Carter family vacation: round 3

All right - this was our third year that we had the annual Carter family vacation to Branson! Check out the first and second one - however, I obviously didn't do a very good post on the second one, but it was a pretty cute video :)

So in the midst of the crazy week of living at my parents house and watching all these dogs, we did end up leaving for work together on Thursday morning and dropped Mr. Toby off at the vet to stay there until we got back while Milly and Willy were getting to stay at my parents house. We left at 12:15PM from work, after Jimmy insisted on changing his pants in the parking garage at work because he just couldn't drive in his work pants. So weird. But it was funny, especially when I tried to convince him there were cameras everywhere in the parking garage.

On the way down, we made our typical stop at this place - so good! And I acted like a huge kid going in and sampling all of the yummy cheeses!! Because he remembered how delicious their pickled okra was, Jimmy was excited to stop this year, unlike years past

We got there just in time for me to head to WalMart to help my sister-in-laws with the shopping trip and it was a nice break from old Jimbo after being in the car for 3.5 hours :) I do love him, but sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder. After loading up on tons of groceries, we came home to enjoy some pizza and the first happy hour of the trip, which was a delicious martini that Tim and Shellie made! This was a new tradition this year where everyone signed up for a "happy hour" slot and made an appetizer and a fun drink for everyone to enjoy before the meal. It was a great idea and turned out to be so fun! Their fruity drink was delicious and included sugar on the rim of the cute glasses Shellie brought!

The next day, we were off to Silver Dollar City and we were lucky enough to ride with Libbie, Ben and Kenlie in the car there. In addition to the little photo shoot Kenlie did...we also got to see her get SO excited for a song on Radio Disney from a new TV show that I of course had never heard of called Lemonade Mouth...but I have been listening for it lately :) She was SOOOOO excited like pretty much jumping up and down in her car seat. It was so cute!

When we got there we met up with the rest of the group - including sweet Eli and Katy in their AWESOME stroller! It was so cool - I guess it's what Pat takes them in when he bikes, but worked perfectly there too!

Hmmm...Jimmy in tank tops. Seems to be a trend at Silver Dollar City. Last year, he wore a tank top but it was neon yellow.

So then the rides began. Last year, we ended our time at the park going on Thunderation over and over again and this year, we kicked things off that way. I was very happy to see that they got rid of the cart on the ride that you could go backwards on the roller coaster on because that made me pretty sick last time around. This time, we started off on the right foot and had a blast!

Then we headed to some rides that the smaller kids could go on and then went on the jail ride, where you shoot targets. It's good for everyone and a fun time :)

Ah strollers :)

Ok, so after we went on some more rides, it was lunch time. I apologize if for some reason a vegetarian or vegan or someone of the sort is reading this post. It's about to get graphic - graphic with pictures of turkey legs. And fun pictures with them.

So the story behind this is that for one of our surprise dates, Jimmy wanted to take me to the Renaissance Festival in Kansas City and when he mentioned that, the first thing that I said was "Oh my gosh and then we can get a turkey leg!". Well, he has never let me live that down. So when the place at SDC we went to eat lunch had that option, he was like "you have to get one". And in a weak moment (I was incredibly hungry, so maybe I wasn't thinking right), I ordered one. After like two bites, I thought I was going to puke, so why not take pictures of it. Oh AND engage your nieces and nephews in the pictures too. Haha, we are such a great aunt and uncle. However, they did seem to get into these pictures :)

This one had to be bigger - because not only does Norah look cute "eating the turkey leg" but check out Maren's face!!!! I love it!

Half of us headed back early for naps, while I had to great pleasure of working on my project for grad school that was due that Monday...but when everyone else got home, it was time for another happy hour. And YUM. Bobby and Hillary did not disappoint with their delicious lava flow drinks!!! They were so good - I think it was strawberry daiquiris and pina colada's mixed. Whatever it was, it was yummy!

Saturday - we were up and early for breakfast. Oh hey Kenlie.

