Table Rock and Branson Vacation

My parents came into town when Jon had a week off so we rented a condo for a week at the lake. We had tons of fun and it was really nice to have a break from the endless to-do list. Benson also got a break from his therapies and stander. I guess that's a good thing. Everyone needs a break sometimes, right?   The condo wanted you to pay $20 to get their wifi code.  We felt like it was a rip-off by principle so we refused to pay.  It was actually amazing spending a week unplugged.  I had so much extra time!  Added on top of the fact that I had determined to take no "responsibilities" with me.  I tried to get everything pressing done beforehand so that I could truly be responsibility free for one whole week.  It just felt so good.  It was hard to come back to reality.  Like, really hard.  I kind of want to go back that world.  Sigh....
Day 1.  It was Sunday so we took a chill day and hang out in the condo, threw rocks in the still-too-cold-to-swim lake and went hot tubbing.

 The swimming pool was probably the same temp as the lake and no one wanted to get in.  But, I didn't want them getting too hot so we would cool off in the pool too.  No one liked the pool...except Brigham.  He seemed oblivious to the temperature.

 On Day 2 we went to Silver Dollar City.  It's the local amusement park themed like a western town around the time of the silver and gold mining.  There were several rides that Vanessa was tall enough to do and a few that Brigham and Benson could do.  We finished that day up with some more hot tubbing.

 Tuesday was supposed to be our warmest day so we went to White Water that day.  It's the sister water park to Silver Dollar City.  It was freezing.  Not my favorite activity.  It would have been better if it were warm, it was just not summer weather for us.  I'm a little miffed by their rule that doesn't allow kids to ride laps on tubes.  Put a damper on the activity possibilities for Benson. 

 We had lots and lots of treats.  And tried to get some good sleep.  Although, I felt more tired upon returning than I did leaving.  I'm not sure how that happened, but it did.  Too many late night card games with my parents I guess.  Or it may have been the fact that sometimes the kids prefer to sleep on us rather than next to us, not sure.  On Wednesday we went to Branson's Wild World.  It sounded really cool.  It was fun, but not what I expected.  I thought it would be more of an aquarium but it was more reptiles.  They had some crazy snakes and some crazy snake facts.  I don't ever want to live in Africa because I am now terrified of the cobras and mambas.  There was another that was terrifying but I can't remember it's name.  We didn't take any pics there for some reason.  But we also ate at Panera Bread (YUM!) and some Andys.  My two favorite food places of Missouri.  The next day we went to Dogwood Canyon.  It's a beautiful paved bike ride with tons of waterfalls and picturesque scenery.  So picturesque in fact, that we got sick of waiting for Jon and his picture taking that we ditched him.  Ha.  We biked on and met him on the way down.  He was still only about 2/3 of the way through.  So we left him at the park (we had driven two cars) and he got home a few HOURS later.  He got some awesome pictures though.  Vanessa rode about two miles on her bike before she decided she needed a ride.  I was so proud of her for going so far!

 The last day we kind of chilled at the condo in the morning.  We did miniature golf and then decided to head in to Branson to get some dinner at Branson Landing.  The kids enjoyed the fountains and a play area, as well as the candy store.

It was a fabulous vacation.  I enjoyed realizing how much I like being unplugged.  It was also a change of pace to have some alone time with Jon after the kids went to bed.  It's hard to have conversations with him when the kids are awake.  Vanessa tells us all the time that she doesn't like it when mommy and daddy talk.  We can talk later she always says.  Haha.  The only problem is later never happens.  Today I am wishing we could be like the super rich of Pride and Prejudice that have 5000 pounds a year and yet we never have to work.  We spend the day walking through the gardens and going to parties in the evenings.  That sounds much easier than my to-do list of today.  The vacation and break from reality was sure fun while it lasted though.