Our First Family Vacation

The kids are playing outside in their new mudboots. Lunch is cooking in the oven. Life is good.

I have had little time to update my blog lately. I am trying really hard to stay on top of Mary Alice's schoolwork, manage my chores and my responsibilities around the house, and still have enough time for quality one on one time with the kids. It is difficult to do. It is a constant balancing act. Sometimes I think I have too many goals. I find it hard to meet them all. In addition to those goals already mentioned, there is also my personal relationship with God and my ministry to those who are outside of our little world to think about. I find it difficult to do everything well. When I get better at one thing, another thing slips up. I find myself increasingly reliant on God to help me through each day cheerfully and without being discouraged at my failures. I often am encouraged by one of my favorite verses. Posted on the windowsill above my kitchen sink is this verse:

Let us not grow weary of doing what is good. Let us not get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Galatians 6:9

Even though some of the tasks that I do are mundane and often thankless, God helps me to find joy in them (most of them anyway). :) Sometimes I catch a glimpse of rewards from the little things that I try to do, but often I have to realize that some of these rewards will come later. This verse helps me do that.

Sometimes I have to choose. What am I going to do today with the time I've been given with my kids? I needed to go to the grocery store today, but Mary Alice and Major have been asking for me to play outside with them for several days. Each day, I have some sort of excuse. They are good excuses (laundry, dishes, etc.), but today I am not making an excuse. I am choosing to embrace the precious time with my little ones. My grocery list can wait.


Here are some pictures from our first family vacation ever. Last week, Josh and I took the kids on a trip to Branson, Missouri. (Melanie, I thought of you. How far away were we from your home town?) There are alot of things that we didn't capture on film. Sometimes, it was too inconvenient to haul our camera around. I will try to recap the highlights with a brief list. Lunch will be ready soon. :)

1) First, we travelled through Searcy, Arkansas and took my sisters out to dinner. It was fun to catch up with them. My sis, Hannah, is quite the adventurous freshman at Harding University. She has participated from everything from cliff diving to fighting childhood cancer. She is CRAZY busy, but seems to be having tons of fun. I am so glad. My other sister, Tessa, is super busy with nursing school. I have to brag on her just a bit. She is doing quite well so far. I am very proud of her.While there, we stayed on campus at the Heritage Inn. The kids spent the whole morning saying things like "How BEAUTIFUL!" about the hotel room. They obviously haven't travelled much. It was so much fun for Josh and me to get to see their enthusiasm and excitement over the tiniest of things.


Here they are, peeking out of the window of Heritage Inn. Too funny!

2) While in Arkansas, I got to meet a blog buddy. I met Kim from Lifesong. We met at a local coffee house. Mary Alice enjoyed playing with her sweet daughter, Evie. I had SO much fun visiting with Kim. I told Josh that I could have talked with her all day long. Meeting her was definitely a highlight of our vacation.

3) When we neared Branson, we stopped and saw our good friends, Beau and Joni Bennett and their A-DORABLE little boy, Grant. It was so much fun catching up with them. This was totally unplanned and a huge blessing to get to visit with them.

4)On Saturday evening, we entered Branson, Missouri. Immediately, the kids were impressed with the "beautiful" and "amazing" surroundings. Branson is filled with lots and lots of flashing lights (Las Vegas style). We entered after dark, so the kids were in awe of everything. It was precious!

5) On Sunday, after having our own worship service in our hotel room, we took the kids to play mini-golf at a local place. They LOVED it. Then...we went on to the IMAX to watch a show about ocean life. We took the kids swimming that evening at the hotel.


Here are the kids right before playing mini-golf at Pirate's Cove in Branson.



Mary Alice right after a game of mini-golf... The weather was PERFECT.

6)On Monday, we went down to Branson Landing, which is a really neat shopping area. We didn't shop much, but just walked around and enjoyed the scenery. Monday was kind of a day to chill out and relax. (We were really just biding our time until Silver Dollar City opened on Wednesday.) That evening, we watched a really neat Chinese acrobat show. The kids were WAY impressed. Josh and I were too. It was fascinating how agile and flexible these people were. Throughout the show, I got to hear Major and Mary Alice say things like, "How did he do that?" and "Did he mean to do that?" and, my personal favorite, "A-MAZING!!" I am sorry to say that we did not get any pics of the Chinese acrobats. That was a really fun part of our trip. What I really wanted was to talk to the acrobats. They didn't speak English, but I would have loved to have heard their stories, what brought them here, etc. I wondered if they were Christians. Many of them were so young. It must have been hard for their parents to send them to live so far away. I was just really curious about their lives and backgrounds.


The kids and me at Branson Landing

7) On Tuesday morning, Josh surprised the kids with a train ride on a real train. It was a really fun experience. The conductor punched the kids' tickets. I think the kids' favorite part was riding through the tunnels and looking for the "tunnel monkeys".


