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.