The week before last, we took one long drive from Houston to Bartlesville to Branson, back to Bartlesville. We had a great time with family (and hope to see more friends the next time). We arrived in Bartlesville late Friday night, and spent time with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, Autumn, and his girlfriend's son, Jaden on Saturday. It was a whirlwind of a day, and we enjoyed it immensely. We ate lunch, hung out, the kiddos took naps, we made a run to QT (please come to Houston), we went for a swim at a friends, ate a grilled dinner, and then went to kiddie park until 10pm. Little did we know that this was a about the time the girls would be making it to bed every night we were on vacation!
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| Julia, Lydia and Jaden riding the kiddie park boat. |
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| More Kiddie Park fun |
Sunday was also a day filled with a lot of fun. We went to First Wesleyan Church, then to lunch with Dave's family. After lunch we went and put the girls down for a nap at Dave's mom's house. This was followed by a little family get-together/Lydia Birthday party/Daniel (Dave's brother) Birthday Party. I enjoyed watching Lydia open presents and eat cake, and we also got to introduce Saige to some family members she wasn't able to meet before. Good times were had by all.
On Monday, we ate lunch with my brother, his girlfriend and her son, and then we headed to Branson. We got to the condo my aunt and uncle rented at about 6:00. We had some dinner with them, went swimming, and then we all went to bed too late.
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| Watching the dancers at SDC |
On Tuesday, we headed to Silver Dollar City where "You've got a great past ahead of you!" We went with my cousins and my aunt and uncle and had a great time! Unfortunately, though, my cousin who is expecting a little one soon had to go back to our condo because she was sick. We later found out that she had overheated, and will need to stay out of the sun until after the baby is born. Thankfully she and the baby are alright.
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| Train ride with a tired little bumble bee and her daddy |
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| Trevor, Uncle Mike and Julia |
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| Our smiling bumble bee back at the condo. She was happy to be in the a/c! |
On Wednesday, the Fourth, we all decided to hang around he condo in the morning. In the afternoon, my aunt and uncle treated our family to The Butterfly Palace. We all loved it! Julia, the controlling little being that she is, decided that a butterfly HAD to land on her. (You are not allowed to touch the butterflies in their sanctuary, but they can choose to land on you.)
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| Our little butterfly hunters |
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| Uncle Mike and Aunt Sandy |
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| "Please jump onto my finger!" |
Julia found out that if you sit really still, the butterflies have a higher likelihood of landing on you. So, she tried it. But, still, no dice. The butterflies flew very close to her head though, and I got to see something I've never seen before: Julia sitting very still for a whole 2.5 minutes. Luckily we didn't have any breakdowns when what she wanted didn't happen.
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| Hoping, wishing, waiting... |
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| Monarchs are beautiful |
After going to the Butterfly Palace, we headed Branson Landing for a yummy, early dinner and some shopping. Lydia fell asleep in the stroller and slept in it for almost 2 hours that day. The poor thing was exhausted from late nights and no naps. I felt her pain!
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| Saige and Dave hanging out at the Landing |
After we went to the Landing, some of us walked down to the dock and hung around for a little while. Trevor fished a little, the girls played and asked people questions, and I watched Lydia like a hawk. I could just see her toppling into the water!
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| Tablerock Lake |
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| Dave helped the girls fish a little with Trevor's pole |
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| Happy Fourth! |
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| Happy Fourth! |
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| Trevor and Saige |
On Thursday, my family packed up to go back to Illinois, and Dave and I packed up to go back to Silver Dollar City. I was ready to just sleep all day, but we had paid for two-day-passes, and we aren't good at letting things go to waste. So, we went back and had a great time!
Later that afternoon, Christie (Dave's step-mom) and Tucker (our step-nephew) got to come with us and enjoy the rides. Also, Saige stayed with Dave's step-sister, Aimie for the afternoon. It was so super sweet of Aimie to offer to watch our littlest one so that we could run around faster and enjoy more of the park. I was really glad that she stayed at Dave's parents house out of the heat, and with such a reliable sitter to watch her. (But I did miss her.)
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| Butterfly ride at SDC |
Lydia was very spoiled/blessed with another little birthday celebration on Friday.
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| Lydia blowing out candles on the cute little princess cake that Aimie made. |
On Saturday, we headed home. We decided to stay at a hotel in Texarkana, and I am so glad that we did. It took us almost all day to get ther, even though it wasn't suppossed to take us more than 5.5 hours. Maybe we can rent an RV the next time we go. Built in bathrooms are a definite must.
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| Our beautiful view! |
If you couldn't tell, that picture caption is totally saracstic! We didn't open the curtains the night we got there because it was so late. But, as we were getting ready to leave, I decided to let some sunlight in. I cracked up when this is what I saw. Good thing we weren't staying there for a week. That would have been depressing.
All in all, our vacation was wonderful and exhausting. Hopefully our next getaway will be much more relaxing! But, I think I would have been just as tired if I had stayed at home all week with my rambunctious preschoolers and new baby. At least we were having fun while I stayed exhausted!
Thanks for checkin in, Amber
