This is a Katydid. There are all kinds of critters in my parents' yard and on their porch.
We all got ready for church and left just after 10 am.
Here we are in our Sunday best.
The kids went to children's church while we went in the auditorium and listened to a speaker who was my niece's leader when she did Link year in Branson the year she graduated from high school. He was very entertaining and actually made sense on some ideas regarding the upcoming election. He stated that God was in control no matter who won the election, which is so true. So I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to do my part and vote and then handle what happens, when it happens.
After church of course we had to go to Walmart for some items for dinner. I made crock pot chicken nachos. We got home and stuck all of the ingredients in the crock pot in order for dinner to be ready at a reasonable time. We all just ate leftovers for lunch and I ended up getting sick because I ate too much and I had spicy food, two problems. I ended up sleeping for about an hour.
We went to the lake after I was up and feeling better, but Russ and Mitch decided not to go with us. The kids and Stuart got in the lake, but Grammie, Pop and I decided not to. It was super sweltering.
Walking down to the sandy beach to find our spot.
The kids and Stuart were nice and cool.
Jack and Millie got a little silly with the rocky sand just at the water's edge.
Once we had enough of the lake, the kids changed their clothes and we went up to a local resort and had some ice cream and coffee. It was a beautiful hotel with shops, one of which sold refreshments.
When we got back, Russ and Mitch were cutting the grass and our chicken nachos were ready. The kids got cleaned from the lake and were all ready for bed. We all ended up taking showers before we ate, and didn't eat until after 8 pm. Millie ended up falling asleep in my lap around 9 pm, and Jack went to bed shortly after that.
The weather was nice and cool out on the porch Sunday evening, which could only mean rain for Monday.
Once we were awake and porching it on Monday morning, it was evident this would be a cooler day than we had experienced thus far. Silver Dollar City would be way more fun in the cooler weather.
Not only does this show the front of my parents' house, it also shows the dark clouds that set in for the day.
We went to breakfast before heading to SDC. The skies were dark and there was sprinkling. When we came out of the diner, which had a live entertainer at 9 am might I add, it was still super dark and cloudy, but we forged on for our day of fun.
The traditional selfie outside of SDC.
It rained for most of the morning and initially the big roller coaster were closed because of lighting being in the area. However, once they opened we abused them. We ended up missing only one roller coaster, mainly because Jack didn't want to wait in line because he was wiped out.
The boys were 'rockin' outside of the General Store.
The kids have really enjoyed their time with Grammie and Pop.
We left Silver Dollar City feeling we had really gotten our money's worth. We stopped off at Panera to have coffee. The kids had conned me into buying them a stuffed animal at the park so they were entertained for a bit. They got restless before everyone was ready to go, but since we had driven separately it was easy to just leave before the rest.
Because Julie, Morgan and Emily were to arrive in Branson around 10:30 pm, the kids had to get a bath, eat and get to bed so that when the cousins showed up they could feel free to wake up Millie and Jack. By that time, we hoped the kids would have had a little bit of sleep and there wouldn't be much damage for our day at White Water, the local water park.
We all had a bite to eat from left overs, and retired to the porch just before the sun set.
The view at sunset was spectacular.
The kids went to bed around 7 pm. Everyone showered and we played pitch. Morgan, Emily and Julie arrived just after 10:30 pm. Prior to that, Jack was wide awake and upstairs at 10 pm because he knew the girls would be there soon. He ran out to greet them when they arrived. Then, in turn, the girls went to wake up Millie. Once the kids were awake, they were absolute maniacs. I have never in my life seen them act so crazy. They were wired beyond belief. It was shocking! They finally got settled but still didn't go to sleep until almost midnight.
Tuesday morning my family was awake when I returned from my walk at 7:45 am. It seems Jack felt the need to wake up Millie when he got up, which is a big fat no-no. He also woke Stuart up. He was still very excited about the girls being there. We had to hold him back from waking them up as well.
The kids had breakfast on the porch, while we had coffee....again.
We watched the kids play and perform for most of the morning. Emily and Morgan played with the kids. Morgan painted Millie's nails and then played the Wii with Jack. 
Pretty nails.
We headed to White Water around 12:30 pm.
Dad and the kids were up for the afternoon of fun to be had.
Mother and daughter hit the waves.
Lightning and thunder closed the park just before 3 pm, so naturally we headed to Danna's BBQ joint for an early bird dinner.
It was back to the house, a change of clothes, then a trip to the outlet mall for some retail therapy. We left all the children with Uncle Mitch and Pop. We might have been gone a bit longer than intended, but it seemed that no one was damaged once we got home. In fact, Pop had Jack shower and Morgan had given Millie a bath. It was a treat.
I attempted to put kids to bed at 8 pm. They didn't seem interested so I just waited until almost 10 pm. It was too hard to fight it when they were only going to be able to spend two days with Morgan and Emily.
We all headed towards bed at 10 pm, but Stuart and I chatted with Russ and his crew until almost 11 pm.
I was up and out for my walk at 6:30 am. It was foggy and a little drippy. About halfway through my walk two deer ran across the road about 50 feet in front of me. Naturally, camera was not ready....again, so this story will just have to be believed.