The Maje in his trainman hat



Looking out of the window at the beautiful view... I think the view of the two of them is even better :)

8) Tuesday Night- Perhaps one of the most extraordinary things that we saw on our trip was the Noah Musical. It was awesome! The theatre and production was like nothing any of us had ever seen before. I REALLY wish we had gotten pictures of this amazing place. It was a beautiful theatre and a beautiful interpretation of the story of God's provision for Noah and his family. The theatre surrounded you on all sides. It was as if you were inside the actual ark. The theatre group used many live animals and animated ones for those that they could not use on stage (lions, elephants, etc.) Our whole family thoroughly enjoyed this amazing experience. I REALLY wished that we had gotten pictures of this place. It prompted much family discussion. If you go to Branson any time in the near future, this is a MUST SEE!!!


9)And now.... What the kids had been waiting for all week.... Silver Dollar City!!! On Wednesday morning Josh and I took the kids to Silver Dollar City. This was a great time of the year to go. There were tons of people there, but most were in the over 60 crowd. Many of those people were there to see all of the shows that Silver Dollar City had to offer. Josh and the kids had no wait time on all of the roller coasters. The kids had never been on a roller coaster before. I was so impressed with their bravery. They ATE IT UP!!! They wanted to ride and ride and ride, which is exactly what they were able to do. We encountered very few other children during our visit, except for one large ridiculously out of control group of preteens on a field trip. It was wonderful. The weather was great. The people were great.


Our first day at Silver Dollar City....just as we walked into the park...



The lye soap lady...They have all of the old fashioned craftsmen at Silver Dollar City. It is very interesting. Mary Alice remarked once that she wished she'd worn her bonnet. :)




Here are the kids right before their first roller coaster ride. I have fond memories of riding "Fire In The Hole" as a child. I had pumped up this ride to them all week. Oddly enough, it was the only one that they didn't enjoy. :( They didn't like the fact that it was in the dark and they couldn't tell what was coming next.


Josh and the kids right after "The Great American Plunge"... This one was a little bit blurry, but I loved their faces in it. Josh was a sport and rode all of the water rides with the kids...twice. He and Mary Alice got soaked! I spent a half an hour in the bathroom squeezing all of the excess water out of their clothes. Nightmare!!! Major didn't get wet. He wanted to ride again. Josh and Mary Alice said, "No way!" I was just thankful to be sitting out for these rides.



Mary Alice and Major on one of the kiddie roller coasters... Notice that their hands are up in the air. :)


The kids watching a taffy maker... They were happy to sample some of the free peanut butter taffy. :)



Here are the kids particpating in an old fashioned school lecture. Major kept shouting out questions without raising his hand. "What is a bomb?" I found myself wondering if he was this annoying in his Bible class. The kids used real slates (made out of slate) for their lesson on the American flag. Mary Alice carefully followed the directions of the school teacher. Major drew a picture of Super Major on his slate.




Here are the kids eating a funnel cake...I think they enjoyed it, don't you?











Major squats on the ground and listens to an old fashioned Bluegrass band. He really enjoyed it, but was definitely ready to ride more roller coasters when it was over!





My sweet girl sat in my lap and listened intently to all of the instruments...


The end of our two days at Silver Dollar City...We had a fabulous time!

10) I forgot to mention that after one of our days at Silver Dollar City we met Beau, Joni, and Grant at Branson Landing for dinner. We expect a call from them when they come through our area in a few weeks!!! :)

All of the shows/entertainment were fun and a great treat. You know what I enjoyed the most, though?

-Hearing the kids giggle each night for what seemed like FOREVER because they were having so much fun together... Almost every night we had to say, "Quiet! No more laughing. It is time to go to sleep." (By the way, we were saying this while holding back laughter of our own.)

-The kids getting to spend so much time with their daddy. I was a distant memory on this trip. It was always, "Can I sit by Daddy?" I usually walked a couple of steps behind Josh and the kids. I enjoyed the view of my two special kids holding the hands of their dad.

-Watching the kids do so many things that they don't get to do very often

-Listening to Josh read the Bible with the kids each morning as I put on my make-up. (At night we were WAY too tired!!)

-Hearing Major call out "Hey sis!"

-Hearing Mary Alice explain how/why things worked the way they do (even if sometimes it wasn't quite accurate)

-Naps at 3:00 in the afternoon so that we would feel energized enough to enjoy the late night life in Branson

-Having a husband that catered to my every dining whim (I seemed extra starving on this trip. Josh was sweet to try to accomodate the needs of my palate.)

-Taco Bell almost every night of the week (It was a good way to save money.) We usually had a fantabulous lunch and a smaller dinner.

We were so blessed to be able to take our first family vacation together. I hope it is the first of many!! I have to go finish school with the girl. Hope you enjoyed the recap!