Our first Family of 4 vacation!

This past week we went on our first ever family vacation with all 4 of us to Branson, Missouri! We had gone to Sea World with Alyssa when I was pregnant with Aubrey, but this was our first official one with all of us! I know what you may be thinking....why Branson? It's just all old people. Well, we don't mind old people and learned on this trip that we LOVE hanging out where old people hang! They are always friendly and fun, and so easy to talk to, and never wake us up in the middle of the night playing loud music and cussing in front of our kiddos. And my girls loved the attention they got from all of them. Alyssa didn't meet a stranger the whole trip. She talked up a storm to every cute elderly couple that would lend her their ear. We left our house at about 6:30 Saturday night and decided we would drive half way to make it easier on the girls. We drove for about 3 and-a-half hours and stopped at a little Comfort Inn and got our Postal Workers discount and stayed the night there. Woke up at about 7:30 and had some complimentary pastries and went on our way. We got about 15 miles up the road when I realized that Aaron has left his cell phone and we had to drive back :) That was fun :)
Ok so we had the cell phone and coffee and nothing but the car and the wind to take us onward! We had no agenda, no plan, we were just going to do whatever we felt like that day.
It took us about another 4 hours to get there. We arrived at our lake-side condo...The Village at Indian Point, and was pleasantly surprised. It was nestled in the woods surrounded by trees, right on Lake TableRock. Our condo was very nice...had a balcony that overlooked the lake, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, kitchen, and washer and drier. It was basically a rustic outdoorsy apartment!
While we were there we went to Silver Dollar City, twice, went fishing, pretended we were Goonies in a cave and went exploring, went shopping, went to see the Warnock sisters in their show, went to a 2 mile Christmas light display, visited Santa, went to Bass pro shops, visited Big Cedar lodge and went to the horse stables, took the girls to an indoor game center, watched movies, ate lots of good food, went spotlighting for deer, and just enjoyed the outdoors and enjoyed our time together. We lauged a lot and really just enjoyed not having an agenda everyday. It was very laid-back and pleasant. A vacation for us together was so overdue and much needed. I feel like we reconnected as a family. It was wonderful! Next time we will be staying at the Big Cedar Lodge, which was breathtakingly beautiful, and an outdoorsman's dream. There were deer everywhere. Our last night there, we wanted to do something fun for the the girls, so we bundled up and went out spotlighting for deer. We found 9 deer in 20 minutes! They got a kick out of that! On the way home, we stopped and ate at Braums. The girls did an amazing job! Aaron and I were both very impressed with them. Not one time on the 8 hour trip home or up there, did they complain or whine. The DVD player in our pathfinder helped with that! If you don't have one of those, it is worth the investment for long roadtrips with your kiddos! Today Aaron had to go back to work and I miss him so much! I got use to him being there 24/7 with us and it was nice!
Words cannot describe how very blessed I feel to have the husband that I have and the kids that I have! I love them with all my heart and am so grateful to God for them. They are so precious to me. I hope I never take them for granted!