We were off to the fish hatchery by the dam to see all the fish that my grandpa and I used to catch in the Roaring River way back in the day. It was HOT, but fun to see all the fish and kids feed them!

Will was pooped - too much fun for him!

This was what they picked up at WalMart. If you cannot tell, Bobby's was a size XL and Jimmy's was a Small.....hmmmm......

Just a cute picture of big sister Norah, attending to little brother Will.

I didn't include any pictures in the room where we watching the movie - but let me give you a synopsis of it. We went inside because it was too hot outside and there was a room with lots of animals in cages - like snakes, spiders, turtles. It kind of smelled, but the kids seemed to like it the adults got to sit down. Then the movie started. The kids wanted popcorn - haha. The "movie" was about the fish hatchery. It was interesting, but it also said lots of words like sperm, fertilization and eggs. Which made sense as they were talking about making lots of fish, but when a 4 year old asks you what sperm is.....aunt Brittany gets the awkward face and says "ask your parents"....needless to say, the most disgusting moment was seeing the huge container of fertilized fish eggs that were being harvested and having the guy stick his BARE hand in the huge barrel and stir it around. I thought I was going to puke. But I guess now I know how fish are made, right? Something I always wanted to know!! Haha. But it was fun and something different to see :)

Back at the condo - we ate dinner and Uncle Bobby dressed up baby Will. Um, he is So cute.

We went BACK to Silver Dollar City that night and it was the start of "midnight madness", which means they are open until 10PM. Yeah, that makes sense. But the good news was that meant specials on food. This picture is for me dad. I made Jimmy take it and I posted it even though I look disgusting because he LOVES funnel cakes ($4!) and rootbeer floats ($2!). So delicious. Fattening, yes, but also delicious!

While we were hanging out in the kid's area, Libbie and I got to hang out just the 2 of us and go on a few rides! Love this girl and cannot believe how fast she is growing up!

Now I'm losing track of my days. But at here is a picture of the "slide of death", as Trish called it. But really, it was. This caused lots of girls to get mad and boys to get hurt. The guys had a little bit too much fun all day and when you combine that with them taking kids down the slide and diving into a 5ft pool....yeah, not so good result. The funny/ironic thing was that I was sitting on the side watching and thinking "I feel like this is one of those moments where you are watching something really stupid happen and then next thing you know, your whole like changes...like what if Jimmy dove into that water and never came up or came up paralyzed?" Morbid, right? Well apparently I wasn't off by too much because literally 5 minutes later, Jimmy walks out of the pool (luckily he was walking and alive) with a HUGE goose egg on his head because he dove in the pool and hit his head. Then Pat got out 2 minutes after that with a HUGE gash on his head that was bleeding from the same thing. And that is when we went home. And that is the night that Jimmy got yelled at by his wife at the lake. Needless to say, I'm thinking and praying that he never makes a decision like that again. God forbid something happen to him....or any of the kids, cannot even imagine. So no more "slide of death".

However, the rest of the trip was so fun with a relaxing Sunday morning and then a Sunday afternoon spent on the lake in a boat and some tubing. It was great and fun to see the kids out there tubing and swimming away. I did wear my monokini. Yep, I got one. Have I blogged about my monokini and my discussion with my husband about that and tankinis in general? I will need to blog about that. It's funny. And stupid. But funny to us.

The best part of the weekend? As always, it was hanging out with these cute kids and spending some good quality time with the family. Talking about the kids, playing with the kids, swimming with the kids, and laughing with the kids. They really are some wonderful and pretty great kids. I love them! Here are some fun cousin pictures with Uncle Bobby!

And here we have it - the standard family picture by the pool entrance at the resort. From the first year?? There are 3 new little kiddos :) So fun and hope that it keeps growing!!

(Correction from Jimmy - there were not 3 new kids - just 1....Katy and Norah were born, but just little babies the first year. Apparently I cannot count!!!)

Don't you love summer??!!!