An Ozark Mountain Summer Weekend!

What, you may ask, is all that up there? (click it to enlarge it) It's Branson. Family vacation time! We had a great time, despite the heat. I wouldn't want to hear all about someone else's vacation, so I'll hit a few highlights.....

The picture of the pickup truck in the night, well that was part of a "Cruise" held once a year. Teenagers were driving up and down Hwy 76, jumping out to pour ice onto the road, thus enhancing the 'burnout' experience, while we on the side choked down their smoke. (truck photo above) Teenagers in the back of trucks sitting on lawnchairs. Teenagers with cars that jumped and lifted up and down as they drove. (The pic of Cody and Niki walking at night? That's when Niki's brother had had quite enough of the cat calls and whistles when his sister walked by...so after dinner, he walked next to her all the way back to the hotel. It worked!)

Yes we were the fortunate ones. We, unbeknownst to us ahead of time, were lucky enough to witness such a once-a-year event this past Saturday night.....beginning at midnight! (that'd be Niki, Alex and myself sitting on that rock up there at 12:30am on the highway....)

The event is actually held farther up the street for old muscle cars, the kind you see at car shows. Our end of the highway was for the kids (of course!). Visitors began lining the road with lawnchairs starting Friday, I kid you not. We walked up at midnight, we watched, we jumped away from the road many times, then walked back to the hotel. Passed a car made up of buttons, glass, beer bottles, you name it. There's a pic up there with Niki and Alex in front of it, check it out! Only in the Ozarks.

We managed to get the kids' picture in the coffin at SDC & in front of the big giant banjo at Grand Country Inn. Those are traditional portrait areas, cannot be missed! We watched fudge being made at the GCI, also a tradition.

We did the Silver Dollar City thing all day Sunday. Very hot, but much less crowded that day, thank goodness!! We got to Ripley's Believe It Or Not Sunday as well. While it was entertaining, I was disappointed. We paid (at a AAA discount no less) over $70 to get in. The most exciting thing we did was sit in the Passion Throne, put in our quarter and the chair determined our passion level. John's was 'asleep' and mine was 'braindead'. Stupid lying little chair. Take it back! Saw the worlds largest ball of string and a very large pair of overalls. (all documented above!)

Back from Silver Dollar City Sunday evening, John and I collapsed into bed and slept for a solid hour while the kids hit the pool. We woke up, showered and asked 'now what?'. By nine, we were packed, loaded, checked out. By ten, we were fed (bad mom, I know), had our Dunkin Donuts coffee, and hit the road. Drove through the night, arriving at home at about 1am. Stumbled in, slept until 11am! It was good to be home. Niki was the only veto--she enjoyed having a queen bed all to herself! (thus sad photo of her in hotel) We sprung for two rooms...think it worked out better that way. With teenagers, two beds and one bath just don't do the job anymore! Like it ever did? It's very very good to be home.

And....don't foget, tonight I pick the WINNER of my contest, that fantabulistic CD contest! I am sure a great many of y'all are riveted to your seats waiting to see who wins the CDs.

GiGi & Gidget Photo In The Coffin!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh my goodnesssss! We're back from Branson and I can't wait to tell you about my meeting IRL (cool blog talk for in real life) with my blog friend GiGi! She was at Silver Dollar City on the same day we were, so we decided to meet at 4:00 at the Fire In The Hole, then have dinner. Well.....almost made it. Sort of. We had a hotel mishap (I'm sure I'll tell you all about it this week, but this is all about GiGi tonight!).

We were a few hours off track. In fact, it was so dang fiery, blazin-hades-lovin hotttt that we almost didn't return to the park that day. On our way to an air-conditioned attraction I got a message on my cell from her husband; he was calling from GiGi's cell. She'd forgotten it in the car and asked him to retrieve it (can you believe he did it? a good man) to let us know where they were. Ohhhh no, we were NOT going to let that trip to the car go to waste. We would fight the bumper to bumper traffic on 76, dodge in and out, cross double white lines, make illegal U-ies to get there! At all costs! We made it back to SDC an hour before closing! That's how much I wanted to take my photo with GiGi in the coffin. Shown below--that's her on the left, me on the right. See, GiGi, I told you I was gonna post it! Which legs are tanner?

