Missouri Musings: Branson and Table Rock Lake 2012

I like to thoroughly document events with pictures, which is something I learned from my Mom. My kids love to peruse the blog books and scrapbooks I've completed over the years, so they can remember all the fun moments of their lives. Last week we got back from our vacation with Ryan's family to Table Rock Lake, which is 5 minutes away from Branson. It was the perfect way to end our summer, and we made some great memories. All the kids said the best part of the vacation was being with cousins. We miss the Webb's and Ryan's parents already.

Roy, Bonnie, Keri, Kelsi, Tyler, Carson and Brayden drove from Utah to Missouri, arriving at our house on the afternoon of August 4th. After spending a night at our house, we all drove the 4 hours down to the lake the next morning. Brett flew into town on the 8th, since he couldn't miss as much work due to a new job position. We stayed in three separate condos for the next 7 days before driving back to our house on the 12th. Brett flew back to Utah, but the other family members spent one more night at our house before getting on the road again to head home.

Some of our favorite's from the vacation:

The weather was awesome! After a scorching hot summer, the weather cooled off just enough for it to be warm enough to go boating, but cool enough for us to not be dying in the heat. On the days we planned on boating, it was always in the high 80's. On the couple days we kept busy with other activities, the weather was overcast and in the low 80's. Perfect!
Logan and Brayden are the best of buds and played together the whole week without so much as an argument. Logan told him, "Bwayden, you awe my cousin AND my fwiend. I will always love you."
Me, Bonnie, Keri, Kelsi and Brynlie had a girl day where we went shopping for school clothes and shoes, plus got lunch together.
Ryan and Roy took the younger kids to a couple movies at the theater.
We ate yummy food, followed by yummy dessert. One day I ate a fresh bakery carrot cake for breakfast, chips for a mid-day snack and ice cream for lunch. Gotta love vacation, even if I'm paying for it now.
We spent 5 of the 7 days on the lake and had more fun than we've ever had boating!
We rented 2 waverunners for a couple days, and every kid had a blast going as fast as possible before being flipped off.
Everyone except me went cliff jumping a couple times. I couldn't believe my kids were daring enough to jump about 40 feet off the highest cliff! These are the same kids that hate the kiddo amusement park rides.
I conquered my fear of heights by going parasailing with Brynlie and Brevan on a 400 foot rope attached to a boat! It was a BLAST! The only time I started to get freaked out was when the kids would pump their legs back and forth when we were high in the air to get their harness moving like a swing. The best part was when the boat driver would slow down so we would sink into the lake before speeding up so we shot back up in the air!
Brynlie and Lindsey had some great times with Uncle Brett, who they think is the greatest uncle ever.
We watched hours of the Olympics in the late evening, while recuperating from the sun we received during the day.
Keri, Bonnie and I switched off making meals for the whole family. It was fun to have our own condo to relax in, but then spent most of the time together anyway!
The boys had a "guys night" of dinner and a movie. Brevan was declared old enough to join!
Ryan's parents, Keri and Brett, and Ryan and I went on a triple date one evening. I found a restaurant that was rated high on TripAdvisor and we took off to give it a try. We finally arrived after a half-hour of driving past many decent-looking restaurants, and then the restaurant I had picked was nearly terrible. Most of us rated it a 2 out of 5 stars. Next time I won't rely on TripAdvisor! Kelsi and Brynlie were in charge of babysitting all the kids.
I read a couple books that I really enjoyed - "Edenbrooke" and "The Silent Governess." The only drawback was that I kept telling Ryan he wasn't nearly as romantic as the men in my books! Haha!
The kids loved swimming in the huge condo pool after a day of being on the lake. I'm raising a bunch of fish.

And these are some of our favorite quotes from the trip:

Logan, while driving in the truck to Branson: "Maybe you should just keep the cookies on my lap. Just so we all know where they are. That's only why."
Brevan (who is known for using old-fashioned language), after passing an Amish family riding in their carriage: "Wow, do they get to speak like it's the 1800's???" When we laughed and replied that they speak modern-day English, he said, "Huh. That takes all the fun out of the 1800's."
Logan, just out of the blue one day said, "I just want to be with this family forever." Then he immediately put his head on a pillow and went to sleep.
Me, while riding on the tube with Lindsey (who was scared of how fast the men were driving the boat): "Bring it on, boys!!" Lindsey quickly yelled back, "No! DON'T bring it!!"
Logan, while pooping on a pile of rocks because we were nowhere near a bathroom, "Daddy, it looks like a squoowool (squirrel)! Or maybe just a BIG wat (rat)!"
While packing up the condo to go back home, I asked Logan if he was going to miss staying in the condo. He said, "Ya, I'm kinda sad to leave this place because it has a coffee table to hold our coffee. And these cool things on the window to keep the sun out." We don't drink coffee, so that was an interesting statement, and the "cool" things on the windows were curtains! I guess I need to start dressing-up the windows at our house.

Now here are just the best of the 350 photos I took:

Tyler and Brevan both passed off boating merit badges for scouts by learning how to drive and park the boat.

Me and Keri went flying on the tube!

Logan was NOT happy we forced him to go on the tube, since he had a bad experience the last time we had him try. By the end of the week he was more relaxed about riding the tube, but he had some big crocodile tears going this day!

When we took off his goggles, a pool of tears fell out!

I flipped these boys off so hard while I was driving the boat, Ryan is still recovering from a shoulder injury. Totally worth it.

Even Brynlie overcame her fear of the tube and enjoyed some ride time with the little daredevil, Lindsey! I told Bryn we are a boating family, so she might as well get over her fear right now.

Logan, all wrapped up in my coverup!

And all worn out at the end of the day.

We have a new tradition of letting everyone jump off the back of the boat while it's still going about 20 mph. Since the propeller is in the middle of our boat, it isn't dangerous . . .besides the fact that we are jumping off a moving vehicle at 20 mph! Haha!

Brett, showing his moves on the wakeboard.

Keri is the female wakeboarding champ.

Brevan finally got up on the wakeboard! He is still wobbly once he's up, so he falls quickly. But he's getting there!

These geese swam right up to our boat and begged for food one day. Brave geese swimming in the open water of a busy lake! The kids fed them everything from bread crumbs to granola bars to Cheetos.