Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!

Sarah and I met Tonya, Heidi, and several of the Jr. High/High School girls at Payless shoes tonight, and the girls picked out the shoes we will be taking with us for the South Dakota shoes drive. 

It's starting to seem so much more "real" now that we have the shoes!  I'm excited about going.  I'm looking forward to meeting the families at the shoe drive, and to having some good times along the way.

Matt is in town this week.  His great grandmother died, so he is here for the funeral.  He's also setting up a new laptop for the H.H. and spending a little time with the fam.   He called to invite Sarah and me to have lunch on Sunday, which was a pleasant surprise.  We picked him up and went to the Corner Pub, and then brought him back to the house with us so he could work some computer geek "magic".  Sunday night, we got another pleasant surprise when Doug Hefflin and his wife and mother-in-law came over and we all trekked to Riverton for dinner at France's. 

I said a couple of days ago that this would be a busy week, and it is!  Tomorrow night, Sarah and Charlie are going to St. Louis to see Journey.  Then there are still dentist appointments, school physicals, piano lessons, karate, band, and much more to get through in the next few days.  I'll be ready for a day off by the end of this week!

What a Week!

We returned from vacation on Saturday, but it's still been a whirlwind of activity around here!  On Sunday, the H.H. and I went to the Brewhaus to see our friend, Jan's, brother and his wife play a little bluegrass.  While Jan couldn't make it there, her hubby, Mark, did, and we had some nice conversation while we listened to the band.

After a week of sleeping in and lounging, it was more than just a little rough to get up and get back into the routine on Monday morning.  But, I survived.  I think Jack was happy to get back to camp, so he got up without much complaining. 

The H.H. and I met my friends, Kimmi and Russ at one of the lake clubs on Saturday night to see my high school friend, Rich's, band The Cherry Stoners play at one of the lake clubs.   At the end of the night, we went to Lake Pointe Grille for a late dinner.  Neither of us had ever been there, and I'm so glad we went!  It was VERY good.  I'll definitely be going back there.  I wish we could go out with them more often.  It's always fun!

Now that we're back home and getting into the swing of things, it's time for me to think about...  the next trip!  Sarah and I will be headed to South Dakota very soon with Tonya, Heidi, and their girls for a Share the Spirit shoe drive.  We're going this week to buy the shoes that we'll be taking to Eagle Butte, SD.  I'm really looking forward to that trip - I think it will be an amazing experience.  First we just have to get through the next very busy week!

Home, Sweet, Home?

Why does the drive home after vacation always seem soooooooo long?  I'm sure it's because we're so tired.  Of course, in our car, we're also still silly, and tend to get a little slap-happy on long drives.

Last Night

Vacation always FLIES by, and this year's week of vaca has been  no exception to that.  On our last night in Branson, we went to a place called the "Rowdy Beaver".  It was sort of a compromise - it looked more "chain-esque" so the kids were pretty sure they'd find something good on the menu, but it also looked independent enough that Charlie and I would find something more unique. 

And it did offer both.  It was a fun sort of pub/restaurant sort of place.  The food was good, and plentiful, and everyone left there happy.  (and I didn't get sick!)

Naturally, you can guess what we did for our last vacation hoorah...  GO-KARTS.  (yes, we are probably just a bunch of goofballs, but we have fun....)

Scuba Gear and a Fish Fry

For me, vacation week with lots and lots of poolside time was perfect!  The kids and I bought "scuba gear" (swim masks) so we could really play in the water, and I could swim around with my contacts in.  We had a BLAST.  We each had "scuba" names like Scuba Stan and Scuba Jim, and when the masks were on, we took on our scuba identity. 

Some of Kathryn's pool time got cut short because of the sunburn she got when they all went fishing, and that was sad.  Her arms ended up itchy and covered with an annoying sun poison rash if she was out in the sun too much.  So her pool adventures had to come in shifts - pool for a while, then shade for a while.  Still fun, but a little bit of a bummer for her.

After the scuba adventures of the day, we threw together our version of a fish fry.

