Vacation: Days 1-3

So last week we went on our very first Q family of 4 vacation. It was well needed. Overall I would give this vacation a B. Had Reese not been involved, it would have been an A ++++++, however the one year old in her reared her ugly head and she did her best to ruin our fun. Thankfully we still managed to have a great time and are already planning our next return trip for next year (when Reese will be 2 and hopefully no longer a fun-hater).

This was Dono on the drive down (see below picture, he was watching "Up"). We left on a Thursday right before Reese's first nap was due. She was out in 10 min and slept for 45 minutes. Both kids were really good in the car and we luckily didn't hit any traffic or problems. We used both the Ipad and the personal movie player and they both stayed happy. Half way to Branson we stopped at a McDonald's and met up with our friends Kris, Lynn and Penelope for lunch. They are our good friends who we stayed and enjoyed the week with. They are probably scarred after their time with Reese, but what are friends for, right?

We stayed in this great condo, with great location and very nice amenities. There was several pools in the complex, but we never got past the one that was super close to our house. The kids were all supposed to share a room but night number 1 started rough since all three of the kids refused any further naps on the ride into town after McDonald's. Penny ended up in her parents room which is where she stayed the rest of the week, and Dono spent one whopping night in the kids bedroom before we made the mistake of letting him nap with us on Friday, which was the only place he would sleep from that moment on. So Reesie poo had the loft all to herself. The kids did really well together in general. Penny and Donovan are officially dating at this point I think. Reese was trying to keep up though. Here is how we did every bath during vacation.

Dono and Penelope eating thier Ice popsicles. Thursday we settled in to the condo, sent the older boys for some food, and swam at the pool. I think the only day we did not swim in the pool was Saturday. It was awesome!

Friday we tried to get up early, however Reese was up screaming from 2am to 2:45, at which point I fed her and then she didn't sleep til 3:15 so we slept in a little. We got to Silver Dollar City right at 9:30, which was later than we wanted to. There was traffic, we had to wait in line for the tram, and then by the time we got in the park it was closer to 10. And it was hot! But we did the dang thing!  We started with the flooded Mine ride. A ride we could all go on regardless of age or height. The kids thought it was weird, but they obliged us. Then we were off to the kids rides! Dono talked big about the roller coasters and to our surprise was not hesitant at all to try it out! He hit the kids one right away with Tom and loved it! This was Reese watching her brother on the roller coaster. She loved watching the rides and would have loved to have been able to go on them all. Darn that height limit!

This is Dono and Daddy on the flooded Mine ride. He was pretty straight faced after the ride started so this may have been the last smile we saw.

After we watched Dono's roller coaster ride, we all went to the two kiddie rides that both Reese and Penelope could go on. All three kids loved both of the rides. There was a frog one and a bug one. I think we rode both at least 3 times before the parents protested and determined we needed to find a water ride and cool down. Reese was a bear. She screamed bloody murder and tried to run away or get out of her seat until the ride started. Then she loved it. Smiled and squealed. When the ride was over, immediate screaming. Lovely. Then Dono lost it one time for an entire ride and caused a scene. I guess we have all been there once.

The seating in the back of the bugs ride left a little to be desired for the parents. I could barely fit. I have no idea how taller or bigger people did it.

We ended up staying until about 2 that day. We rode the steam train, which Donovan was very excited about ahead of time. We also did this water ride we could all go on and we all hated every minute. The kids literally cried. The parents laughed and cursed ourselves for thinking it was a good idea but it did feel good after all was said and done. We left to try to get kids down for naps, and of course Reese took a 15 min power nap on the ride home and refused to go back down. That night we did more swimming and hung out to save our strength for Saturday, which was going to be White Water.

Saturday we woke up much happier than Friday morning, and the kids had a picnic on our screened in porch for breakfast. So cute.

Of course the day we were going to do the water park was the one day it rained and was cool. So we postponed those plans. Instead we did Outlet mall shopping in the morning, followed by lunch, naps and the trout hatchery. The trout hatchery is something I have very fond memories of from my childhood. I hoped that the kids would enjoy it as much as I did. Reese loved it, but not for the trout. She LOVED the rattle snake. Seriously. Would have stayed there for an hour if we let her. And after we took her out to the trout, I realized we should have just let her stay with the snake after all. But she was in people's way and Tom felt bad for them. Next time, I hope he thinks better and feels sorry for us. Here the kids are in front of Reese's best friend.

"Look at that dad!!!!"

"I  SAID, LOOK AT THAT! ISN'T IT AWESOME!"

Donovan really liked feeding the fish. Reese did too but she also wanted to swim with them and did not understand why we would not let her. She is suicide watch and a half.

What Reese looked like the majority of our vacation. She was a mama's girl so that was extra frustrating for all of us.

Reese trying her best to go swimming with the trout.

I wish you could see her face better. She was yelling at me for preventing her from getting in the tank the whole time.

A familiar site. She would lay down on the ground and throw a fit. Several times during the vacation I would just walk away from her and Donovan panicked!!!!! He thought I was really going to leave her for good. He would fly over to her and with a look of sheer panic, would say "No Reese!" as he yanked her up to drag her back to us. God bless him and his love for his sister. Does it reflect poorly on me though that he really thought I was going to leave her? He must have had more insight in to just how serious the situation was then I did.

Kids running near the trout tanks. One of the rare times Reese was happy.

Just sprinting.