Family vacation this year was to Branson, MO. This was an interesting decision as Joey had several days of vacation to use because of Corona virus and cancelled fishing trip. We talked about other places to go but most would have been a lot of hiking and with Ella not even really walking yet post surgery it was hard to make a decision. My friend recommended Big Cedar Lodge in Branson and that is where we thought would be good for us. We had our own lodge and it had a loft and then the queen beds. I pushed the 2 twin beds together and all 3 kiddos slept up in the loft. The ladder with the queen bed right by it meant many CANNONBALLS on to it!
Here is the infinity pool that was right by our cabin. It was awesome!
And the sunset at night over Table Rock lake. I did not get sick of these! :)
They had several very pretty chapels around. This is the first one we visited and stayed for service.
On fathers day their was a fishing tournament that Joey wanted to do with the kids. THere was a trophy for who caught the biggest fish. All 3 of the kids caught a fish, but none were winners. This was Ellas first time catching a fish!! I think that was a great activity for fathers day. Joey enjoyed doing that with the kids and his fishing skills he's passing on are working.
They had an area called Fun Moutain where they had an arcade, ropes course, bumper cars, bowling and more. The kids wanted to do a ropes course. Eli could not go on the bigger one like Ella and Josie so he went on a different one. He was ready for it.
Here is he is doing his ropes course. He thouroughly enjoyed it. I think he really like his sisters watching him the most.
Ella getting buckled in. She said she wanted to go first, but her face is saying something else. Both Josie and Ella could go at the same time, but Ella got up there and got scared. She only did about 2 things on and quit. She came down and watched Joise do it with a few tears. Josie did it all and they even have a zip line portion she did!
Ella trying an obstacle with help.
Josie going at it and having fun!
After the ropes course it was arcade time. The girls used their own money. They had recieved some birthday money and it was burning a whole in their pocket.
And of course, Eli got in on the arcade action as well. He LOVED it!
We had a fireplace in our lodge and even though it was June, we still had one and roasted marshmellows in it for s'mores.
We also went to the Top of the Rock which was a restaruant at the highest part of the lake. In the background here can you can see another beautiful chapel. We ate lunch and then went to check out the sites.
Outside the chapel
A candid shot of Joey and I inside the chapel taken by Ella. This might be my new favorite picture..
The view is so pretty. These pictures don't do it justice.
While we were at the top of the rock, there was a museum that Joey wanted to go to. I will spare you the 500 pictures Josie took. It was mostly about native americans but did get into the wild wild west a little. Here is one picture from there. The kids lost interest in this fast.
On the way back down we took in some different views.
Back at our lodge we had several views as well. They waterfalls throughout. There was also a 5k track they had marked out and I did walk that a few times and I must say the views were amazing. I could really get used to excercising with the waterfalls
Before we left and were packing Josie wanted to have fancy dinner night. That meant wearing a dress and putting makeup on. They were sick of pictures by this time so this is the only picture I got that night, but it was soo cute watching the girls put their make-up and getting ready for dinner! This was maybe the 5th time I have put makeup on since march 10th! lol!
More pool time!
We did go to a waterpark a day and this is what they required....a mask to our seats. It did not make any sense. So the rest of time in the water we had no masks.
The sunsets were so AMAZING! We had them at our cabin every evening but were able to get this GREAT picture closer to the water! I love it!
We also went canoing and peddle boating. Its official, I don't like peddleboating. The kids enjoyed it
We also went putt-putting. Guess, just guess how much fun this was!! Lol! Thank goodness they only had 9 holes.
And we were able to hit the lazy river a few times. I relaxed and didn't really move to much from my position in the river and the kids were kids and were not taking the lead of relaxing. They swam around and there was also a slide so they were there a lot.
That was family vacation! It was fun and perfect for Ella and even corona virus. It was the right amount time and the weather was great. The kids had fun and Joey and I got to reconnect in the evenings after the kids went to bed. We will definitely be doing another family vacation sooner rather than later!
