Remember, we cut our vacation a bit short. So here’s my final report on family vacation to the Table Rock lake area.

First, I was treated to one last beautiful sunrise over the lake:

Our Lodging: Why We Cut Our Vacation A Bit Short

I can usually do a pretty good job of adapting to less than ideal conditions but this lodging was simply 2 small for the 4 of us. Three of whom are quite introverted. Thus, I spent so much time on the screened porch trying to give everyone their space. Not that I didn’t enjoy sitting out there reading but at the same time, it was kinda hot outside, reading by a pool/beside the lake would’ve been more my speed.

So basically, the boys twin beds/bedroom was in the living room. Probably just about 3 feet from the kitchen table pictured up there (I’d say excuse the mess but we were on vacation and I took these photos on a whim to share with my girlfriends via text). As you can see, we had our own bedroom with room for pretty much a bed and unpictured, a tall dresser where thankfully, we could put a fan or it would’ve been so hot in there!

Guess one thing we did learn: Tiny house living is not for us! Ha. And I’m never giving the ok on a resort/hotel without a pool ever again.

On The Way Home

We didn’t decide until Friday morning to just pack it in and go home. There might’ve been a few tears (probably happiness from the kids except they weren’t crying). I explained a few times that I wasn’t mad but simply disappointed. The trip did get better once we packed all our belongings up and started on the road home.

First, we ate lunch at a Godfather’s Pizza buffet. So I was happy about that. After lunch, we went to the The World’s Largest Toy Museum-Branson. Is it truly the largest in the world? I have no idea but they had lots of toys. It was somewhere G had mentioned sounded interesting so we wanted to go somewhere he wanted to go after he endured Silver Dollar City.

We had a good time. Lots of nostalgia. Note: I would not in a million years attempt this museum with anyone under age 10-11. They’d be bored I think. Lots of looking at things behind glass with a few interactive things here and there but not enough for young children.

One of my favorite childhood Christmas memories on display:

I had that stage set and those dolls!

Does anyone else remember playing this game? Good times, ha!

Or watching Mork from Ork on tv?

G liked the Spiderman exhibit, my husband enjoyed the fishing exhibit, and J enjoyed it all though I’m not sure he had a big favorite…maybe the Hot Wheels though I didn’t get a photo of those (the Hot Wheels were all for sale!):

On the outside of the building:

Lots of different movie posters. And yes, they had a huge Star Wars section inside as well. My sweet G took some pictures to send his cousin as it made us both think of his late uncle who’d been a huge Star Wars fanatic.

Then, it was goodbye to the toy museum and Branson.

Thoughts and Conversations Along The Way Home

We decided our house would feel like a mansion upon arrival home. It did. No place like home is quite true.

We also ranked our vacations. When G said it was in the bottom 3 of our family vacations, I thought to ask all of them what their favorite vacations were:

G: Minnesota the first time we went there. Funny since that trip to Minneapolis and Nickelodeon Universe is where we discovered he suffered from motion sickness. It was a fun time though.

My husband: South Dakota

 

J and I had the same answer: We both fell in love with Duluth, Minnesota located along the shores of Lake Superior

We all also enjoyed our Colorado vacation. So to end this post of a not so great vacation on a positive note, my top 3 family vacations were: Colorado Springs, Colorado, South Dakota (We stayed in Custer and drove into Rapid City), and Duluth, Minnesota. I’d have voted for Washington D.C. had it not been us tagging along on G’s band trip so we weren’t together that much as a family.

Do you have a favorite family vacation?

This was actually exactly a week ago today. Wow, seems so much longer than that.

Silver Dollar City mostly saved our vacation from not being the bottom of the 3 worst vacations we’ve ever taken.

Note: There won’t be a lot of pictures with this post as I didn’t get my phone out very much.

Have I ever mentioned that poor G gets motion sickness? So amusement parks aren’t a lot of fun for him. However, he enjoyed the food and did ride a couple things with us.

The First Rides

First up, we each took turns riding a roller coaster with J called Wildfire. Always that slight fear as you get older that things might be different or is that just me? I can still ride!

