20120509 - Holy Sole!

20120509 - Up and saw everyone off to school, except G, he got to skip today because he went with L to see D read poetry at school.  Later L got to go into J's school and have lunch with him as one of his 'Star Student' activities this week.  I got on a plane and headed to St. Louis where I met up with Richard and Steve.  We got our work done and had a fantastic dinner, one of my top 10 steaks EVER, and then I convinced them to take me to the World's Largest Shoe made out of shoes :-)  We drove through some really nice areas and awed at the mansions.  Back to the room, did some more work and off to bed.  Checked in with L and she had a good night at home, except for backing over Jack bike :-o  and GpaW bought a 4-wheeler that makes him sick :-s

080627 - Arch top

080627 - We made It to the St. Luis Arch about 4pm. I took the big boys on a little trip up, up and up. We made it to the top of the arch and it was quite a view. The boys layed out on the ledges to look out the small windows and could not believe how high up they were, the people and cars looked like ants from 630ft up! We could also see the Mississippi that had flooded the lower part of the the park and was really high and flowing fast. It was really windy on the ground and I didn't mention the sway to the boys, didn't want them nervous, but you couldn't help but fell it up top, and it was a bit unsettling. So we headed back down to meet L&G.
back on the road to Effingham, IL. We checked in and then off to a family resturant they recomended for another screaming fast meal... Back to the room and watched some TV & got G & L to bed. D, J & I hit the pool about 9:45 and swam for an hour. We grabbed some cups of of cocoa & coffee, toasted the fun trip, and then watched the rest of Jurassic Park. Dylan fell asleep, and now J & I are watching a show about a giant snake that eats people (good thing L is asleep! :-D ).

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Bass pro shop

080626 - Ice cream

080626 - After dinner we went swimming! We swam for about 3 hrs. Everyone good and tired so back to the room for baths. We did a final toy sweep and got everything packed up. L had all her bags sorted, layed out, labeled and ready as well. Here are the 3 amigos enjoying some ice cream before bed.
Well, last day in Branson over. We will be heading home tomorrow :-(

080626 - Racing

080626 - After lunch we headed back to the go-kart place for Jack. Here is Howdy's camera work, that is Jack & I racing around. Howdy played a shoot'em up while Jack & I finished racing.
After the race we headed to the 5 & dime for Howdy,where everyone got got something they loved.
Back to the resort to start packing and dinner.

080626 - Favorites

080626 - Up and out. Today is the last full day in Branson so we are going to try and hit everyones favorite thing today. Here is Grant getting his favorite, a pony ride.
We then headed North to the strip for a hobbyshop, where I finnaly found a nice magnetic chess set, and a tool store for me. We then hit Fuddruckers so Lori could get her hamburger.

080625 - Animals

080625 - Up and out for some fishing; definately not the sport for 3 small boys... Then to the put-put golf corse where Dylan, trying to retrieve his ball from a pond, unexpectedly went swimming... But we had a good time. Back to the room for an early lunch and rest before our next great adventure.
Everyone up and out to the show. Today we went to see 'Noah'. Grant had several episodes of spastic screaming, jumping and pointing at the animals coming in: camels, goats, cows, horses, pigs, donkies, ponies, horses, llamas... This picture is of the stage with all the different cabins inside of Noah's ark. While the show was good it wasn't nearly as exciting as the last 2. So the review from the boys was 'boring'. Lo & I liked the message at the end, something like: God destroyed all mankind because they were out of control, He says He is going to do it again so talk to an usher on the way out... :-D
Next stop was a pizza buffet, arcade, go-kart place! We all ate too much, too fast and then started having fun. Dylan found a shoot'em up game, Grant some driving games & J&I hit the go-kart track. Jack loved it, next to the pool it was his favorite thing!
On the way home we was possibly the funniest moment of the trip (thus far). Dylan was having a 'discussion' with Jack telling him to 'shut-up'. This was immediately followed by our little raspy voiced parrot yelling 'shut-up' quite clearly. This immediately grabbed our attention causing complete momentary silence before he belted it out again, causing D&J to loose complete control. Lo turned around and told G, 'No-no'. His reply, as loud as he could... 'shut-up!'. Now the boys were in stitches and Grants expression forced L to spin around and cover her face so he could'nt see her laughing (that didn't work) and he belted it out again and again untill all our shoulders were shaking and eyes were watering. D&J, now so far out of control, needed a reminder from me to 'settle down', and parrot boy had a new phrase to entertain us with... Now yelling at his family to shut-up & settle down!!! Grant enjoyed very much his ability to entertain us and we all had a good laugh.
Back to the room and a rush to get to the pool. We all got one hour of swimming in before they shut down. Back for a snack and boys falling asleep sitting up in our laps.

