Ride the ducks . . .

So, we ended our first day by riding the ducks. It was a great way to end the day.
The scenery . . .

Table Rock Lake . . .

Showboat Branson Belle-where we had dinner on Thursday . . .

The boys each took turns driving the duck when it was on the lake . . .

Lucas . . .

Eli . . .

Noah . . .

The fish hatchery and the dam . . .

Lake Taneycomo, since it is fed by the bottom of Table Rock Lake- it creates a fog since the water is around 45 degrees. We visited the lake again later in the week.

Our feet were definately in need of a break by the end of the day. The kids were definately loving Branson!

Hollywood Wax Museum, Mirror Maze and more . . .

One of Eli and Lucas' fav place was the Hollywood Wax Museum. The boys had a great time!
Both Eli and Lucas both wanted pics w/Tom Hanks!

Here are a few of our fav ones . . .

On to the maze of mirrors . . . .

The funny mirrors were quite entertaining . . .

Eli was the hero of the day.

After the wax museum-we went to the Titanic museum. Unfortunately, you are not able to take pics inside the titanic museum-so I tacked this pick onto this post. The boys all said that this was one of their fav. I think it remained Noah's fav all week. He had done a unit on the titanic last year, so he enjoyed testing his memory and sharing info w/all of us. It was interactive and a great museum. I will end this post now. Come back to see how we ended our first full day in Branson.

Wooden go-cart tracks, mini golf, and bumper boats!

I have been trying to decide how would be the best way to post pics from vacation, and decided to do them by activity to keep the pic overload at a minimum. However, that may give you a post overload coma . . . so, on tues we hit "The Track", we did the go-carts, mini golf and bumper boats. The boys have a blast!
This is one of the go-cart tracks!

On to mini golf!

This was Lucas' fav hole!

Eli getting a hole in one! Noah also got a hole in one on this one!

Bumper boats, everyone was ready to cool off!

This was a great way to start our vacation.

Branson . . . here we come!

So, we left monday to start our first family vacation. We have been to family reunions before but never just a four of us vacation. I surprised the boys by planning a trip to branson. I didn't tell them till we were getting in the car. They were excited-mostly b/c they didn't know what to expect. We were ready for a 2 day car trip w/DVD's, book-on-CD, sticker books, and 3-D coloring books. And the boys were quite happy to find that we were in branson around dinner time.
We stayed in a 2-bedroom condo, which the boys thought was AWESOME! Esp since it had a tv in each bedroom! They enjoyed breakfast in bed, and even dinner in bed! It was nice to have the space to rest and relax after a long day of walking and a pool to cool off in!

The entire ride down the strip was "oh, can we go there?" "ooohh, we HAVE to do THAT!" and " ohhh, no THAT is what we need to do!" Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling the greatest after dinner-so we just chilled after dinner and planned out the rest of our days! Luckily I felt better the next day. Nothing was gonna keep me from enjoying our vacation!

This is where we ate dinner the first night. It was a good buffet. Come back again to see more of our vacation!

My date w/Eli . . .

Eli and I were able to go on our date this week. We went to lunch and then he wanted to go to power play. We golfed, played games and rode the go kart rides. He said that it was the best day EVER!

Eli and his loot! We had such a good time! We leave for vacation tomorrow, so come back to check out our trip.

My date w/Lucas

Lucas wanted to go miniture golfing for our date-so we killed 2 birds w/1 stone and went to Power Play. We golfed, rode bumper cars and played games! Lucas was so EXCITED about the number of tickets that he won! After playing, we went out to dinner- and then went home for Lucas to cool off in the sprinkler! Lucas kept saying that he was having such a good time- I am so glad to be able to do this w/my boys. Eli is next- so stay tuned!

A date w/Noah!

The boys really like their Nana/papa adventures and have asked if I could have some 1:1 time w/them also. So this summer, I am trying to have a "date" w/each of my boys. Noah and I went to lunch and then hit Dave and Busters. We had a good time, and Noah really enjoyed having me all to himself. Here are some pics from our date!

Lucas' 4th annual Nana and Papa adventure!

This year Lucas got a buddy for his Nana and Papa adventure. Normally my parents try to do a pair of cousins together (w/the exception last year when they took all 5 older boys to the Nebraska zoo)- but Lucas never had a buddy since Trevor hadn't been old enough. So, Lucas was excited for his Train Nana and Papa adventure w/Trevor!
They had dinner at Fritz and then spent the night w/Nana and Papa to be able to get up and go to the big surprise!

Trevor LOVES and I mean really LOVES Thomas the train. And by the end of the day- Lucas was renewing his love for trains.

I love these candid shots of the boys interacting!

Fireman Lucas . . . and he said the clothes were pretty heavy.

Lucas loved seeing how they make marbles. And he got some shooters to add to his marble collection and some geodes too!

Lucas had a great time. The boys look forward to their adventures every year. I am thankful that my parents do these adventures. They do a great job of finding something special but mostly I know the boys just like the individual time w/them and 1 cousin. Noah and Eli are wondering what their adventures will be . . .