When all was said and done, it was a pretty yummy dinner.  Charlie made several pieces of fish and some potatoes for me without using wheat flour before he fried up the rest of the fish.  So we all got to enjoy a great dinner.

And after dinner...  more go-karts! 

This time, we went to the four-story metal track. 

It was MUCH faster than the wooden track!  Everyone made fun of me because I used the break on the big ramp.  Even using the break didn't really slow me down, though!  In fact, on one pass around the track, Jack ended up sideways coming down two of the ramps!

It was definitely a good way to wrap up day 6 of vacation!

About Last Night...

In addition to my go-kart initiation last night, we spent a little time away from the Branson strip.  We went to the Bass Pro Shop, and did some window shopping.  I popped into the Brighton store (of course) and got a Missouri charm.  We also went on the hunt for a 100% local place to have dinner.   The H.H. and I both believe that the chain restaurants are good, and you know what to expect, but they don't always have the charm that a local place can have. 

We ended up at an Italian place called Rocky's.  We had a good meal, and enjoyed some lively conversation with the host.  During that conversation, we discovered that our waitress was part of one of the local shows, and talked for a little while about Branson, and what life there was like.    It was a good time.  And you know the go-karts were fun.   But then...

I got sick in the middle of the night.  Ugh.  I'm the only one who had chicken, and that's the only thing I ate last night,so I'm reasonably sure it was the thing that didn't "agree" with me.  I don't know if I had a bug of some sort, or if it was just about the food, or what...  but it was NOT the way to spend one of the nights on vacation.  :(    Thankfully, it didn't last long, and I'm feeling OK now.

Go-Karts!!!

Until this day, I had never been on a go-kart.  Never.  It's just never been one of those things that my friends and I did.   The family found this to be ridiculously unacceptable, and since Branson is some sort of go-kart mecca with lots and lots of tracks, we headed out before dinner to find a good place to initiate me.

There is a chain of "family fun" places called "The Track" in Branson with several locations, and a couple of mulit-level go-kart tracks.  That's where we ended up.  We took our first ride on the basic, plain old, one level with a few turns, go-kart track.  It was fun!

From there, we moved across the parking lot to a wooden multi-story track.  It was LOTS of fun.  Because it was a wooden track, it had a more "rickety" feeling to the ride.  More bumps and such.  Fun, fun fun!  I can't' believe I was 44 before my first go-kart ride...  why'd I wait so long? 

More from Tuesday the 12th

Charlie took the kids fishing somplace just over the border into Arkansas all day on Tuesday, and I lounged by my lonesome at the resort.  I had time to kill, and I loved it1  I went to the work out facility at the resort, and logged a sweet 5k on the good ol' treadmill.   And then I spent nearly the rest of the day poolside. 

When the crew returned after a very long, hot day, they tried to tell me that they hadn't caught anything.  I might have fallen for it, if Jack weren't such a terrible liar, and such an excited and anxious to share kind of kid.  They opened the cooler, and pulled out a decent haul of fish.    While the rest of us showered, and tried to sooth a nasty sunburn on Kathryn's back, Charlie cleaned and prepped 'em for a meal later in the week.


20110712-010, a photo by Mary Sunshyn on Flickr.

Resort Life

Aaaaaaah....  Resort life pretty much rocks.  This is the view from our balcony. 

You can see the pool, and the fire pit, and the picnic area, the other villas, and the main activity building.  All within just a minute's walk.  And all at our leisure...  and when I say leisure, I mean it.  I didn't get out of bed until 11:00 am yesterday!  Granted, I couldn't really sleep well the night before, but still - 11:00 am on a Monday morning! 

The H.H. had to do some work yesterday, so the kids and I took in a couple of the local attractions.  The girls anxiously took in the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum.

And Jack and I checked out the Titanic museum.

Both were very interesting, and entertaining.  We all had a good time, and afterward Jack went back to the resort for some pool time, while the girls and I hit up the outlet mall to find some bargains. 

Overall, day 3 of vacation was pretty laid back.  We just hung out, and enjoyed the "resort life".

Day Two

There is nothin' like hanging out at the pool during vacation.

