Catch Up

Tarin Driving the Duck Boat

Walker seemed to know exactly what to do

Beautiful lake in Branson...

Duck calls ready!

All of us at the Branson 's Landing....waiting for the watershow...that never really happened.

The girls and I killed some time with the three barrell roller....they look ADORABLE.

Swimming with the Youngs

Walker's serious pout.....oh, I am so excited for a 3 year old...

Seriously folks, if you want an experience, go sit on Santa's lap in Arkansas. Real beards, and thick accents...."Did ya'll get yourself a build a bear coupon?"

Walker didn't quite know what to think...HILLARIOUS

Ella LOVES Hillbilly Santa

So, we haven't posted in a while, thought I would get you all up to speed. For Thanksgiving we spent a few days in Branson MO. It is only 86 miles from our house, but we went the round about way through Northeast Arkansas so Dan could work a few days before we left. The drive to Jonesboro is only about 200 miles, but took us approximately 5 hours because of all the twists and turns. I do believe that noone in Arkansas believes in building a straight road. Needless to say we made a few stops just to get a breather. It was LONG and very curvy. We had fun in Jonesboro, mostly swimming at the pool and hanging out at the mall. It brought back memories of when we lived in Mansfield and I would load up the girls in the car and head out on the road with Dan. He would drop us off at the nearest mall while he worked. I have become very successful at entertaining the kiddos at malls for varying amounts of time. I love going to little obscure towns and going to their malls. That is where I always seem to find the best deals. The mall in Jonesboro even had a Target in it....who can't kill a few hours there on a regular basis? Anywho, needless to say, it was fun. On Weds we drove over to Branson and that night Dan and the girls went with the Young's to Silver Dollar City. Walker was feeling a little under the weather, and it was pretty chilly so we opted to go brave Wal-Mart and get the fixin's for our Thanksgiving dinner.

Dan and the girls had a blast. Dan said it was like no Christmas lights display he had ever seen before. It put everything else to shame. The girls loved it too. They had lots of Christmas activities and shows along with the typical rides. I think we will definately make an effort to get there next fall. We also did a Duck Boat tour in Branson. The kids thought this was a TOTAL kick. You should have seen Walker's face when the truck drove right into the water and made a HUGE splash. Walker and Tarin each got a turn to drive the duck boat. Ella opted out. It was pretty cool. We took the kids to see the new Christmas Carol movie....BIG MISTAKE. It was really scary and we spent the next few hours really upset that we had gone. I kept waiting for it to get funny....after all, isn't Jim Carey in it? Anywho, it was a little traumatizing...especially in 3-D.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with the Young's in our condo. She made a bunch of stuff and I did the turkey and the gravy....it ended up being FABULOUS! We each just made the stuff we cared about having for left overs, and it was awesome. The following three days were filled with leftover turkey sandwiches and pie. Does it get any better than that? It was a nice, relaxing break. We played a lot of cards, went for walks/runs, shopped a little, ate lots of leftovers, and just enjoyed having some stress-free time together. A big shout out to ma and pa Welling for hooking us up with the condo. It was awesome. It was a cute little cabin-like condo. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a loft. The only think it lacked was a pool, but thanks to the Youngs we got to get a swim in at their condo before we left. It was GREAT!

We went to the old time photo place and got some fun Christmas card pics taken. I will post some of them at a later date. Walker LOVED it. He was totally hamming it up for the photographer. She was convinced that we needed to get the kid an agent and get him into some modeling. It was hillarious. Dress him up like a cowboy and give him a toy gun, and you get a pretty great show. Totally lived up to his Walker Texas Ranger name...

The only suggestion I would make before leaving Branson, is DO NOT go have a nice breakfast buffet and then leave town. Fully tummys and very windy curvey roads DO NOT MIX. Poor Ella was sitting in the back of the car and she got sick. It wasn't pleasant for ANY of us involved. Other than a pretty messy ending, it was a GREAT week!