Then, we were off to relive my childhood a bit and ride the Fire in the Hole. It was one of their first roller coasters and this is the last year for it so I was happy for that experience. We also enjoyed talking with a gentleman from Oklahoma while waiting to ride.

Park Food

When J and I returned from the ride, G and my husband were eating some homemade kettle chips that were very good.

At lunch, we had pretty standard amusement park food although I did feel like we got good portions for the price. The boys and I had chicken strips/tater tots and my husband had some kind of pulled pork.

Best thing, outside the saltwater taffy–brought way too much of that home, was the icee station. So the boys and I were able to each get a mix and match flavors icee. I had watermelon, blue raspberry, and drop of cherry limeade for mine.

Rides We Rode Together

As I mentioned, G gets pretty bad motion sickness but thought he could handle one of the water rides. It was called Mystic River Falls and lots of fun. Did we get wet? Oh my, yes!  Big wave right down my back. Thankfully, we’d put all our things in a locker prior to going on the ride. Our shoes were squishy the rest of the day/evening.

Fun thing I’d never seen before, for a price, they had these huge drying chambers you could go in after the ride next to the lockers. We didn’t pay the (crazy high) price but someone had left one running so we did stand in it for a bit. Hot on a hot day though.

We were going to ride the train but that turned into a bit of a fiasco which I did share in my guest survey via email a few days ago. Basically, they crammed us into the station but then, not everyone in the station was able to board and the next train was not due round for another 30 minutes! So sadly, we missed out on that. I was a bit disappointed as it was another fond childhood memory for me.

So instead, though by this point most of them–read G and my husband–were tired and cranky, we rode one called the Flooded Mine. Basically a very slow boat ride where you get these little attached guns to shoot the targets that make things happen (think piano plays, bell rings, etc).

Scary and Fun Rides

The main two rides J wanted to try were the new wooden roller coaster called Outlaw Run and one that spins around called The Time Traveler. 

We’d already decided I’d do the Time Traveler with him as the spinning did not appeal to my husband. I was a bit nervous as well but you know, the things we do for our kids and all that.

My husband and J rode the Outlaw Run first. I’d planned to take a turn as well. However, J’s first words after they came out of the ride were: Mom, I don’t think you should do that one.

My husband said: I’ve never been so scared on a roller coaster in my life!

J didn’t even want to ride it a second time.

I was nervous about riding the Time Traveler but we got in line. And it was a bit scary as the que is up several flights of steps which meant….I was not ready for it….you get in and then, go DOWN….FAST! No hill climb to prepare for the fast hill. A bit scary but it was really fun. I’d have gone again had everyone not been a bit wiped out and ready to go home by that point.

The End of Our Day

My husband and I rode the tram back to the parking lot while the boys opted to walk. They won. Thankfully, they had the keys so could get in the truck and cool off a bit. Back at our “resort” my husband grilled hot dogs and hamburgers though none of use were super hungry. And poor J had a really bad headache so took some Ibuprofen and called it a night.

Then, we briefly talked about what to do the next day including floating by the idea of just heading home early.

 

 

 

 

 

A week ago today, we were on our way to the Table Rock lake area near Branson, Missouri.

Branson, Missouri while a super popular vacation destination is not my favorite place to go. At all.

Every year when I was a young child into my teen years, our family vacation was a resort on Table Rock lake. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, I swore we would go DIFFERENT places when I had kids so we have done that. This was only our 2nd, maybe 3rd family vacation to the area.

So if you don’t like it why’d you go there? We went because J wanted to go ride the roller coasters at Silver Dollar City. Actually, he was looking at the roller coasters in Ohio, I forget what city…where a big amusement park is located? However, time restraints made us reel in our plans to what was nearby.

A well-kept secret: Branson is not a budget friendly vacation! Maybe if you go and stay at a resort on the lake and do nothing else but even then, some of those resorts can get pricey. Ours was not. And ahem, you get what you pay for…

Tuesday:

Our trip down there was fine. It’s only about a 3 1/2 hour drive from KC. This is nice especially with older kids/teenagers/young adults who aren’t excited about leaving the house at 7 in the morning. We didn’t leave the house until probably 10 or 10:30.

