Our Branson Trip!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Garrett/Barone Family
Back in mid November, we set out on a 9 hour drive to Branson, Mo. to meet up with John's whole family! John's sister, Anna and her husband Joe, own a time share at Big Cedar lodge just outside Branson. It worked out for all of us to come for an early Thanksgiving Day get together! With Joe, Anna & their 3 girls living in Texas the last three years, we have not had many opportunities for all of us to be together.

We enjoyed 4 days of hanging out at the lodge, a little shopping, a scenic train ride, Thanksgiving dinner, some eating out, games, and watching the girls swim in the pool. While looking back over some pictures we all took, Moriah declared those 4 days the best days of her life! LOL! Our girls stair step in age: Hope 7, Moriah 6, Gracelyn 5, Tori 4, Addie 10 months, & Elaina 5 months. Yep, ALL GIRLS! =) (very cute ones I might add! ha!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The swimming gang! (minus Tori)
The cousins haven't spent that many consecutive days together ever! So they were definitely in heaven! They got along pretty well and probably had the most fun of us all. I think they went swimming every day we were there...I believe it was the biggest highlight of each day for them! Guess they are pretty easy to please!

The vintage locomotive! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Moriah the train Conductor!

Gracelyn the train conductor!

We did take a nice scenic ride through the Ozark foothills on a vintage train. All the girls loved that! They had special dome cars where you could upand get a panoramic view of the landscape. We all happened to sit in the car where the conductor gave his narrative for the train ride. When he was not commenting on different points of interest along the way, he really enjoyed talking to our girls. He joked with them, let them try his hat on, teased them and asked them many questions. The girls warmed up to him during the ride and were responsive and friendly. Towards the end of our ride, he really complimented us parents on our girls. He mentioned how that he talks to many kids with his job and that most children now a days are so absorbed in the electronic games they bring along that he can barely get a "hi" out of them. He said he could tell our kids were raised differently without so much TV and stuff, as he put it! It was great to see that even our kids, as young as they are, they can still shine a light in this world.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ John & Dad in their ultra cool Indiana Jones style hats =)
I think the biggest highlight...for the GUYS anyways.... was going to the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield on the way home. We were there for no less than 4 HOURS! Uhhggg! Don't ever let guys fool you into thinking they can't shop till they drop...just has to be the right store! LOL! I have to admit, they did have some pretty cool displays. Before we parted ways, we all eat at the nice restaurant there as well.

My girls were pretty unhappy about having to leave their cousins. I had this dialog with Moraih who was trying to express her feelings about it once we got back home.

"Mommy, saying good bye to Hope and Tori was really sad." She said. "Yeah Riah, I know it was." I replied. She continued, "It's hard to say good bye. But it's not hard to say hello! It's real easy to say hello =)

All in all it was a nice trip....even though all my kids threw up at one point during those 4 days. We still can't figure out what caused that bug as it affected quite a few of us. I am sure the night crew was cheering when we left...no more having to bring us fresh bedding at 3 am. !

Big thanks to Joe & Anna for the use of their time share... hopefully it wont be another 2 years before we all get together again! I don't think my girls could handle it! LOL!

!The girls getting their hair eaten by a very large moose!