After ten days of life on the road, we made it home and can say the kids were (mostly) awesome little travelers. Arley is up to 5/50 states now (8 if you count last summer's trips). (B didn't add any new states this time around so he's still at 12/50.)
I did a horrible job of taking pictures. Mostly because our adventures weren't really conducive to packing around a big camera (plus a baby while chasing a three year old).
We attempted a group shot (but even failed at that as not everyone was ever ready for a shot at the same time). So here's most of the crew. (My sister got that sweet cabin. We're trying to talk mom into buying a similar one on a lake somewhere… You can rent this one here: vrbo)
The quick overview of the trip:
Leon. We had to head down early for a funeral so we stayed in town for the Fourth of July where B took in his first Leon Rodeo. We also watched the parade and then later headed to great-grandma's for the fireworks (her driveway may be the best seat in town for them). B loved the sparklers but may have been a little too excited about setting them on fire…
Table Rock lake. It rained most of the time we were there but the one day it was (mostly) nice my mom rented a boat and it was maybe the highlight of the trip for us. B chose not to tube and was worried about my safety when I was. ;) After witnessing his cousin take a turn (and finding her way underwater), it might be awhile before he hops on one. Related to the rain- the kids didn't get a chance to do s'mores in the fire pit so we found a campfire on youtube and they sat around the iPad campfire while eating microwave s'mores and telling stories with the flashlight. It's definitely an activity worth adding to your summer bucket list. :)
Branson. See above on the rain. We attempted some fun stuff but had a hard time finding things for B in the rain. (We had planned on bumper boats, mini golf and go karts so those all got crossed off the list pretty quick.) We did take a nice little walk down the boardwalk by the landing which was great until we walked straight into a cold front and couldn't see through the fog. We also did the fish hatchery (in the rain). And our best meal in town was Steak N Shake. Ripley's was a bust but B loved riding the Ducks (and even got to drive once the duck hit the water).
Arkansas. We literally drove across the state line to sit on the square of Blue Eye and feed the kids just so we could cross Arkansas off Arley's list. (Hey, it's one of 50 and at least now she won't have to go back and my brother in law pointed out she's too young to remember so double bonus. No offense to anyone from Arkansas...) ;) It felt a lot like being in Lineville. I'm sure there are nicer places in Arkansas to visit. Maybe someday…
Tulsa. We took a little detour on the way home to visit the Oklahoma cousins. It was a last minute, unplanned leg of the trip but was a fun one! We met up with them at the children's museum where B went down the packing tape slide no less than 1,452,872 times (or so). We had the best meal of the week with Hideaway Pizza and B had the highlight of his week at the Kiddie Park (a mini amusement park of sorts). The weather was iffy so we basically had the park to ourselves and it was a blast. The kids ran from ride to ride and B LOVED it. He talks about this more than anything else from vacation (even Legoland). I did manage to take the camera along this night.
Kansas City. Our plan was to head into town for Legoland and then spend the night and do some watermark time or shopping the next day. B loved Legoland but was ready to go to grandma's by the end so we passed on the $400/night water park room and drove to grandma's for the night before heading home.
Both kids had a pretty good week... though B really wanted to stay at a hotel with an elevator. :)
(A few kiddie park pics… Like I said.. B LOVED it. He was literally the last kid off the last ride of the night. These kiddos shut the place down! One of his favorite rides was the tiny cars and he always picked the cop car. When we had to leave the next day his cousin gave him The Sheriff (from Cars) for him to take home. He didn't let go of it the whole way to KC and really wanted to take it inside with him but we talked him out of it. His favorite (okay and only) souvenir from the trip.)
