and I had yet another plate of shrimp.  Afterwards, we went back to the Bama for some more entertainment and another great night of people-watching.  We LOVED the guy singing that night. 
Wednesday was our day to get out and see more of the area.  We drove all the way into Gulf Shores and back.  We had lunch at Brian’s PoBoys – a roadside food truck - and it was wonderful!  After lunch, we went back out on the beach for a while.  Because it was our first trip without kids since we became parents, we splurged and went on a parasail ride.  We had to ride on a banana float pulled behind a jet ski out to the parasail boat.  Once we were on the boat, we got all strapped into our harnesses and off we went.  We were up about 600 feet, which is an amazing view and it is so peaceful.  Before they reeled us back in, the boat driver dipped us into the water a couple of times, which was pretty awesome.  We don’t have any pictures of it.  They wouldn’t let us take our camera out there and it would’ve cost us $30 to have them take pictures.  You’ll just have to trust me on it.
I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach, which is something I’d like to be able to say more often…

Wednesday night, we had an amazing dinner at Louisiana Lagniappe, where I ate some ridiculously good stuffed shrimp.  Rudy and I both agreed that it was as good (maybe better?) than anything we’ve ever eaten in New Orleans.  For real.  After dinner, we were miserably stuffed.  We drove out to LuLu’s in Gulf Shores just to see what it was all about.  It was a fun place, but waaaay touristy.  It was definitely our early night on the vacation.
Thursday was our last day.  We planned to lay on the beach literally all day.  When we woke up to clouds and thunder, I was not a happy camper.  The thunder and rain passed mid-morning, but it stayed cloudy almost all day.  By golly, we were on the beach, though!  It was almost cold for a good part of the day.  I stayed under the canopy with my cover-up on and a towel over my legs.  Once the clouds began to break up a little, it warmed up and we enjoyed our day.  I certainly didn’t need to get in the water to cool off very often. 
We went to dinner that night at Fisherman’s Corner.  The food was delicious and we’ll definitely go back there sometime.  We decided to spend our 3rd night out of 4 enjoying the crowd at the Bama, and what a crowd it was!  The place was packed and it was so much fun!  We laughed and sang and danced and had a great time until Rudy pretty much had to make me leave.  I know he was dreading making a 9 hour drive after a late night.  We couldn’t resist one more walk on the beach that night.  It’s a hard thing to savor for 3 days and then leave it.

Friday morning came pretty early and we were on the road.  We were ready to see the kids, though.  We managed to bring Caleb a t-shirt and a starfish and brought Nola a little purse that says Orange Beach on it with a crab. 
Our trip was wonderful.  It was much-needed time away together.  It was much needed relaxation and saltwater and sand and sunshine and seafood.  We celebrated our 12th anniversary in style.  Hopefully, we won’t have to wait quite so long to do it again. 

And, for the record, we are now big fans of Perdido Key.  We highly recommend it to anyone looking for a place to go with or without kids.  It’s a great location – close enough to the touristy places, but they aren’t in your face.  They cater to visitors, but not in a bumper boats and putt-putt golf kind of way.  We’ll be going back there as soon as we can.