080623 - Showtime

080623 - Everyone up a bit later today, must have had too much fun yesterday...
It was chilly this morning so instead of going swimming and freezing to death we headed out to the different sections of the resort to check them out. The first stop was the stables. Grant went NUTS! We signed all three boys up for the western package, they each got a set of pistols, holsters, a badge, belt and bag of gold. This was of course required to ride the pony up on the mountian trail... Grant went first and was tickled to death. The other boys follwed suite.
We then headed to the marina, where Jack found a wave runner he wanted to rent. Than on to the main registration building, WOW! This resort is owned an operated by Bass Pro Shops... so there were stuffed animals everywhere and for Dylan a cool gift shop.
We went back for lunch and then off to the pool. We had a great day at the pool and it was perfect temp in the afternoon.
Back to the room for quick naps and dinner. Then SHOWTIME! I had bought tickets to the Presley's show that started at 8pm and we were a bit worried that the boys would be about done for the day. NO WAY! The lights went off, the hand clapping started and wide awake all 3 of them stayed. It was a great variety show with all sorts of music, gospel, country, folk and rock. They had a couple of really funny clown guys too that told pretty funny jokes. There was an intermission where Grant went up and met the pretty girls, but didn't like the clowns so much. At the end of intermission they showed pictures of the crowd on the big screens and they started it focused on Lo and Grant. When Grant realized it was him on the screen he really stared waving and smiling. The second half of the show was great and as it ended Dylan asked if we could buy the DVD 'I want to watch it again, and show my friends at school' and Jack said he wanted to go back so he could get up on stage and perform. So the night we were a bit nervous about was a complete success!
On the way back to the resort all 3 fell asleep.
Perfect day.

080622 - view

080622 - Duck

080622 - Up and around and to the pool. It was pretty COLD!!! Back to the room for lunch. J&G took a nap and Howdy and I headed out to buy some tickets. Back to pick up the troops and dorve to the table rock dam. Then we boarded the DUCW (duck). This was a WWII amphibious vehicle tour that drove us all over and gave us a great tour of the area and then drove right into the lake. All the kids on board got a turn driving it, and then me! It was great. We stopped at a BBQ on the way home for anther really good meal we had to eat in 3 minutes... Back to the resort where we stopped for Grant to see the 'Dustys'. Then to the room to change and then hit the pool.

080621 - Wet

080621 - Everyone up & had bfast. Then a hike to the pool. Jack found a lizard! The boys had a blast in the pool. Howdy can swim all the way across by himself. Jack motors all over the place w/ his float vest. Grant just junps in over and over, and when he gets a chance he runs away as fast as his stubby little legs will carry him.
We took the shuttle back to the room instead of walking up the mountian... We had some lunch and then hit the road to get the lay of the land. We hit the main strip, which has horrible traffic, but found a toy store. Luckily in the toy store I found a local who knew the REAL place to go to find toys here. We braved the traffic to the hidden place that was PERFECT! We found toys from our childhood and years beyond...
Back home for dinner and more swimming! We tried out the lazy river, that just so happened to go past a water slide... Well the big boys went nuts at the water slide and Grant found a baby pool and some friends. We ended the expedition at the indoor pool that was much warmer.
Back to the room for a snack and Dylan's first chess lesson. He picked it up pretty good. He even beat me! Everyone off to bed to get rested for another full day tomorrow!

080620 - AWESOME!

080620 - After another 4 hrs on the road and some back roads we have arrived. This place is HUGE & it is AWESOME. We have 2 complete apartments! Now we need to unload the car and head to the grocery.

080620 - Meramec Caverns

080620 - ate lunch here-took forever for lunch and it was pretty bad. Decided not to see caves tour too long for the boys. The boys liked the fact that jesse james hung out there.
Drove over the flooded mississippi river and saw the gateway arch. ...onthe road again......