I laughed a bit as when I went on my girlfriends weekend we stopped at a nice restaurant and then, toured Truman’s birthplace. When we went as a family, we ate at Wendy’s and then, browsed a shoe store (I’d forgotten my water shoes so there was a purpose).

We arrived at our destination around 3:30. In some ways it was exactly what I expected. In others, it was not.

The screened porch was nice and I spent most my time there reading my books. I didn’t end up needing the forgotten water shoes because the resort had no shore line! And it was such a steep walk down to the dock that none of us braved it in anything less than our tennis shoes. We did spend a bit of time fishing on Tuesday night though we caught nothing but a few very small perch.

We looked into renting a boat for one of the days but ultimately decided against it. My husband said he could borrow his brother’s boat and take the kids fishing around here for free. (Boat rentals in this area were crazy high! Usually resorts have boats for rent but the one boat we saw at the resort wouldn’t have safely held 4 people.)

Wednesday

We ventured into Branson on Wednesday. Since I was a little upset and disappointed over a few things, my husband surprised me with a trip to:

The Butterfly Palace

I do love butterflies and we all enjoyed this. Can’t remember the name of the butterfly pictured here:

I have a video of the butterfly below in flight but no idea how to get it on here but you can click on this link to see what the wings look like spread out:  blue morpho:

For Daniela from Danahandmade:

Can’t remember exactly what it was called, some sort of geode.

After the Butterfly Palace, G was especially happy as we stumbled across a Steak and Shake so ate lunch there. We used to have one near us but it closed down and now the closest one is about a 40 minute drive.

Then, it was on to:

Branson Landing

This is essentially a huge shopping area along Lake Taneycomo. None of it existed when we used to go to Branson when I was a kid. It’s so built up now. However, I still think Lake Taneycomo is beautiful! And honestly, kind of prefer it to Table Rock Lake. It’s a cold water lake where the main fishing is for trout. 

There’s a walkway where you can walk along the lake. And they have fountains that put on a little show every hour starting at noon. Again, I have a video but no idea how to get it from the phone to here. Maybe I’ll mess with trying to figure it out later.

Otherwise, it’s basically like any other overpriced outdoor shopping place you’ve been with the brick sidewalks and expensive restaurants. We were trying to go the Dicks 5 & 10 which is an iconic downtown Branson store but my husband got mixed up and we went to the “dime” store in the landing instead. They are not the same!

After those two adventures, we returned to our cabin and had some down time before a less than successful dinner I cooked there. Then, we retreated to our various spaces, mine being the screened porch where I read until dark.

 

 

It’s been a lazy, rainy (hooray) Saturday around here. One of those kinds that not much of anything gets accomplished. I do have some laundry going in the washer. And we ran to Sam’s Club this morning where I picked up a few summer tops. Time to have some tee-shirts that aren’t advertising a school event.

On and off, I’ve tried to catch up on some blogs, looked at my emails (so many), and debated my Old Navy shopping cart. Downloaded a silly fashion battle game on my phone, then uninstalled it as I realized how much of a time suck it could be. Plus, so many ads!

Randomness From This Past Week

• • Yesterday, a kid told me he needed a pink cupcake. Um, me, too. Poor guy was having a hard time adjusting (possibly some underlying issues) and won’t be back. Kind of sad but it does happen sometimes. He’s got great potential for somewhere that can give him the one on one attention he needs.
  • On Thursday, I went for a very overdue eye-appointment (I was overdue before the pandemic so…) and was happy to find out my eyes are still in decent shape, my Rx changed very little. I think my job saved me there, no looking at a computer screen all the time. And I went ahead and splurged on a pair of prescription sunglasses as well. Oh, and technology can be amazing. No puffs of air, no need for getting my eyes dilated (cool photos of eye-balls to see even).
  • My schedule changed and I don’t have to work in the kitchen next week. Woohoo! Happy about that one.
  • My poor garden and flowers are not as pretty as they should be. My butterfly garden is a mess but the lavender is blooming. And we are so behind on planting things (okra) this year. However, we’ve had longer days of summer reaching into fall the past few years so that may save us.
  • Last night, I watched We’re The Millers on Netflix. How had I never seen that one? So funny! Definitely not one for young kiddos though! And now I have Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls song stuck in my head.

