Branson Week with the Drake Family

We just finished a wonderful week in Branson with all the Drakes. It was so fun! 
We always have the best time when we are altogether and this week was no exception. 

We arrived on Sunday, June 6th. We all arrived at different times and spent most the day unpacking and getting settled. We shared two different condo units, each unit had three full living areas, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens. They were spacious and it was so nice!

On Monday we played around the condo, went swimming and played in the huge jacuzzi tubs. 

The kids had so much fun playing together. 

Monday evening we all went to a magic show. We saw "Rick Thomas the Illusionist" and it was pretty great. Aunt Michelle's Dad ended up knowing Rick Thomas and was able to get us discounted tickets. 
I love this picture of Uncle David and Tanner. It's almost like Tanner has reached the embarrassed teenager stage and it's cracking me up. 

We did get a picture as a family upon entering the "mansion of dreams". 

During the show there was an intermission and the assistants brought out their show dogs. Some of the kids wanted to go up to see them, so we did that and got a picture too. 

We did get a picture of all of us with the magician himself. 
The kids loved the show so much. Their faces were in constant awe and it was fantastic. 

    

After the show, Nanny and Papa bought all the kids little tigers. Rick Thomas use to have tigers in his show, but he recently sent them all to an animal sanctuary that he sponsors. He spoke so fondly of his tigers and the kids really wanted tigers of their own so they were thrilled when Nanny and Papa got them each a tiger of their own. The kids loved their tigers so much. 

On Tuesday, we spent the day at "Fritz's". "Fritz's" is an indoor adventure park. It has ziplining, rock climbing. ropes courses, slides and tunnels. There was so much to do and we had so much fun. 

The ropes course was a huge hit with my three older kids. I went on it more than ones and even Chris completed it. 

Benson really loved the tunnels and the slides. He had a great time climbing around and exploring. 
He never wanted to try the ropes course for little kids. He had zero interest in that, but he loved climbing and sliding. 

Julieta, Laura, Chris and I did the ziplining course with Tanner. I couldn't believe how brave Tanner was. This ropes course was legit. I was a little scared. We spent about 30 minutes doing a safety course and learning how to operate the ziplines and harnesses. 

It's hard to tell from the pictures but this ziplining course was really high. I was totally nervous the whole time but Tanner did so great. I went ahead of him and Chris was behind him. He was a rockstar. 

Weirdly, the thing that made me most nervous was the jump to the ground from the final platform. I knew my ropes would catch me, but I was still so nervous. Tanner was so brave and jumped right off. 

Tucker loved the ropes course but he also loved climbing the tunnels and playing on the slides. 

Bailey was so brave. She did great on the ropes course. I was so proud of her. After her and I completed the course, she went back to do it again and again. She was such a pro. 

We had such a great time. After playing until it closed, we went back to the condo for a delicious seafood dinner. It's tradition for us to eat crab legs during our week in Branson. We always look forward to this dinner. My kids love seafood so they thoroughly enjoyed this! 

 

On Wednesday we spent the day at the pool at the Marriott resort. We normally stay at the Marriott but we couldn't get rooms this time so we just went over to the pool to play. Our condo didn't have an outdoor pool.  So we were grateful to play at the Marriott. 

Benson loved wearing his goggles and playing with everyone. 

I love this picture of my parents. They had fun trying out the snorkeling masks.

Oh and all the girls got coordinating swimsuits to wear together. We are that cool!

I love that we were all totally happy to get swimsuits so we could all match. My sisters and Mom are the best. 

Tanner loved playing with his Uncle. 

And Benson loved playing with Aunt Michelle and Uncle Johnny. I love watching my kids interact with their Aunts and Uncles. It's the cutest. 

We literally played all day at the pool. It was awesome. 

It's also pretty dang cute to watch cousins playing together. 

 

Grant and I had bonded a lot during the week while his parents were in Hawaii, so our bond was able to continue during Branson week. I sure love this boy. 

After a full day of playing at the pool, we were exhausted and ready to head back to the condo. Aunt Michelle loves to cook so she made us all a delicious dinner and we had a wonderful evening at the condo. 

One of the best parts about being together are the nights, after kids fall asleep, and the adults can just stay up talking and laughing. We played games and watched "24" and just got to hang out. It was awesome. 

On Thursday we all went to "White Water". Well Nanny and Papa didn't come because it was their anniversary and they wanted to spend the day together. But the rest of us played the day away at the water park. 

We played non stop. We did water slides, the wave pool, the kid area and then more water slides. 

I was grateful to have Chris with us because he was able to take the older two kids and do the big slides, while I took the younger two to do the smaller stuff. It worked out perfect. 

We also spent a considerable amount of time on the lazy river. The kids loved floating in tubes and swimming the river together. 

I love this shot of all the cousins  surrounding Aunt Michelle. She's always a favorite. 

Benson really loved floating on his back down the river. He was so funny to watch. 

We all split into groups to ride the tube rides. It was so fun. I couldn't believe how brave Benson and Grant were. They had a great time!

I took these cuties in my tube and they were all so brave. 

Dad spent a lot of time in lines with the older two kids, he's such a great sport. 

But the kids' favorite spot to play was the wave pool. We spent a long time playing there. They loved it. 

It was a long day of sun and fun and the kids were exhausted afterwards. It was such a fun day. 

On Friday it was a relaxed day. We slept in, played around the condo. Eventually we went to have an "Old Fashioned" photo taken. This was a disaster of an experience. Benson was a total monster. He threw a massive fit and wouldn't get his costume on. It was awful. The workers were patient and we did get a couple of cute pics. But it was such an exhausting experience. 

That night we had a delicious steak dinner and hung out together until bedtime. 

Saturday morning we all went to Silver Dollar City. The entire Drake crew and we conquered the park. It was such a fun day. 

Again, Dad took Bailey and Tanner to ride the bigger stuff with some of the older kids. I took Benson and Tucker down to the "Grand Exposition" area to play with some of the younger cousins. 

Benson loved the jumping frogs. He had a great time on those. 

Eventually the big kids joined us to play too. 

Chris took some of the boys on the teacups and they spun around so fast. It was hilarious to watch. 

Nanny and Aunt Sarah took the girls and Grant in their tea cup. 

We made our way over to the carousel and "Flooded mine". These are always a favorite with our kids. 

I got to take a ton of cute boys on the "Flooded Mine" ride. I love all my cuties!

We also played at the splash pad and other rides at "Fireman's Landing". 

Benson loved riding the hot air balloons with his Uncle Johnny. 

 We did get a picture of the grandkids with the fireman dog, Spot and Nanny and Papa. I love this cute picture. 

Papa also bought all the kids cookies. This picture is sort of miraculous because Benson isn't typically one to share his sweets. I loved that he gave Papa a bite.  

And this ride is so fun to photograph because the kids' faces are so funny. 

These swings were not nearly as fun as the big ones on the other side of the park. But the kids still had fun. 

The cousins had  a great time playing together. 
Tanner spent a lot of time with Aunt Laura, Aunt Michelle and Uncle David. He's feeling quite grown up right now.  Because he wasn't with me for most of the day, I didn't get many pictures of him. But he had a great time riding all the big roller coasters with the grown ups. 

It was such a great/hot day at Silver Dollar City. We were so grateful for the time together and it was so fun. 

Sunday morning found us packing up and leaving our condo. It was a lot of work but we got it done and said our goodbyes. Everyone split up and went out separate ways. On our drive home we stopped for one more fun thing. We got ice cream cones at "Shortstop" in Garfield and ended our vacation in the best way.