Branson: Day 1

Thursday (7/7/11)
We got up and left our house early in the morning. We headed to Gene and Jane's house to pick them up and head to Branson, Mo. I was very excited because I hadn't been to Branson since I was in H.S. and I didn't remember much about it! And it was the first time to take Brinley on a vacation!

B and I before we left

Our plans were to try and make it to Eureka Springs, AR to eat lunch. I was worried that B would be very restless in the car. We made a pit stop in Tulsa where we all got to stretch our legs. Our next stop...Eureka Springs, AR.

Not to long after we entered AR. We saw this sign! It was no lie! Little did we know that we wouldn't see a flat stretch of land until we headed back home!

B made the rest of the way. Almost a 3 hour drive, she did awesome! We ate Lunch at a place called Local Flavor. It was delicious!

After lunch we did a little bit of shopping and then loaded up and headed on to our resort, on Table Rock Lake. This was the view everywhere. All you could see for miles was trees and hills. It was beautiful!

We drove across this bridge. I thought it was neat. You don't see bridges like this everyday where I live!

We finally made it. We stayed at Valley View Resort on Table Rock Lake. I was a little skeptical about staying on the lake because I am not much of a country girl! I like to be in the hustle and bustle of the city! But I enjoyed it much more that I thought I would! This is our deck at our cabin. B loved it. She wanted to be out on it anytime we were there!

I'm not sure what I was expecting but our cabin was pretty nice. The area was very peaceful and beautiful. We had a view of the lake and there were plenty of toys for B to play on! After settling in it was time to eat dinner and go to the grocery store so we had food at the cabin for the weekend. We headed into Branson. Our cabin was about 30 minutes from "the strip" in Branson. Not a bad drive, it was beautiful scenery to look at on the way! We decided to eat at a steakhouse. BTBones. It was  yummy!

After dinner we drove to Branson West to do some grocery shopping and then head "home" to get some sleep for a busy day of sight seeing! I was so proud of Brinley on the ride to Branson. She did AMAZING! Greg and I are so lucky to have such a happy and well behaved little girl. Don't get em wrong, she's got a temper but is usually very well behaved when out in public (when it counts)! Ha

Stay tuned to Day 2 of our trip!

Happy 4th of July

Yesterday was the 4th of July! We had a pretty boring day but an exciting night. We went to my mom's for dinner. Mom grilled hot dogs and my Grandparents and Aunt Betty were there. After dinner we went to Meadowlake Park to watch the fireworks.

I was worried how Brinley would do. Her bedtime is 8pm and they weren't even starting any of the celebrations till 8:30. Brinley did awesome. When we got to the park it was so busy we had to park across the street and walk over. We decided to go get a snow cone.

The line was so long. We waited about an hour to get our snow cones. Brinley loved being able to walk where ever she wanted to. She found the putout course and was climbing over all the hills. We walked back to our spot to watch the fireworks and got back just in time. Brinley was in AWE of the fireworks at first.

But after a short while she just wanted to walk away from us and run back and fall in our laps. Every now and then she would turn around and watch a few go off then continue to play.

I was so happy that she wasn't scared and didn't throw a fit until we got in the truck to go home. By then she was a sleepy baby! I hope everyone had a Happy and Safe 4th of July!

And just for comparison: 4th of July 2010. B was 2 1/2 months old.

Just Chillin

A girls gotta take a break from swimmming to eat some animal crackers!

The Aquatic Center

Thursday (6/30/11) Amanda, Maleah, Addison, Chelsea (Amanda's friend), Brinley, and I loaded up and headed to Fairview. They have a new Aquatic Center and we wanted to go check it out! It was a blast. We stopped at the bowling alley to eat lunch. I had a grilled cheese sandwich, french fries, and gravy (yummy). The girls shared chicken strips and french fies, and we all shared an order of their fried pickles. OMG...they have the fried pickle spears and they were delicious! I will be going back!

We got to the pool at about 12:30 and we didn't leave until 3:30. This place is nice and cheap. It was $2 for me and $1.50 for B. (It cost an adult $10 to get in a Splash Zone!) Their kiddie pool goes from very shallow to about 1 ft. deep. It has a boat that has a slide on the end.

It is all a squishy material and the girls loved climbing on it. On the shallow end there are 3 holes that squirt water out. If you cover one the other 2 squirt water higher and if you cover 2 the other one squirts water really high. Maleah and I would cover 2 of them and Brinley would stand there and laugh while the other water splashed all over her.

They have a big slide in the big kid pool. Amanda took Maleah down and I decided to take B down.

She sat on my lap with her floaty on and we went down. She loved it. As soon as we got to the bottom she was asking to go again! This girls isn't scared of anything!

Brinley fell asleep before we even got out of town! She was worn out. The trip was definitely worth it. We go to Splash Zone all the time and it was nice to get to see a little different scenery. I know Brinley had a good time and I can't wait until we can go back!

Happy Birthday Gma Jane

(her birthday was actually yesterday 6/28/11)

Jane,

We love you so much and appreciate everything you do for us! I hope you had a wonderful day. Brinley thanks you very much for sharing your snowcone with her! 

We tried many times and this is the best picture we could get!

10 year reunion

Can you believe it?! I have been out of high school for 10 years. Boy am I getting old! Our class reunion was Saturday evening (6/25/11). We had dinner at Napoli's, an Italian restaurant down town, and then went to Scooter's for a few drinks. There were about 15 of my classmates that showed up. I had a blast. It was so nice to get together with old young friends! 10 years was way to long!

Thanks Class of 2001 for an eventful evening!

Splash Zone with the Fam

Brinley and I went to Splash Zone on Friday (6/24/11). We met my cousins Amanda and her girls, Jennifer and her boys, and all the McCartney girls. My mom and sister also decided to join us. We had a great time!

Grandma Berneta and Brinley

 Playing with the water board

She had just put her head underwater

Going down the big girl slide with Jorge

She can finally climb these stairs and go down by herself