Bonnie (Ryan's mom): We have a free condo week in Branson, Missouri. If no one goes, it will just be wasted. Would you guys want to go?
Me and Ryan: Wow. I can't think of anyplace I'd rather go less. Missouri? Yuck! Who would want to spend a week with toothless backwoodsey people, listening to twangy country music? No thanks.
I'm sure Heavenly Father had a good laugh while listening to our conversation. The Big Guy has such a sense of humor, and decided we needed to broaden our horizons, so he sent us to LIVE in Missouri. And now we love it!
Ryan's parents, his sister Keri and her 4 kids (Kelsi age 12, Tyler age 10, Carson age 9 and Brayden age 3) came in town on Friday, July 9th. Keri's husband Brett was in Asia on a business trip, so he had to miss out on the whole week. After spending a night at our house, we all drove the 4 hours down to Branson on the 10th. Each condo fit 6 people, so Ryan and I had a condo for our family, Keri's family stayed in the condo next door, and Ryan's parents stayed with Erin (Ryan's youngest sister), Mike (her husband) and their 2 kids (Kate age 6 and Jonathon age 3) in the last condo. We stayed in the condos for a week, leaving on the afternoon of July 17th to drive back up to Kansas City. It was such a fun week! We enjoyed spending so much time on the most beautiful lake I've ever seen, Tablerock. It's a man-made, rock bottom lake that is SO clear and VERY warm (88 degrees!). Below are some pictures from our week together.
One of the only pictures of me, so I had to keep it as proof that I was actually there! Check out Lindsey on the tube, giving the thumbs up sign! That kid is such a daredevil!
Brevan and Kelsi are the tubing champions! They both tried water-skiing, but had a hard time getting up.
My water baby, Logan.
Beautiful Kate Wheeler.
Tyler, Brynlie, Brayden, Kelsi and Carson.
Mike and Jonathon Wheeler.
Erin and Kate.
Oh, one more picture to prove I went on the vacation! And I look SO lovely in the pictures! Hehehe.
We had a joint birthday party for Logan (turning three on July 27th) and Carson (turned 9 on July 7th). Bonnie made a delicious cake for the occasion, and the boys got to open their presents. We gave Logan a large train set and a machine gun. Yes, I gave my son a play machine gun. Who would have thought I'd ever do that? I was so anti-gun when I started having children (and am still anti-REAL-gun) that I swore I would NEVER buy my child a play gun. So when my little boy asked for a machine gun for his birthday, I just laughed and made some comment about him being "all boy." But when we were at the dollar store the next week, there was an actual play machine gun. He was so excited that I couldn't resist buying it! Ryan's parents gave Logan the adorable Viking outfit. He's been a gun shooting Viking ever since!
Keri was awesome on the wakeboard!
Ryan had tried wakeboarding one time many years ago, and wanted to try again. I'm glad he got some time to play, since he is usually the official boat driver. No one was shocked when he not only got up on the wakeboard immediately, but was an expert. He would flip the board back and forth and easily go over the wake. Sometimes it's annoying to be married to such a natural athlete. :) I tried numerous times to get up on the dang wakeboard, and failed miserably. But I'm determined.
One day we all went to an amusement park/race car track place. The kids all had a blast, and somehow didn't seem to notice that it was INSANELY hot and humid outside! I mean nasty, sticky, sweaty, want to die kind of hot. When I got back to the condo and jumped in a cold shower, I was literally able to ring out my shirt. Ewwwww.
Brayden!
Jonathon!
And my baby Logan! These three boys had so much fun playing together all week!
Besides the two popped tires on the trailer (yes, we popped ANOTHER tire on the drive back home), the vacation was fun and relaxing! Times with family always make me wish we didn't live so far away!
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