I spent part of the day on my own at the pool, soaking in some sun, lounging around, enjoying a lazy day, while the H.H. and the kids went fishing.    Then later in the day, Sarah, Jack, and I checked out some of what the resort had to offer, while the H.H. and Kathryn went back out for fishing round two.

In the main building, there is a game room with lots to do...  We played a couple of games of pool, tried out the Foosball, honed our ping pong skills, and even played a couple of rounds of connect four.  The staff here host activities every day, and today was no exception.  They built a fire, and we all made s'mores.  Even though it was a little hot outside to be sitting around a fire, it was fun.

And, of course, we ended the day back in the pool! 

My Husband Snores

My husband snores.  For real.  I'm not talkin' about some silly little slumber land purring.  I'm talkin' about rattle the rafters and wake the dog kind of stuff.   So I'm usually a little - and maybe even sometimes alot - tired in the morning.  I hardly ever get a full night's sleep.  And last night was no exception.   Even in a cushy resort king sized comfy bed, I couldn't sleep through the 2:00 am super snore. (Granted, I'm also a little bit menopausal and haven't really slept since that all began,either, but I'm not talkin' about that right now....)  So, at about 2:15 this morning, I found out that the comfy-looking couch cushions really ARE pretty darn comfy.  And now it's later on Sunday morning, on day 2 of the family vacation, and after several cups of ridiculously strong coffee, I'm on the balcony of our Branson condo, blogging away like a good little geeky girl.

Day one of this summer's family vacation got off to a rushed start.  The week leading up to vacation was even worse.  The Handsome Husband and I both had to be busy, busy, busy with the responsibilities of life during much of our would-be vacation prep time, so yesterday morning I did a last minute run to get the oil changed in the van.  Someone please remind me to NOT do that again.  Murphy's law was in full force and so what I'd expected to be a quick stop took 4 times as long as it should have, and was about 99 times as frustrating as it needed to be.  The worst part was that I had to virtually run through the grocery store on the way back to the house to get my "secret compartment surprise" for the kids.  Our van has four drop down compartments for storage, and last year when we left for our first big family vacation together, I stashed Twinkies in the compartments.  They loved it, and have referenced that off and on every since, so I couldn't skip doing something this time, too.  The secret treat this year was Hostess mini donuts - every compartment got a pack of chocolate covered and a pack of powdered mini donuts.  And, as expected, they loved it.   It sort of "kicked off" the road trip.

As for the road trip, well...  it was blissfully short this time.  We can road trip - don't think for a second we can't...  We made it to Oregon and back with more van time than we could keep track of. And Florida isn't just a hop and skip away.  I think that's what made yesterday's 6 hour drive so sweet.   The only major stop we had to make was for lunch at Mickey D's.

The shorter drive time meant much less "are we there yet" time, and more actual laying-by-the-pool and fishing-by-the-lake time!  In fact, we were poolside by dinner time last night.

We're staying at a Marriott resort, and it is wonderful...  There's a large pool area, and tons of activities in the common areas like horseshoe pits, basketball courts, pool tables, shuffleboard, and even a fire pit for cool nights, though I don't think we'll see any of those this week.   Today is definitely a pool day for me, and the H.H. and the kids have gone to find a prime fishing spot.  It is definitely summertime, and it is definitely vacation time.  This was the scene this morning once everyone was up and moving, and out of their respective bedrooms.  Jack's got the living room as his for the week, and so once the crew was out of their beds, his bed (a.k.a. the pullout) became the place to lounge.

The resort condo layout works great for us...    The H.H. and I have our own room with a private bathroom, the girls have their own room, and each have their own bed, and share a large bathroom.  And Jack is cool with the pullout.  He's almost always the first one awake, so there's rarely any concern that the rest of us will need to use the living room before he's up.   The condo has a nice kitchen, and a dining area, as well as this nifty balcony that I'm still lounging around on.  And even though we are right on the strip in Branson, you'd never know it.  The resort grounds are private, and quiet, and pretty self-contained.  It's perfect.

And now, it's pool time for me!