Branson Bits

I wasn't expecting to have as much fun as we did. Because of someone's generous inviation, we were able to spend 4 days in Branson,Missouri last weekend. I was completely surprised by this "Home-style Vegas" tucked away in the Ozark mountains by a lake with a funny name. I don't know if it was the excitement of the kids, the break in the routine, the scenery, the free flowing coffee, or the amazing hotel, this little trip to Branson will be a favorite memory for years.






He could have shot this airgun ALL DAY LONG!


Julia was thrilled to do something she had only read about.

Jeff actually used the word "scary" for this one. Here is what Julia had to say:

This was the first time we had ever stayed in a hotel room as a family! Can you believe that? Our first morning, B was rip-roaring to go. Since he couldn't speed us up with his words, he decided to open the door. "Dad! Look! Someone dropped their paper!" He was just as surprised the next morning..............

In attemps to discourage the asking for every keychain, snowglobe, T-shirt, teddy bear, and spoon that had "Branson" stamped across it, we gave the kids "X" amount of money to spend on whatever they wanted. I was pleasantly surprised by how seriously they took it. After Brighton realized he didn't HAVE to purchase something at every store, it went much better for him. In true Julia form, she was quite the shopper squeezing every penny out of her "X". Here is one stop we made. I know. You don't have to tell me. We are SO cool.

All the fun and frozen lemonade only loosened up Brighton's tongue. The bellman was quick to tease us that we needed to teach him to talk a little more. As soon as he opened the car door, B would report to the bellman our every stop until he was out of earshot. The sweet ladies at Silver Dollar City were not left out.

Here, Julia is reaping the benefits of her brother's need to jack his jaws. They both were given a whopping extra helping of the fresh churn of ice cream.

This may have been one of the things they enjoyed the most-- sharing a bed! They did everything from the "You're touching me!!" routine to the "I can't stop laughing!!" bit. Thankfully, there was more of the latter. I loved the sign they stood up outside the elevators every night. It had the whisper effect on my two. Right now, signs have lots of authority with Brighton. The last night we let them sleep with us. (Whose crazy idea was that anyway????) This is EXACTLY how Julia slept with me-- with arm AND leg thrown over me pushing me off the side with every breath, it seemed. I don't know how "family bed" people function during the day!

Okay, last thing. You will understand my hesitation once you see it (and it is not our incredibly messy hotel room in the background). As I was getting Brighton ready for the Noah musical, he stated his opinion clearly about wearing "two shirts". I told him we all wanted to look nice for the Noah show. He rolled his dark eyes and this is what he said:

Due to a combination of all of the above, Branson is now on my list of "places I want to visit again"!