(P.S. Since Jason Sudeikis was the lead in the movie, I should mention I read where they might be making a Ted Lasso spinoff!!)

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It’s been a somewhat interesting Tuesday. Couldn’t sleep last night and then, woke up to a 6:30 a.m. call into work. Could only go in for about an hour as J had his appointment but I went ahead and helped out for that short time. And doing it again tomorrow, however, this time I know in advance and won’t have to be there quite as early.

Took J to his appointment. He didn’t want to go out for lunch afterward. Who is this kid? So, we made a quick grocery store run and ended up having homemade pizza for lunch. Spent some time messing around in the backyard. We also tested the a/c in the house. Works.

Heard the crows fussing at the owls late last night. Seems the crows chased them off successfully. We’ll see if I hear the owls (or the crows fussing) again tonight.

Pretty slow basic day over all. Tacos for dinner. We (well, my husband helped with mine) set up our new phones. The kids ran to Target and I spent time watching the crow’s nest. Talked to one of my brother’s about Easter, they already have plans. Not a huge deal as invite was very last minute.

Somewhere in all that I started a new book, Two Days in Lisbon. Very good so far, probably going to go back to reading it after I finish this brief post. Not sure why this post almost feels like a rather unexciting diary entry. Just missing the fuzzy cover and little padlock with the key. Did you ever have one of those? I think I even had a little pink one with no security like the padlocks at one point. Back before they were called fancy things like journals.

Well enough of a diary/journal entry/blog post for now.

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day 92/365

 

Last week, Daniella over at Dana Handmade posted her answers to this Proust questionnaire. I really enjoyed reading them and thought it would be so fun to play along!

The questions seemed a bit more serious than the ones you typically see in the about me questions (I love reading all types of those, no matter the questions!). Here are my attempts to answer these. The hard thing, I think, is I have more than one answer to many of these.

The Questions

1. My main trait – hopefully, kindness though I’m sure I don’t always succeed

2. The quality I want to meet in a man –already met one, ha. answer is honesty.

3. The quality I prefer in a woman – authenticity

4. What I value most in my friends –Do I have to say just one for these? honesty, authenticity, sense of humor, goes for the above 2 answers as well.

5. My main flaw –too many to narrow to one, struggle with criticism, not good at following rules, don’t like being told what to do, procrastination, I could go on…

6. My occupation favorite –I love my job, conversations, smiles, and hugs from 3-6 year olds are worth more than the highest salary of any corporate CEO

7. The happiness I dream of – Find it best to be happy with what I have where I am though I don’t always succeed

8. What would be my greatest misfortune –my family not knowing I love them

9. The place where I would like to live – I’m happy with where I live though I might not say no to a different part of the city or a slightly larger home.  

10. My favorite color – GREEN especially that of growing things. 

Dividing The Answers Here So I Get A Green Editing Smiley Face

11. The flower I like – I love all flowers, my favorites are lily-of-the-valley not planted in my garden because they’re poisonous to little cats.

12. The bird my favorite – I love most all the little outdoor birds but am partial to the chickadees and my hummingbirds.

13. My favorite prose writers –so many, depends on the genre really. This could be a separate post, stay tuned. Also, how about a confession? I’ve never read anything by Proust. Any suggestions?

14. My favorite poets –Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, not a huge poetry person

15. My favorite literary heroes –The Pevensies, Meg from A Wrinkle In Time, mind is a bit blank here

16. My favorite literary heroines –see above

17. My favorite composers – Mozart, Debussy, and Leroy Anderson among others. I am also partial to Blake Neely (he composes a lot of scores for television shows such as You, The Flash, Riverdale, etc.)  And of course, I grew up listening to Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. Also, just for fun I am sharing a new (to me) piece I heard on the classical station just yesterday: Arthropod Suite by Jonathan Peters.

