A Day in Branson
Yesterday did not go quite as planned. We got the girls up early and headed down to Branson Landing for our scenic tour on a paddlewheel boat. The girls had seen a picture of a paddlewheel boat months earlier and were very excited, although a bit sleepy.
When we got ready to board, everyone was getting on a yacht. Dan asked about the paddleboat and we were told that it wasn't ready for the morning cruise but that this was an upgrade. The look on Alex and Laura's faces told us that in their opinion it was NOT an upgrade. We went back inside and they agreed to let us switch to the next cruise.
So, we had a little bit of time to kill and it was already getting hot and now everyone is a wee bit cranky. We decided to run out to Target and take care of a few purchases including a new movie for the girls for the next leg of the road trip. We walked a bit of "the strip" in Branson and took some pictures. We heard a lot about how hot it was.
At last we were on the riverboat. The girls were very excited and it was a lovely little cruise with a breeze. Ahhhh. I just love to be on the water. The girls even got to steer the boat for a bit. We saw a lot of herons too.
At lunch, it seemed that the lack of sleep, heat, humidity, and 2 weeks of vacation was starting to catch up to everyone as Laura sat in tears, Alex pouted, Dan looked frustrated, and I was calculating how fast I could get to an airport and fly home. We decided to scrap our plans for the afternoon and regroup.
We returned to the condo and the big kids (Dan and I) napped and rested and read and the girls played quietly and cooled off in the a/c. Then, we all headed to the really lovely pool here. After a yummy dinner, I did some stretching and exercise in the room and Dan and the girls did a little tennis.
For evening entertainment, we went for a round of putt putt golf at Prof. Hacker's Dinosaur Canyon Golf. Laura was very excited as she'd never done mini golf before and Alex had been drooling over the fun looking courses as we drove around town. So we golfed through a firey volcano and next to huge dinos. It was fabulous fun and just for the record, there will be no golf scholarships in this family! We're now officially on the lookout for more places to golf on our trip.
We capped off the evening with a car wash. Our car was DIRTY. There was construction at Lake of the Ozarks and so everyday we drove on a dirt road and that was on top of all the dirt we'd picked up on the drive there. We went to "Missouri's most innovative car wash". Why are car washes so fun? I swear the suds were rainbow colored - purple on the front, blue and then fading to green. Dan and I were worried the blow dry was going to break off a windshield wiper (apparently either the blow drying or the water jet streams did blow off our spare tire cover). We were all laughing and laughing. And now our car is looking nice and clean, so we'll load it up and head to Omaha, Nebraska!
When we got ready to board, everyone was getting on a yacht. Dan asked about the paddleboat and we were told that it wasn't ready for the morning cruise but that this was an upgrade. The look on Alex and Laura's faces told us that in their opinion it was NOT an upgrade. We went back inside and they agreed to let us switch to the next cruise.
So, we had a little bit of time to kill and it was already getting hot and now everyone is a wee bit cranky. We decided to run out to Target and take care of a few purchases including a new movie for the girls for the next leg of the road trip. We walked a bit of "the strip" in Branson and took some pictures. We heard a lot about how hot it was.
At last we were on the riverboat. The girls were very excited and it was a lovely little cruise with a breeze. Ahhhh. I just love to be on the water. The girls even got to steer the boat for a bit. We saw a lot of herons too.
At lunch, it seemed that the lack of sleep, heat, humidity, and 2 weeks of vacation was starting to catch up to everyone as Laura sat in tears, Alex pouted, Dan looked frustrated, and I was calculating how fast I could get to an airport and fly home. We decided to scrap our plans for the afternoon and regroup.
We returned to the condo and the big kids (Dan and I) napped and rested and read and the girls played quietly and cooled off in the a/c. Then, we all headed to the really lovely pool here. After a yummy dinner, I did some stretching and exercise in the room and Dan and the girls did a little tennis.
For evening entertainment, we went for a round of putt putt golf at Prof. Hacker's Dinosaur Canyon Golf. Laura was very excited as she'd never done mini golf before and Alex had been drooling over the fun looking courses as we drove around town. So we golfed through a firey volcano and next to huge dinos. It was fabulous fun and just for the record, there will be no golf scholarships in this family! We're now officially on the lookout for more places to golf on our trip.
We capped off the evening with a car wash. Our car was DIRTY. There was construction at Lake of the Ozarks and so everyday we drove on a dirt road and that was on top of all the dirt we'd picked up on the drive there. We went to "Missouri's most innovative car wash". Why are car washes so fun? I swear the suds were rainbow colored - purple on the front, blue and then fading to green. Dan and I were worried the blow dry was going to break off a windshield wiper (apparently either the blow drying or the water jet streams did blow off our spare tire cover). We were all laughing and laughing. And now our car is looking nice and clean, so we'll load it up and head to Omaha, Nebraska!
Comments