Family Vacation

Due to taking close to 2000 photos this will be broken up into a few posts.  I grew up travelling quite a bit. My parents didn't get the luxury of travelling while they grew up and knew that when they had a family it would be something they would do as often as possible. For 22 years now we have been going to Branson, MO. Sometimes we had gone more than once a year. Branson has become a second home you could call it for my family. We would bring friends and family along with us and now spouses and children. The beginning of August is worked out so well that my entire family was able to vacation TOGETHER!

Husband and I left earlier than we anticipated so we were able to have an extra day of vacation.  We ended up meeting my folks and one of my cousins before the rest of the clan showed up the next day.  In wanting to do something that not everybody might want to do we ended up going to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.  My family had gone many many years ago so it was fun to go again and see things I had totally forgotten about.

One thing to notice is the cars in traffic.  We have discovered the best way to drive is learning the back roads.

Niko & Derek playing some shooting game we came across.  Coincidentally the game was right before the carved coffins that were designed as turkeys and bananas.

 Once the kids rest of the clan arrived they made sure that they got to take walks to the playground to burn off some of the energy they had built up in the car ride down.

Stopping to look at JJ's room on the way to the playground.

Sassy pants adores her Uncle Derek.  Truth be told he adores her as well.

This little guy had so much fun playing with Uncle Derek too.

One of the first things that we did was go to Silver Dollar City or as my nephew called it, "Fun park".  In all honesty my folks, have found that when you purchase the two day pass it is a way better deal when bringing the kids along.

Apparently, it takes two to get the Baby Bjorn ready for the day.

Papa trying the Red Velvet funnel cake.

Oreo Funnel Cake!

Momma and her Great-Nephew Niko.

Uncle Derek was a trooper and went on the kiddie rides...

Even on the ones he REALLY didn't fit on.

Sassy pants and her "Nuko" as she calls him.

Me and the kids.  I had no idea what I was getting into with these frogs.

FEED US!

While some were still eating Derek and I made sure the two older kiddos were entertained by the super cold water from the river ride watching people.

Derek and a very nicely seated handsome boy.

And then there is little miss Sassy Pants who kept blinding me.  Love her!

Beluga slept most of every day...

But she is so stinkin cute.

Some of our favorite must do rides:

Wildfire!

The water one where you get to shoot people with water and people get to shoot water at you!

They went on this 3-4 times in a row!

Me and my bro on our favorite ride.  This thing spins you in circles as you go up and down a half moon thing.  Compare it to the skateboard ride at MOA.  It is awesome.

The Barn Swing!  Literally a giant swing!

We were unable to do the Caves because of the flooding that had been going on during our visit but next time I really hope to see them.  Since SDC closes at 6:00 PM we needed to find other things to do afterwards besides sitting in the rooms.  One night we decided to do Go-Karts and have Andy's Custard.  Not going to lie when the Go-Karts were terrifying!  My family couldn't remember which one they took the kids to last year when they loved it.  This year we went to the wrong one.  The kids still had fun with the bumper cars, ferris wheel, and arcade games.

New victim in getting set up in the broken Baby Bjorn.

Big Buck Hunter with Niko.

Where Uncle Derek goes, the kids go.

The kids also liked playing their new matching game with Auntie JJ even though they are still a little too young to understand how to play it.

And one last photo before the next post...

10 years have gone by.

Husband had his 10 year high school reunion! I was not able to make my reunion last year so it was nice that we could make his this year. His graduating class size was not even half of the number of students we would have in a regular class. My husband grew up in a tiny town village in Missouri. I teased him a lot when we first started dating about going to a one room schoolhouse. It wasn't really a one room schoolhouse but more of every grade was in the same school. Comparing his graduating class of nine (yes, I said 9) to my class of about 555, it was a very different world. 

His friends were kind enough to go with his schedule and we ended up meeting on a Wednesday for dinner, a bar, and then a friends house to end the night. Not much of a plan but when the town you grew up in doesn't not have anything but farms and a school you make due with what you have. During the day we ended up playing pool at the same bar we would end up at later that night as well as checked out a state park (the name escapes me but next time we are actually going to tour it). For dinner we met everybody at a nearby town diner that had great food.

