The healing powers of Branson

Our week in Branson was fabulous!  The kids did great on the ridiculously long trip there and back, and we enjoyed every minute of being there with my parents, brother, SIL, nieces and nephew - I really loved getting to bond with Levi.  And one of the best surprises was that Rachel was healthy and happy the entire week!  Praise God!  (Her fever came back the day after we got home, but we're blocking that from our memory.)  The guys golfed on Father's Day while Ginny and I shopped, we went to Silver Dollar City one day, rented a boat for half a day on the beautiful lake there, Clay and I had a date night with Bryan & Ginny (and Levi!) one night and enjoyed sushi and the New Shanghai Circus, we went to a city park, shopped at the Disney outlet, rode the Ducks, and did a lot of eating!  We stayed in a very spacious house on the lake for the week which made it that much more memorable.  Already looking forward to our next vacation!

VIEW FROM THE BACK PORCH


FATHER'S DAY


SILVER DOLLAR CITY
 
how many pairs of Crocs can one family have?

both of the babies were so sweet about sleeping wherever

Ethan was thrilled about running into CG

ON THE BOAT


Libby fell off and came back for more

despite his back problems, Poppa was a trooper

Addi wanted to go faster while Ginny was yelling to slow down!

Ethan tried to have fun, but he really didn't enjoy tubing

She was amazing - slept for almost 2 hours on the boat

Nana catching some rays

BEFORE THE SHANGHAI CIRCUS
 

AT THE CITY PARK


RIDING THE DUCKS

Ethan got to drive when we went in the lake

Addi was completely worn out

This is really random, but I don't want to forget how odd the movie theater was in Branson.  The last night we were there Clay and I went to see the late show of the Hulk (which was really good).  The theater was in a Bransonized mall that looked kind of like a log cabin.  We went inside and there were some interesting jewelry shops, a clothing "store", a red hat store,  a fudge place, a really random shop blaring their Hebrew-Christian music, and just stuck there at the end was a lady standing behind a counter shouting out movie times over a loud speaker.  We bought our tickets and entered the "theater" to be greeted by a magic shop.  Yes, I'm serious.  To our left was a Quiznos, and the snack bar sold the worst popcorn I've ever had.  I should have known better since they sold pre-packaged popcorn there as well.  Oh well - it was clean and the movie was good, and it was nice to have a date since Clay is now on the other side of the pond for 2 weeks.  More on that to come later...