Branson

We took off first thing Monday morning, picked up Grandma Trone and headed out.  First stop was Mansfield, Mo for the Laura Ingalls Wilder home Museum & Tour.  It was really neat to see, but the tour guide was a tad too windy for our liking.  What should have taken about 30 minutes she stretched into an hour with her slow speach and rambling about stupid comments nobody on the tour cared about.  She thought she was funny, but was not.  The home was facinating and so tiny.  It was really neat to see.   We just could have done without the dragging dry humor of the tour guide. 

Next stop, Branson.  We went to Branson for Kruger.  Bill had meetings and trainings there.  The company paid for our trip.  It was an awesome hotel, the Radisson.  It had everything you could want, indoor/outdoor pool, weight room, fitness room, spa, sauna, hot tub, business center, lots of restaurants and the people were all super super nice.  We could have had a ball just staying at the hotel!  When we checked in we first went downstairs for cocktail hour with the fellow company members and their families.  We then had a nice supper.  They served BBQ chicken, BBQ Ribs, and Grilled Salmon.  They had different taters, different veggies, salad, and lots of desserts to choose from.  It was an awesome meal. 

After dinner we visited with the Potters, whom we met on the cruise last Feb.  They are awesome people.  We had lots of fun with them.  Bill and Grandma were tired, so was Brody.  We took them back to the room to sleep.  Cole wanted to swim, but the pool was closed because of severe storms, so we decided to head out up the road to the Hollywood Wax Museum.  It was a perfect little date just the two of us.

Cole had a ball there with all the different people to see and goof around with.  He enjoyed taking lots of silly pictures and seeing who was around the next bend!

The Castle of Chaos was another story.  He was a bit spooked out there and said he'd have felt safer if Daddy was there!  Guess I just don't have what it takes to keep him safe? 

He loved the mirror maze. That he went through three times.  Overall our first day was a success.  By midnight we were all tucked in tight in our sleep number beds and sawing logs!

Tuesday morning started out with a huge breakfast buffet with Kruger.  We had french toast, southern scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, donuts, fruit, toast, pastries, coffee, juice, milk, cereal too.  The boys were in heaven!  We got our bellies full and headed out for the day, Bill had a day of meetings till 2:30 so Grandma and I had some time to take the  boys out for some fun. 

First stop the Titanic Museum.  The boys loved it.  They gave you these hand held remotes with a speaker piece on the end of them to put up to your ear.  When you walk through the museum you will see numbers, type in the number you see, press the play button and hear a short description of the items you are seeing in the cases and hear some neat little facts and tid bits about the boat.  We got Brody a player too, so he enjoyed listening to the stories along with the rest of us.  When you boarded the ship you also got a boarding pass with a real ship member on it.  Crew or passenger.  Grandma and I were first class ladies, Cole was an 19 year old kitchen crew worker.  The object was to walk along the museum, try to find out clues to your "person"  we got to see Coles guy... he was in some photos.  At the very end you go to the memorial wall that has each and every 2,000+ person listed in alphabetical order, if your person was underlined you lived, if not, your person perished with the ship.  Grandma and I both being first class women, lived, but poor Cole his guy died.  He really enjoyed finding out that part.  They also had a part where you stuck your hand into 28 degree water to see how long you can stand it.  Cole lasted 43 seconds.  There was an ice burg wall that you touch too, to feel what the ice berg wall felt like.  There was the grand staircase, you could send out an SOS.  There was also a place to steer the ship and a room that was ice cold just like the out door of the ship was the night it sank.  It was well worth the money we spent going there and I'd pay to go back and see more that I'm sure we missed.  We spent over 2 hours there!  It was so fascinating. 

We still had some time to kill after the Titanic and decided to check out what the hype was all about the Butterfly Palace.  It was beautiful from the outside, but much much more amazing inside.  Brody made friends with a turtle right off the bat!

Cole really was mesmerized by all the butterflies everywhere & he even made a new friend that loved up on him for over a half hour he walked around with him!

Cole loved the millions of butterflies, we all did, but he made a little friend whom he carried around all day!

After all the butterfly excitement we were all STARVED.  We hit up the Olive Garden.  Grandma's favorite place to go eat soup, salad, & breadsticks!  Cole & I had spaghetti & salad and Brody had pizza or te-ta as he now calls it!  We got our carb overload and headed back to the hotel in a carb induced coma!  We were sleepy.  We all laid down for some quiet nap time.  I think we all dozed over an hour before Bill finally got out of his meetings and came in ready to hit the town again.  Grandma was beat so she stayed back at the hotel to rest up and Bill & I took the boys out to get our family photos taken.

Both the boys just giggled and giggled over playing dress up in the western costumes!  It was soooo cute and funny for us all. 

We got back into normal times and headed to Ripleys Museum.  Bill loved this place.  He's into all the fun weird facts like that.  He really enjoyed it a lot.  The boys had fun seeing new sights and Cole loved playing with the inventions. 

We got back to the hotel just in time to have a cocktail or two and get set to Ride the Ducks!  We all had a ball doing that!  Grandma isn't too fond of water, just like Bill, but they both had fun with our whacky tour guide.  He was singing and dancing and having a ball!!!  Brody was pooped out, so half way through he zonked out and slept till we got to the Dixie Stampede.  He was a tired feller. 
Not us though, we were having a quacky good time!

The Duck Tour took us straight to the Dixie stampede.  The whole event was fabulous.  Right down to Grandma totally mind baffled that you don't get any silverware.  You eat your entire 20 course meal with no utensils.  She had a ball!  No cameras allowed there, so no pictures darn it!  We each had a whole rotisserie chicken, soup, biscuit, pork loin, corn on the cob, seasoned tater, and a dessert like strudel.  Try eating all that with no forks.  The boys just dug right in and had a ball!  Brody stuck his whole fist into the soup trying to copy Bill and Cole dipping their biscuit!  It was all awesome,  but after eating Brody was ready for bed.  So were we all!  Long busy but fun day.

Wednesday morning I went to a meeting with Bill first thing, then went and got everyone for Breakfast.  Then we all went swimming before the long trip home.  After Bill got out of his meetings we all ate a farewell lunch with Kruger and loaded up and headed out for home.  The first half of the trip went fast, Grandma, Brody and  Cole slept.  The second half drug on.  We left Branson at 1 or shortly after and after stopping to eat in Hannibal at Cassinos Pizza & Subs got home at 8.  What a fun filled few days, but I think it was worth it!  I think everyone else agrees.