Getting into the restaurant, I maybe slightly embarassed my kids when I walked through the doors calling: "GiGi! GiGi, it's me, your bff! Where are you?!!!" After a few minutes of that, we sniffed her out in the mine downstairs. Hiding, that's what. Hiding and quivering and stuff.

My first thought (other than 'she's a hidin' little chicken') was 'omg, she's beautiful! ' She's how I pictured her, no doubt. I look at people's eyes first, it's all about eyes for me. Right away I was smiling at her dancing eyes, they absolutely command happiness! Her husband, J, was so generous and friendly (almost pastoral, lol). John described him as a 'go getter with a kind heart'. They struck up conversation right away. J is finishing up his MBA, so .... John, the pro that he is ;-) filled him in on the MBA fillings-in stuff. Niki adored her little Gremlin and Little Man and attached herself to them! She loves all things children, and GiGi's were particularly loveable, so Gi, you have a babysitter whenever you need one. Two point five hours north.

Our families took off to ride a ride, GiGi paid her bill after much confusion by the waitress--finally resolved (you owe me $30, Gi). We headed to Grandfather's Mansion, sat on the swing in the lopsided bedroom (it slants wayyy up) and crammed in as much talking as we could possibly cram. You know how it is when you have so much to say and you just can't say it fast enough? Then you start something and move to something else and realize later, 'hey! I forgot to ask about that!'? It was like that. One hour. It went by so darned fast my head was spinning!

What a neat-o thing it was to meet another blog friend. I wish I could meet more of y'all, maybe down the road, one never knows! I think some of the kindest people I know are bloggers, so wouldn't it be nice if I could meet my favorite ones and hug them all?!

Friends, if you read GiGi's post, you know my eyes were tearing up the whole time. Because of allergies. But we'll let her go with the tears of joy theory she blogged. She lives in the Ozarks. So let her have that to hang onto. Tears of joy, Gi, tears of joy. Note the corner of the left eye on this pic, taken last week--tearing up here too. Probably thinking about Gi.

We decided we liked each other IRL and that we will be meeting again. I know she was a little afraid to meet me--and that her husband was definitely leary. Not leering, leary. He didn't leer or anything, that'd make no sense at all! GiGi is a blogger without a lot of identifying pics, and he didn't want her pic posted for privacy reasons. I'm a blogger that says 'hey, see me? look! at! meeee!'. But, J, I didn't think you'd mind the coffin shot I put up there. Do you? Yes or No. Circle one.

At the end of the far too scant visit, we walked out together. My family was parked in the coveted 'C' lot, so we graciously walked over to their side (snicker) to await their tram headed to the 'H' lot (snicker). Yup. We put aside our pride, we didn't care WHAT anyone else said or thought! No. By gosh they are our new friends even IF they were parked in Arkansas! Be darned with what others may think, we're standing with them! (Maybe, Gi, if we do a Christmas light tour down there, y'all could come along and park with us. In the 'C' lot. We'll see.)

***As I was right in the middle of this post, I learned that our next door neighbor was killed in a horrible crash Friday. We weren't close, I didn't really want to be close to my new neighbors here after a bad experiencein our old neighborhood. She was very friendly, her youngest will be starting his senior year with Niki. I need to rethink my views. Define neighbors vs. neighborly. I wasn't a rude neighbor, just arms length-like. I always figured when we were older, kids gone, then we'd connect. I think wave hello to your neighbors, bring them a bowl of pudding after reading this , idk. Just let them know you're around if they need an egg or orange juice. Arms length neighbors. Psh! That's about the dumbest idea I've had, and I'm definitely not going to let my arms get in the way anymore.