Labor Day in Branson

We just had a wonderful Labor day weekend in Branson with the Drake cousins and Nanny and Papa. It made me really miss summer though. I am not ready to be back in school. 

Because Chris couldn't miss church, we didn't leave until after church on Sunday to drive up to Branson.

We stayed with Nanny and Papa at their Marriott condo and it was so fun. 
I have so many fun memories of staying here over the years and the kids always get so excited when we stay here. 

We immediately hit the pool on Monday. 
This particular Marriott resort has the best pool. 

The kids practiced with their snorkel masks again. We are trying to make sure we are comfortable with them before our cruise in November. 

I cannot wait until we snorkel together in Mexico. Watching the kids swim around in their masks made me so excited.

We swam for hours and just loved being together with the cousins. 

These kids are just the best!

I also always enjoy watching my kids with their aunts and uncles and I was cracking up watching Uncle Joseph and Benson playing. Benson was pretending to eat Uncle Joseph and they were both laughing so hard. 

Eventually we had to come inside for lunch. So we did that and then it was back out to the pool again. 

Then we came inside and made dinner and ate. 

After dinner we went out to the firepit and made s'mores

This had me feeling all nostalgic because I kept thinking about when we stayed at Nanny and Papa's condo when I was pregnant with Bailey and we all went to roast smores together. It felt like so long ago. We only had two grandkids then and Clark was little, not even a year old yet. 
I had to go searching for the pic I knew I had of Papa and Tanner eating their s'mores together. 

Then we had to try to recreate it. It's pretty precious!

These pics were taken about 12 years apart. 

We all enjoyed our s'mores and then we played some yard games and enjoyed the beautiful weather. 

Then it was back up to the room to change back into swimsuits so we could all go night swimming. 

That night my parents sent Chris and I to stay at another unit because there wasn't room at theirs, but we had the place to ourselves and it was a nice little getaway. 

The next morning we went back over to the Marriott location and naturally it was straight back to the pool for more fun. 

 

These cute boy cousins participated in the belly flop competition and Benson one for his age group and Danny won for his. 
Their reward was a free snow cone. 
Which then led to me buying the rest of the kids snow cones. 

Then a bit of a thunderstorm rolled through so we had to get out of the pool. The boys changed and went back outside to play ping pong under the awning once the storm had calmed down. 

Tanner and Dad went to play shuffleboard too. 

We had to head back home today because the kids have school on tomorrow, Tuesday. But before we left, we all went to the "Branson Coaster" and it was so fun. 

We did this same type of coaster in Pigeon Forge, TN on our spring break trip, so the kids were super excited to do it again. 

After the coaster we had to say our goodbyes and drive back home. 
But we had the best time. It was a short trip but it was so fun and we were grateful for the time with Nanny and Papa and the Drakes. 
Happy Labor Day!