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Old sign in the bar

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Look close to see Bambi

The graduating class of 2003 (minus 3 I believe) *the only appropriate photo I could post.

Many thanks to husbands friends in letting me attend your class reunion.  It was so nice to finally meet some more of you guys!

Trying to get caught up

I'm so behind on posting things from Easter but I have a totally legit reason, overnights.  Have you ever worked overnights before?  I just did two weeks of overnights and I hope to never be voluntold (it is totally a word used often the last two weeks) to do them again, maybe.

The store I work at is getting a complete overhaul: paint, fixtures, electrical, merchandise, and new floors.  We had people come from other stores to help out with all of the craziness and it is still not complete.  Construction workers, electricians, painters, and employees in the store at all hours.  Trust me when I say it made for a very interesting work experience.

As a girl who loves sleeping when it is dark out, this was a huge challenge for me the first couple of nights.  The first night everybody is exhausted but excited to get to work.  By the third night the schedule had started to feel somewhat normal not knowing what day of the week it is.  And by the end of the week I had gotten used to eating only one and a half times a day and sleeping the rest when I wasn't working.  People should never be exposed to the amount of paint and glue fumes we inhaled.

The first week, we had a great crew come in from other stores with little for us to do.  They were incredible workers though.  This last week we actually had more to do to make the time pass a little faster.  And the workers were mostly great with a couple of bad apples.  One actually tried to give me a compliment and it ended up coming off that I look like a boy ("I like your hair down, it is really pretty and actually makes you look like a girl").  I had to laugh and walk away because I really didn't know what to say.  I was pretty much thinking, 'I'm sorry but I kind of figured that my boobs were a big give away that I am not a boy'.

People were always asking how I was always so happy with so little sleep and while others were grumpy.  I blame it on the construction.  It was so much fun to work with people in the construction field again.  I felt at home with the crews around.  Yes, that sounds kind of weird but it is something I know fairly well growing up with my dad always having some sort of construction going on in our house.  For one of the first times in the four+ years we have lived in Illinois I was able to actually relate to people.  I loved the smell of paint (when it wasn't overbearing), smelling fresh cut wood, hearing the sounds of circular saws and nailguns, and picking up the casing of wires.

In the end, we got a lot accomplished with more work still ahead of us.  We had night after night of laughing hysterically.  We had a pizza party to celebrate a coworkers birthday and didn't have to deal with customers!  So here's to new friends and not really minding being voluntold to do two weeks of overnights!  No more overnights for this girl right now.  I am excited to getting back to my old routine, actually seeing my husband, and getting to the gym!

4 a.m. wednesday, thursday, or friday because I don't honestly know which day was which.

Easter Spaghetti

This year we went for a non-traditional Easter dinner after I asked husband if he wanted pot roast or spaghetti.  Ever since receiving Imported spaghetti sauce and noodles for my bridal shower I only want the good stuff (Thanks, Kay!).

Giada meatball recipe.

Baked meatballs.

Since we like smooth sauce, we just throw it in the blender.  This sauce is SO DELICIOUS!

When there is very little English on pasta noodles, you know they will be good.

I love the look of imported pasta noodles.  They have so much texture to them.

I love my Giada cookwear!  Sleek, durable, and stainless steel.

 The finished product didn't get a photo because we were all too excited to EAT!  It was so amazing.

Where to buy everything:
Pots and Pans - Giada at Target
Capa di Roma Fresh Basil Sauce - TJ Maxx (seriously!)
Italian Noodles - The Fresh Market (they also have some at TJ Maxx and some grocery stores)

Merry Easter

Since we had an extremely busy December we never had a chance to celebrate Christmas with our families and still haven't with most of them.  About a week before Easter my folks asked if we would mind company for Easter (of course not!).  I always feel bad when somebody comes to visit and husband and I have to work nearly every single day our guests are here.  Anyway we thought it would be fun to have a mini Christmas celebration for Easter.  It was so wonderful of my folks to take the time to visit us even though it was short.  Somebody had to be the photographer so there are none of me...

The Loot!  Santa even came!!

Husband with his Billy the Bass Ornament, and yes it does talk.

Mom's favorite movie.

Dad got a headlamp for working on cars and in the attic.

Momma and Papa opening their dinner theater gift certificate to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.