So I’m way behind on getting this trip posted, but hey, better late than never, right?!
My mom’s family had a family reunion in Branson, Missouri the first week in August and the boys and I joined my mom and siblings for the trip, and my brother and sister-in-law came in from Utah. It was great to see my grandparents and the aunts, uncles, and cousins that were there.
In spite of the fact that it was sooooooo hot that week, we got to do a lot of fun activities. We rode the Ducks – though to Nathan it was a ‘car-boat’, amphibious vehicle wasn’t exactly in his vocabulary. ;) The kids got the wacky quacker noise makers and Nathan really loved his, ha!
Yeah, out family group took up about 3/4 of the whole Duck…
Spencer didn’t quite get the hang of it until later, but Jason was happy to help.
He also looked like this for most of the ride. It was sooooo hot, poor baby!
We spent some time in the pool where Nathan finally overcame his fear of being in the water and became crazy fish-boy! 
We were in Branson on my birthday and so we celebrated a day early and went to this adorable 50’s style diner for lunch and milkshakes. Everyone sang happy birthday to me – it’s not every year you get half your extended family present to sing to you! :)
As a birthday surprise, my mom got me a copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! Eryn and my mom each got their own copy too so no one had to share, ha ha. And yes, I had it finished within a day ;)
The day of my birthday we all went to the theme park Silver Dollar City. It’s built around natural mines and caves, so that was kind of the feel of the whole park. Nathan was also really brave that day and went on all sorts of rides, even one all by himself!!
Waiting for the train ride.
The carousel!
We found a little kid area with a sand box for the boys to play in…at least until Spencer started trying to eat the sand…
Watching the log ride as the riders splash into the water.
Poor boy was so hot and tired!
Nathan surprised me when he told me he wanted a picture with the puppy.
He was a little nervous, but he rode this one allll by himself!
We found a fun splash pad area for Spencer to cool off.
All tuckered out. We were really lucky when we were able to find binkies to purchase after we lost the one we had brought. They were even the same brand we use! Thank goodness! Spencer really needed a bink once he got really tired. Whew!
Mom and I went matchy matchy for my birthday ;)
We spent a day at the lake at ‘Moonshine Beach’. It was still really hot out, but the water was sooooo cool and refreshing without being too cold. Nathan loved being in the water, constantly trying to strike out on his own. I don’t think Spencer likes the feeling of floating in the water (He didn’t really enjoy the pool earlier in the week) but the shallow area extended quite a bit into the lake so there was plenty of space for him to hang out and play with the toys we’d found at Walmart for the occasion.
I was constantly trying to keep Spencer from eating things he found on the ground….gross! ;)
We did some shopping at the outlet mall, ate yummy food, played mini golf, and saw some shows. There was also one night we planned to see a show, only to find out it had been canceled. So we went over to Branson Landing, which is a fun shopping area on the lake, but then got caught in a ginormous thunderstorm and got soaking wet! Good times, right mom? ;)
And it was really fun to have the boys spend time with my grandparents. The whole ‘great-grandma/grandpa’ thing kind of confused Nathan (like, ‘don’t I already have a grandma/grandpa?’) so we had him call my Grandpa “Big Al” and my Grandma “Abuela”. When Nathan said Big Al it kind of sounded like ‘Miguel’, which we all thought was hilarious.
All in all, it was a great trip!
