Family Vacation!!!

Last week we packed up the car and headed to Little Rock, Arkansas and then to Branson, Missouri for our annual family vacation!!!

We left on Monday July 4th in the morning and made it to Little Rock shortly after lunch time. We unloaded a few things and then took a shuttle down to where they were having a festival. Casey found out that they were doing free admission into Bill Clinton's library so we decided to walk from the festival to the library. On the way we found these HUGE hills and tons of ripped up cardboard boxes... so we turned into kids and started to slide some hills. Caleb was scared but we finally made him do it and he was instantly in love. I have to say that was probably my favorite part of the whole vacation... it brought back so many wonderful childhood memories for me.

The library was okay... don't worry we are still Republicans (haha). I am not a huge fan of museums and stopping to read artifacts, BUT Casey is so we went. There were a couple of cute things that kept Caleb and I entertained while Casey read history "crap".... We were in and out within an hour (thank goodness, poor Casey).

We took the shuttle back to the hotel, changed clothes and grabbed some snacks and went to find a spot for the fireworks. Dax wasn't feeling good, I really think he had Roseola... he was running a fever and when it finally broke, he had a rash covering his whole body. He was so whiny and just blah looking... the fireworks started going off (finally, worst firework show I have ever been to) and he passed out.

The next day we loaded up and hit the road for Branson, MO!!! Last year we vacationed with Casey's cousin, Brandon, his wife, Sarah (and one my best friends) and their 2 year old, Landon. We met up around 4pm, made it to the condo, went to Wal-Mart picked up some groceries and just hung out that night at the condo. The next day, we woke up early and spent the day at Silver Dollar City!!! #BallFlowers

That night Casey and I went on a date on the Showboat Branson Belle dinner cruise. It was such a fun date night and I highly suggest it to anyone going to Branson. We upgraded our package and did the paddle room and had private seating and some of the best seats in the house for the show.

 

Thursday we decided The Flowers' would do their own thing and The Ball's would do their own thing... so we hit up the toy museum which was really awesome to see... except for the fact that Caleb kept asking us to buy him umm EVERYTHING!!! 

 

Then that afternoon we boarded the Duck and took a tour of Branson on land and water. Both of the boys were able to drive the boat and it was one of Caleb's most favorite parts of the trip.

 

 

 That evening was spent with one of my most favorite families, The Gorrell's!!! When I was younger, I was a daycare teacher and some of the kids took a place in my heart and I became friends with the parents. I am so thankful that after many many many years, we are still friends. Susan helped me plan our trip to Branson, they live in Springfield, and then we decided we would meet up and have dinner... I was able to see Gavin, who is about to be 13 (WOW)... he was 2 when he was in my class!!!

Friday we hit up the waterpark in town, sadly we were only there for an hour before a storm rolled in and they made everyone get out of the water and they ended up closing the park down. Bummer man!

 

Since the waterpark was a bust, we drove around town and found things to do... in the midst of driving around, we found Branson's biggest rocking chair!!! Random but cool... We also went to the wax museum and my favorite place SONIC!!!

 

 

That night, Sarah and Brandon went on their date night and we stayed at the condo and packed up our things for our trip home on Saturday. It was supposed to storm all day Saturday so The Ball's went ahead and hit the road that night after their date. We decided to stay and stick it out... if it rained we would head home but if it was dry we wanted one more day at Silver Dollar City. Luckily, we woke up and it was gorgeous outside so we went back to the park. It was actually a REALLY great day. The boys were able to ride every roller coaster Caleb was tall enough to ride and I even got another bag of kettle corn popcorn!! 

We made it home around 9:30pm Saturday night and the boys went straight to bed, and so did we! Another successful, wonderful, fun family vacation in the books... now time to start planning mine and Casey's 3rd anniversary trip for next March!!!

Tip - want to take vacations but cant afford it? Start planning MONTHS in advance, do the research yourself, look for condos on the app Homeaway, check different airlines for pricing, or is it cheaper and easier to drive... you can do it if you really want to, just have to put the time and work into it!