chaos central: Branson, Missouri

Saturday, Dec 28:

In Arkansas on the drive up.

The lighthouse at our resort, Stormy Point.

Jacob wasted no time in finding a comfy chair.

Brandon wasted no time setting up the Xbox.

His favorite part of the condo was the lookout window from his room in the loft to the living room.

Sunday, Dec 29:

The covered bridge at the resort.

Jacob headed to the pool and swam around a little.

Fooled ya! There was a hot beverage bar in the lobby of the rec center and I enjoyed a hot chocolate with a couple pumps of vanilla creamer while Rick and Jacob did laps around the pool.

Our little Cape Cod condo.

Jacob enjoyed hanging out on the landing.

Brandon spent a little time perfecting his candy stacking technique.

I walked in on this a few times.

Monday, Dec 30:

I don't even want to admit how many Krispie Kremes I ate this week, but it was worth every pound I regained.

Love that Rick always works in a trip to a local scrapbooking store for me.

Lunch at Logan's Roadhouse. Very tasty.

As we were preparing to exit to fill gas, Jacob saw the Books A Million marquee and we had to stop. He was a little disappointed that it wasn't the same as his beloved Borders and left empty handed. Brandon however picked out several classics, which made him pretty excited.

And this pretty much sums him up ;)

Tuesday, December 31:

Jacob started waking up around 2-3 am (and did so for the rest of the week) so the morning was spent taking naps. In the late afternoon, Brandon and I went to the Butterfly Pavilion.

They liked Brandon.

There was also a bungee cord room to simulate making your way through a banyan forest. This photo was taken just before Brandon decided to show off by leaning into the bungees...and falling on his face.

After a couple trips through mirror maze, we headed to the critter room. Brandon was supposed to use the microscope to check out skin samples, instead he decided to study his fingerprints.

This little guy came right out and started posing for me. A

A Chinese Water Dragon is Brandon's most wished for pet.

Brandon decided this was a much more fun way to dissect a frog than what he had to do in Biology class.

After the Butterfly Pavilion, we decided to have an early dinner at Steak and Shake. Jacob opened up the menu and knew exactly what kind of shake he wanted.

Turtle shake for Brandon, double chocolate brownie for Brandon, chocolate covered cherry for Heather and M&M for Jacob.

After dinner we drove through the Trail of Lights, a 2.5 mile trail of lighted and animated outdoor displays.

My favorite:

Out of this world holiday. I mean, how cute is that martian reindeer?

Jacob's favorite:

Rick's favorite:

The tickets also included entry to the observation tower, which made Jacob very happy.

Wednesday, Jan 1

This day was filled with a great big nothing and Rick was thrilled. We took turns taking naps and watching Jacob in the giant bathtub, and watched movies.

Thursday, Jan 2

We woke up to this: