Vacation Day One

So we left for vacation on Monday! I hadn't quite finished all our packing the night before and since Dan was still in the process of changing from his nightshift hours to the kids and my daytime hours we weren't planning on leaving very early in the morning. I got up, packed a bunch of the car stuff, played on the computer and got dressed for the day. A little later I decided I needed to go to the bank to make a deposit and I thought of just going by myself since it's frankly easier...while I was gone...Janea decided to wake up her dad! So Dan was up by 11:00 and getting ready. I think we had everything packed up and ready to go by 11:45...so away we went.
Our printer hasn't been working and so when I mapquested the directions I wrote them down...guess I wrote them down wrong or I misunderstood what I wrote because the way we went to get to Branson was the LONG way...we went on all these hills and ups and downs and crazy two lane roads in the middle of Missouri. Our 3 and a half to 4 hour trip took like 5 and a half hours! Janea and I both suffer from mild car sickness and we were both feeling it as we took some beautifully scenic but very winding roads. One wrong direction on the highway and we finally got on the road to Branson. All in all I have never been so happy to get somewhere! The whole ride as Jaron is getting annoying asking how much longer, Dan and I were grateful that we had nixed going to North Carolina. 20 hours one way in the car would have been madness! 3-4 is our limit right now!

We got to Branson and checked into our motel. We stayed away from the strip in a little motel on the same road as Silver Dollar City. It wasn't the fanciest hotel but it was clean, had a game room and pool and continental breakfast and met our needs. The nice thing was it was very quiet and peaceful with a nice view off the deck of gorgeous trees and hills. Just what this momma needed! I love the woods and the feeling of being near the woods. We took some fun shots of the family that day before heading out to get dinner...after dinner we just chilled and I took the kiddos swimming in the pool and we just hung out as a family! It was a good first day. Here are some of our pictures:

Janea and Mom take a picture together and Daddy jumps in!

Whole family caught in the mirror...one way to get a picture of all of us!

This is me and the kids with the beautiful hills behind us....we forgot to change to backlight so you can't really see us...but we are smiling!~

Janea relaxing on the deck outside our room at the hotel.

Jaron needed to be in a picture too!

Janea and Daddy at McFarlains restaurant...good food...good family time!

We ordered the Fried Green tomatoes and Sweet Potato Fries...the sauces were yummy and we enjoyed eating something we don't normally eat!