Branson Birthday Bash!

This year we decided to do a little something different to celebrate our family's fall birthdays. In lieu of presents and parties, we took the kids on a 3-day trip to Branson over Labor Day to visit the Grand Country Inn hotel, water park and resort. We squeezed a LOT of fun birthday family fun into three days: swimming, mini-golf, pizza, bumper cars, outlet mall shopping, Branson variety show, arcade, fudge and more! We found the great 3-day vacation resort package deal on groupon that had so many fun options included that we didn't even have time to get it all in! We could have seen another show and played another round of mini-golf... but these old parents were worn out from all the fun. :-) We had a total blast!

Here are my favorite moments from our trip:

On our second night, I put the littles to bed at their regular bedtime and Lucas took Max and Maggie to use their arcade cards and ride the bumper cars. Max had SO much fun that when he returned to the hotel room to get ready for bed, he whispered to me in all seriousness: "Mom, I'm afraid I'm getting a little spoiled." It was precious. 

One of the things we got to do in our package was see the Branson show Amazing Pets. Maggie was completely engrossed and delighted the entire time. I mean, with tiny poodles wearing leotards and tutus and dancing and spinning  on hind legs to the nutcracker, what's not to love?!

Xander is such a little water monkey. He LOVED the indoor and outdoor water park. When we were back in the hotel room, he would go find our water park entrance bracelets, take them to lucas and say, "Wa-wa", "Wa-wa" incessantly! He wanted to get back to that water!

Amelia did well on the trip in spite of her recently cranky ways. :-) we only had a couple times she got really upset, but the rest of the time she did great and put up with a lot of craziness for a 3-month old! My favorite moment was when she *immediately* fell fast asleep in my arms when I dipped her toes in the warm water of the hot tub. She LOVED that warm water!

We made some great family memories this weekend. So glad we came!