18. My favorite painters – I had a couple framed Picasso prints on my walls, Bouquet of Flowers and Dove of Peace when I lived alone, so still love those. Van Gogh, of course. And Monet. Not very good at this category…

Need Another Divider To Make Editing Software Happy

 

19. My favorite heroes in real life –as Mr. Rogers would say “the helpers” 

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”― Fred Rogers

20. What I hate the most –not a lot of hate but a long list of little annoyances, try not to dwell on them too much. Put your shopping cart away, be nice, personal space, don’t tailgate me, judge not lest you be judged!, and so on..

Had To Add Another Subheading, Must Have The Green Smiley Face

 

21. The quality I wish I had from birth – more courage, just call me the Cowardly Lion 

22. How I would like to die –  while LIVING

23. The mistakes that inspire me the greatest indulgence – those from my youth perhaps? Honestly, I’m not entirely sure I understand this question properly.

24. My motto – first one is flat out stolen from my workplace, the 2 rules: be peaceful and show respect. Second one, heard somewhere and really liked it: be curious, not judgemental. 

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A copy of blank questions if you’d like to play along and I hope you will. I’d love to see your answers!

1. My main trait –

2. The quality I want to meet in a man –

3. The quality I prefer in a woman –

4. What I value most in my friends –

5. My main flaw –

6. My occupation favorite –

7. The happiness I dream of –

8. What would be my greatest misfortune –

9. The place where I would like to live –

10. My favorite color –

11. The flower I like –

12. The bird my favorite –

13. My favorite prose writers –

14. My favorite poets –

15. My favorite literary heroes –

16. My favorite literary heroines –

17. My favorite composers –

18. My favorite painters –

19. My favorite heroes in real life –

20. What I hate the most –

21. The quality I wish I had from birth –

22. How I would like to die –

23. The mistakes that inspire me the greatest indulgence –

24. My motto –

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Day 87/365

 

It was another lazy day today. The sun did make a brief appearance though so that was nice. Other than that, today really wasn’t too exciting. Here let me tell you all about it. First, I’ll add it’s supposed to be nicer out tomorrow and I’m really hoping to get out and get some decent photos to share for upcoming posts.

Meanwhile, here’s a picture of the final amaryllis bloom.

See the tape? I accidentally knocked it when taking it outside on a nice day and the stem broke. However, a little tape fixed things enough for it to go ahead and still bloom.

(Oh my, ignore the dirty windows, please. They are on the spring cleaning list.)

The Short List of A Slow Day

• Woke up very early, 5AM for no reason. Then, fell back asleep until about 7. However, I was up to ask my husband about the drivability of G’s car. He had car issues last night.
• Made a protein shake for breakfast, coffee and chocolate.
• Ruined the progress later by eating too many cookies. (Clean out the pantry cookies but I did make them with whole wheat flour and not much sugar so maybe not that bad?)
• Took J to school.
• Spent some time visiting a few lovely blogs/answering comments here
• Thought about writing a post called Listmaker as I have more than 3 list type posts to do
• Ran to the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner. And accidentally took a screenshot of the recipe ingredients:

• Picked J up from school
• Made lunch: turkey, salami, and mozzarella melts on sourdough bread
• Unloaded/Loaded Dishwasher
• Vacuumed kitchen floor and living room rug
• Cleaned up cat puke, joys of pet ownership though who owns who is up for debate.
• Did the social media tour: Instagram, pretty pictures, then Facebook, why?
• And now I’m getting this post done before my husband decides he wants to come down here and nap.

Tonight’s Plans

Tonight’s plans are that there are no plans. Well, other than attempting the pasta dish. The recipe for Penne Rosa is here if your interested. It’s new to us but I was intrigued. I’ll be using rigatoni instead of penne because I already had some in the pantry.

What are your plans for tonight?

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Day 81/365

 

Just some random thoughts for today. Pretend you joined me in the car for the addictive drive-through coffee shop. Couldn’t resist another Irish Blondie Breve. Hoping that’s a seasonal thing because I definitely don’t need to be doing that everytime I’m over near the shop.