Stuart and I made a run to Walmart to return a bag we bought in Queen Creek that lost its wheel once we got to Branson. We also picked up some sodas and looked around for a bit.
When we got back we couldn't find anyone. It seems that most of the family had gone for a walk, including Jack. When they returned Jack told us what a trooper he was. He was certainly sweaty. He had begged me all week to wake him up to go walking with me, and I just couldn't do it. However, he seemed to love it, so maybe I will reconsider it once we get to Spain in a couple of weeks.
We sat on the porch for a while as we did each day we were in Branson. After a while we decided we should do something with our day. So half of us went to eat sushi and the other half went to eat at the Farmhouse. After we ate, we met at Dick's 5 and Dime, and then walked down to Branson Landing again to walk around.
Mom and Dad went to Walmart to get some lunch meat for sandwiches that evening, while the rest of us hit Starbucks before heading home.
We pretty much just sat around the rest of the evening. Morgan power washed the back porch, I bathed the kids, we all ate when we were ready, and then watched some brainless television before watching the Democratic convention. The kids were not in bed until around 10:30 pm, but since we were driving to Pittsburg on Thursday, I knew they could nap if they needed to do so.
I finished some packing and hit the bed shortly after the kids were asleep, but not before doing two loads of laundry. Being in Pittsburg would mean we would have to drag three days of dirty clothes with us to the UK, so I wanted to make sure I got everything washed that I could.
I was up by 6:30 am, got ready to avoid the bathroom rush, and went upstairs to put the coffee on. Mitch was getting ready to leave so he sat on the porch with me for a cup of coffee. I will miss these mornings of wildlife sounds and silence.
We stripped the beds, cleaned the bedrooms and bathrooms, and packed our stuff to go. Everyone left mid morning and there were a lot of tears. Since we are not coming home next summer, I think that made things worse.
We headed to Pittsburg and hit the athletic shop for some Pitt State gear before heading to Lynda Nelson's, where we were staying for the weekend.
We drove around the town with Lynda showing us the new parts of the university. It's amazing how this town has changed in the last 30 years. I guess that's to be expected.
We returned to Lynda's for a bit and then headed to Chicken Annie's where we were met by my parents and my best friend from high school, Cathy, and her mother, Linda. There are two famous chicken houses in southeast Kansas, and Chicken Annie's is one of them. The food was as wonderful as I remember.
We headed back to the house to watch the Cardinal's game and then turned in for the night. I actually fell asleep on the sofa, which I don't normally do unless it's my own sofa.
We were up Friday morning and Lynda and Millie made brownies. We ate breakfast and then Cathy came out to visit with us. She brought Legos for the kids, which they totally appreciated. She helped Millie make hers, while Jack made his on his own.
We went to the Mall Deli for lunch, which is an iconic deli and a must when you come to Pittsburg. Before that we had walked the mall, which has all of about 10 stores, a far cry from the Dubai Mall. Stuart couldn't help but take a picture of himself pointing at the map.
We went back to Jock's Nitch to buy more Pitt State gear since Cathy had brought me a gift card. I also got a t-shirt from my high school. Once that shopping was finished we headed to Starbucks for an afternoon treat. Cathy and her husband, Craig, came back to Lynda's with us for a bit of a reprieve.
We headed to Brickyard Grill just before 6 pm, leaving Grammie and Pop in charge of Jack and Millie. They all ended up going to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, while we ate dinner at the grill. What a night we had. There were people who showed up from my class and I had no idea who they were. Some had changed a great deal and some didn't look any differently than when they were 18 years old. I had invited two people from the class below me because I actually hung out more with people the class below me.
We left the bar and got home around midnight. I was wiped out. It is exhausting telling your story again and again to people who don't really care and you probably won't see again for another 10 years. There were some surprises, some people I went to school with that I didn't really know, but chatted with and found out about what they are doing now. Many of my classmates still live in the town we grew up in, but others moved away. Clearly I came from the farthest distance.
We met some classmates at Bob's Grill for breakfast. One of our classmates owns the hot spot. We sat at the counter and enjoyed a country breakfast.
Not a lot of people showed up so my dad was all time pitcher and even Jack played. We only played three innings because it was hot, we were old, and most of us were out of shape. We had a great time. Stuart got an injury before the game even started.
Once the game was over and we had all sweat our socks off, Cathy and her husband, Craig, showed up and went for lunch with us to Jimmy John subs.
We then rushed to Brian's salon to get the hair cuts the kids desperately needed, especially Millie. And he did not disappoint. He even put in a semi-permanent color in Jack's hair.
We went back to Lynda's to clean up for the evening event. The banquet was really nice. Clearly we were all in control and civilized. It still was amazing and a little disappointing to know some of my classmates that lived in town couldn't be bothered to come out.
We had a lot of people asking about the UAE and were genuinely interested in what we were doing. Not only had we come the furthest for this event, we were also the people with the youngest children. I felt we should have received some prizes, but we didn't.
I'm so glad I have a husband who is game for anything. He was a trooper and I think he had a nice time as well. It was funny to hear his perspective about some of the people I graduated with.
Our trip to this point has been way more fun than I could have anticipated. We still have 18 days on our summer tour. Next stop, England!
No comments:
Post a Comment