Branson Vacation

We left for our family vacation on Sunday.  Zach's Grandma Dee turned 85 this week, so the whole family spent the week in Branson to celebrate.  We stopped in Kansas City and stayed at the Embassy Suites there.

Monday

After breakfast on Monday, we went swimming.

We matched

Then we drove the last four hours to Branson.

Showing off her kids meal toy

Playing in the jacuzzi tub

There are six great grandchildren and one on the way.  Abigail, Sydney, and Archer are 10, 10, and almost 5.  Monroe had so much fun with them.

All five of them had on stick-on earrings.

The resort we stayed at had many pools and playground areas.  We spent a lot of time outside.

Tuesday

Eating breakfast on the balcony

We went swimming in the morning.

That afternoon we got ready for a show.  Zach's parents were taking us to see Jonah.

Nana and Papa bought them matching outfits

Jonah was an amazing musical with really cool effects!  There were lots of live animals, the ship rocked back and forth, and the whale floated out over our heads.  The underwater scene and the Ninevah scene were our favorites.  It was 2 1/2 hours long, but Monroe loved it!

That night, we had a birthday party for Grandma Dee, Sydney, and Abigail.

85 years young

The whole family

(Derek and Lea Ann were the only two who weren't there.)

Grandma's four boys

The grandchildren

The great grandchildren

Wednesday

The next morning, the guys went golfing.  They went to a top-five Missouri course and came back a little discouraged.  They had a lot of fun, but they said it was, by far, the hardest course they had ever played.

We played at the park and then went swimming.

This bar was at a perfect height, so I taught Monroe a new trick.

I love this action shot :)

Little Mermaid

That afternoon, we went mini golfing.

Argh!  The kids each got a gift bag of pirate things.

Doug won!  He got three hole-in-ones and beat the rest of us!

For supper, we grilled out at the resort.

Shuffleboard was a lot of fun.

Julie had lots of helpers :)

That night, the grandkids went out.

Thursday

This is the day Monroe had been waiting for.  We went to Silver Dollar City, an amusement park.

The first ride

The park had recently added a new kids' section that was perfect for Monroe and Josiah.

They had a ball launching building like the one at Big Apple in Kearney. Zach and Dustin maybe had more fun than the kids :)

This was Monroe's first and only water ride.  She loved it and hated it at the same time.  I wasn't with her, but she apparently laughed when other people got wet and cried when she got wet.

We stopped near a face painting building, and Julie asked if she could get Monroe's face painted.

Monroe was so excited!

She loved it!

There was rain in the forecast all day, so we were lucky that the storms didn't start until around 4:00.  We were on rides when it started thundering and lightning.  

The whole family met at a restaurant for dinner and then we said our good-byes.

Friday

It was a long drive home.

We had a wonderful time in Branson celebrating Grandma, catching up with family, seeing and doing some neat things, and enjoying being on vacation.