My joke of the day: What do you call Spring Break when it happens prior to payday?

Answer: Spring Broke!

(Gather your rotten fruit, I’ll be here all year!)

Can you tell I typically work with preschool children? Where even jokes that make no sense are funny. Drive-through coffee shop might also explain the spring broke.

Would you like to see the photos that were supposed to accompany yesterday’s post?

Winter Wednesday Photos

The crocus that finally bloomed!

The purple flowers taking over more of the yard.

A pot of dirt just waiting to be filled with spring/summer flowers.

Finally, a random photo of one of my daffodils in a vase.

And now that we’re back here at the house, have fed the birds (or rather the squirrels), and drank our coffee, let’s go walk around the yard.

After This Morning’s Rain

Final picture for today:

Creepy little critter isn’t it?

I don’t like them. They’re rodents and they steal my bird seed. However, they’re also super smart and it is interesting to watch them figure out all the “squirrel proof” bird feeders. I do wonder if I started feeding the squirrels instead of the birds, would the birds eat the squirrel’s food? Hmmm…

Do you like squirrels?

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Day 73/365

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is going to be a quick and just for fun type post today.

It all started when my husband brought home Dr. Pepper flavored Peeps, I think at the end of February (his word of the year is not “wait”). Anyway, we all tried them and if you come across Dr. Pepper flavored Peeps, know they are very, very good. We’ve not been able to find them anywhere since he bought that first package.

However, we have found all kinds of other odd flavors. I decided every time I saw a new flavor, I’d get it for us to try. And so it began, our quest to taste test every weird flavor of Peeps we could find.

 

Peeps are essentially just marshmallows and usually not too many in a package or too expensive. I did find some gummy Peeps at Target, a bit different.

As well as J’s current favorite flavor (also mine):

We’ve done lots of tastings over here so I thought I’d share our results with you all today.

Peeps Flavors Found And Our Thoughts:

1. Dr. Pepper Peeps, we all LOVED these. How they managed to make them taste just like Dr. Pepper is a mystery. If you are a Dr. Pepper fan, you’ll love these.
2. Sour Watermelon Peeps, we mostly liked these though I can’t remember them making a huge impression.
3. Party Cake Peeps, these were memorable for all the wrong reasons. For all of us, they completely missed the mark on the cake flavor. And the sprinkles on the outside were kind of weird.
4. Cotton Candy Peeps, I didn’t mind these but they didn’t really taste like cotton candy. I’m the only one who even kind of liked these.
5. Hot Tamale Peeps, these were surprisingly good! Tasted like a soft hot tamale (the candies, not the savory dinner item).
6. Sparkly Wild Berry Peeps, were not a hit with me. Too much grape (I should note I hate grape flavored things: grapes yes, grape artificial flavoring, no). J didn’t mind them. They left a weird coating on my hands as well. Cheetos can leave my hands covered in stuff, not Peeps.
7. Fruit Punch Peeps, these weren’t bad but I was looking around for Mr. Kool Aid to come bursting through the walls (Remember those old commercials?). They tasted like Kool Aid to me.
8. Tropical Burst Peeps, nice and subtle. We really like these. Hard to describe as no in your face flavors, definitely not coconut, but we know the flavor is tropical.
9. The Peeps Gummies, I loved these. Very vanilla flavored. J thought they tasted just like a peep. G said they weren’t for him. My husband hasn’t tried them yet.

Final Thoughts

The only flavor I’ve seen and not bought are the ones with the chocolate on the bottom. No doubt those are good but I’m not paying the same price for half as many candies just because they have chocolate on the bottom. Maybe I’ll get some for actual Easter or when they go on clearance from being over priced.

Peeps aren’t a candy for everyone. Personally, I prefer the regular flavors of them when they are slightly stale. My husband and J like to roast them (they are marshmallows after all). And G just likes them.

What about you, tried any new flavors of Peeps lately? Or do you even like this type of candy?

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Day 71/365