Last fall we took the boys to Branson for a long weekend during their Old Time Christmas celebration. We liked it so much we decided that we should make it a yearly tradition. We left Friday right after we picked the boys up from school. The drive went pretty well considering the boys only slept for about 45 minutes. We arrived at the condo and the craziness began! I know kids get excited about vacation and get all hyped up and stuff, but geez, these kids were insane! They hardly slept 8 hours a night while we were there and they took very brief naps. Immediately we took them to the playground to try to burn off energy.
Levi
Will
Max
Will and Levi
Max
Will
Max
Levi
Saturday morning we took the boys to the indoor pool. Max, who is a huge fish, was freaked out by the drain in the pool because he thought it was a shark. (There was a Shark hanging on the wall.) Levi was his typical self and would get in, then get out and watch. Will, who was the most skittish of the water over the summer, loved it! We finally discovered the hot tub which had an area with only 2 inches of water and fountains. That was amazing! Dale and I sat in the hot tub while they sat next to us in the shallow water playing in the fountains.
Will
Max and Dale
(Notice Max looking at the "shark")
Levi
Will, Levi and Max
Me, Levi, Max, Will and Dale
We came back to our room to eat and put the boys for naps. While we were eating we saw a commercial for a train with old fashioned cars that goes 20 miles outside of Branson then comes back. We thought that would be perfect for the boys since they love trains so much. The boys were pretty good until we were just about at our stopping point before heading back. So the entire second half of the train ride was not relaxing!
Dale and Levi
Me with Max (He fell off the bed and insisted on putting a band-aid on!) and Will
Max was so excited to go through a tunnel, when we finally did he was in awe!
Levi
Will, Levi and Max looking at the cows out the window.
Eating a snack (a lure for them to sit still for a minute)!
Dale and Max, Will, and Levi
Posing in front of the trains Christmas tree!
Max
Will
Levi
Me and Will
Levi, Will and Max
The rest of the evening was pretty much miserable! The boys were just wild, wild, wild! It took us over 2 hours to get them to go to sleep and then they woke up super early. Uggh! At this point we were ready to pack up and head home. We decided to walk down to the lake to go fishing and throw rocks. They really like throwing rocks and Max would find sticks and pretend he was fishing with them. Will and Max didn’t stay very dry and kept trying to inch their feet in the water (this will probably explain the later part of our trip)! We went back to our condo for an early nap and then it was off to Silver Dollar City!
Will and Levi
Max
Silver Dollar City made this entire trip of chaotic, sleep deprived, crazy kids worth it!
The boys were fantastic and why wouldn’t they be?
It was like we were in the North Pole!
And let me just tell you that the people that work there can sure put you in a good mood, which I was not in when we arrived.
They are so friendly, polite and giving.
It was such a nice change to what we are used to in this busy world.
The boys were big enough to ride a few rides this year.
We rode the Tea Cups and the Elephants and Max was daring and rode a roller coaster.
(One of the little kid ones but it goes pretty fast.)
We tried talking him out of it, but he insisted.
It was hysterical.
He screamed the entire time, not cried, screamed!
And as soon as it stopped he told Dale “I don’t like it.”
Next was the awesome kids area where they played in the balls forever.
Dale then decided to ride a few rides and we just happened to be where Santa was.
They boys were excited to see him, but didn’t want to sit on his lap.
So Dale and I went with them.
I have no pictures from my camera, but the profession picture is great.
Then we did the Train, ate some dinner, and caught the parade!
Finally we headed to the big Christmas tree on our way out.
The boys were in awe by the tree.
Gosh the looks on their faces were enough to make this trip wonderful and memorable!
This was the perfect way to end our trip.
Levi
Will
Max
Dale, Levi, Will and Max on the train!
Watching the parade!
Max, Levi and Will
Mesmerized by the dancing Christmas Tree!
Will, Levi and Max
Max, Levi and Will
Max, Levi and Will
Dale and Max, Levi, Me and Will
Max wanted to "say cheese in front of the red tree"! So they all picked a color of tree to get their picture with! (I don't take their picture much do I?)
Levi with the red tree!
Will with the orange tree!
We weren’t going to be in a hurry to drive home the next day, but then at 5:00 a.m. I hear coughing and a gag. I ran into their room to grab Max (the culprit) to see if he was okay and to keep him from waking Will and Levi. He had a little vomit on his shirt that I assumed was from the coughing he just did. Don’t ever assume, the vomit train arrived and we have a 5 hour drive home! The other kids woke shortly after from the noise so we decided it was best to get out of there ASAP to get home. I was catching vomit in a trash bag then we finally stopped in Rolla and Dale got me a huge Styrofoam cup to replace the trash bags. We got back on the road and I as I was tending to Max I notice that Levi is not looking too good and had no color in his lips. All of a sudden he vomited everywhere. So the remainder of the trip I was trying to figure out who to hold the cup in front of. We finally got on 270 and then Will starting burping, we were like “OH NO”, but thankfully that’s all it was! We got home and you would have never known Levi was sick. He has been fine ever since. Max just lay around all day until he starting getting sick again that evening. He still wasn’t feeling well on Tuesday, but he finally ate and was getting more and more energy as the day went on. And so, not to feel left out, Will then decided to start running a fever. (No vomiting, knock on wood!) So there is our long vacation story! But after all of the stressful moments we had with the kids not behaving and then getting sick, it was still great and we’ll see you again next year Branson!
