vacation photos

Here are some pictures of our Branson vacation. We packed a whole week's worth of fun into 2 days. We didn't tell the kids where we were going or what we were doing, so everything was a big surprise to them. So all weekend we just telling them we were headed to the next surprise, and then they were excited to see what the next adventure was! We visited a beautiful cave called "talking rocks". It was so much fun to see the wonders of nature. We descended down a hundred feet and explored the nooks and crannies of these formations. Amazing! We visited the fish hatchery, which was very interesting, and then spent several hours playing in an indoor water park that was inside our hotel. There was a giant tree house with water slides and splash/spray toys, a lazy river, several bubbly hot tubs, a basketball pool, a great toddler area, etc. The kids loved it. We visited the Hollywood wax museum and took some fun pictures, and then the best part was a magic show. We sat in the front row and were thoroughly amazed at the illusions. It was incredible. We walked away saying, "How did they do that?" Sam was even called out of the audience to help with one of the tricks. On the way home, we stopped at the Wilson Creek civil war battlefield, and saw a house that is original to that period that served as a hospital during the battle, as well as the actual bed in which one of the union generals died. Amazing that these things get preserved! Then, we made one final stop...a pilgrimage to the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder where she wrote her Little House on the Prairie books. Wonderful! They had the actual school slates that she and Mary used, her sampler stitches, Pa's fiddle, Almanzo's watch, the clock he gave her for Christmas when they were first married, an original manuscript, letters Laura had written, lots of photos, etc. I loved it. We're so glad we took took the time to have some fun family time before the move gets really crazy. Trevor is leaving this Friday!