Happy Wednesday! I am excited to share today’s post with you all! Over the long holiday weekend we went camping with my sister and her family. My mom and Nini {grandma} joined us also, and we had the best time!
Today, I am sharing all about our fun weekend.
Friday evening both girls went somewhere and I was able to stay home and clean the house really good and pack for our trip.
Liz went to the football game with her friend, Emma, and Emily had a sleepover birthday party for her great friend, Elizabeth. They both had a great time! It was nice to have the house quiet so I could focus on cleaning it really well.
Chris helped me by cleaning the inside of my car up and then we took it to the car wash and cleaned the outside also.
Saturday morning we picked Emily up from her sleepover and then headed out of town. The girls were SO excited for our first camping trip!
Our first stop was in Mansfield to visit with Chris’s grandma Welch. We haven’t seen her in a long time and it was great to sit down and visit with her for a while.
After we saw Chris’s grandma we went into Springfield to make a stop at Bass Pro, because my husband is Chris and he’s addicted. He needed a “few” more fishing supplies for the weekend. I was okay with the stop because he promised me a few bags of peach rings. They are my favorite from Bass Pro! The girls love looking at the alligators and fish, so we had a good time walking around the store while Chris looked at everything.
It was finally time to make our way into Branson and meet my sister and her family at the campsite. We got there around 4:00 and helped them set everything up and check the place out. The kids played outside and lounged around the camper for a while we unpacked our groceries and the boys got their fishing stuff together.
My mom and Nini met us at the campsite and then we all went into Branson to eat dinner together. We decided to eat at Shorty Small’s and it was delicious! The kids especially loved the free ice cream for dessert!
That evening Chris and Matt took Zach with them and went back to the campground to fish. The rest of us hit the outlet malls. We only had about an hour and a half before they closed for the night, so we shopped fast! Emily was the best shopper of the night and wanted everything she saw! Tyler and Liz both bought matching white Under Armour hats and wanted a pic of them wearing them.
Needless to say, we were wore out after our marathon shopping trip and went back to the camper for the night. We made a stop and checked on the men fishing and made Zach come back up to the camper with us because it was getting late. My mom and Nini went to their hotel and my sister taught us how to play the card game Thunder! We had a lot of laughs that evening and made priceless memories! We all went to bed and didn’t wait up for the men from fishing. It was a good thing too, because they stayed out until 4:30 in the morning!
Sunday morning we woke up early and had a nice big breakfast together. It was a beautiful morning to sit outside and start the day.
After we cleaned up from breakfast, my sister and I took all the kids to Fritz’s Adventure in Branson. This is a newer indoor place that has TONS of activities for the kids to do. {Zip lines, rock wall, laser beam challenges, warped wall, tunnels, slides, etc.} It was pricey, but well worth the money spent. All the kids LOVED it! We stayed there for over 3 hours letting the kids play and have fun.
Next was going back to the campsite to drop Zach off so he could go fishing with the men. He is not a shopper and didn’t want to shop with us that afternoon. We grabbed snacks and drinks at the camper and then met my mom and Nini at The Landing for an afternoon of shopping. It was HOT, and we literally almost shopped until we dropped!
After about 4 hours of shopping my mom and Nini took the kids back to the hotel with them and let me and my sister have the rest of the afternoon to shop by ourselves. It was heavenly! We went back to the outlet mall and found more good deals.
Sunday evening we enjoyed a nice big fish fry together. The men did a great job catching the fish and providing the food. I have never had trout before and am used to Current River small mouth bass fish to eat, but I really liked the trout!
The night ended with s’mores around the campfire and talking about life. We shared some stories about dad and what he would think about this trip. It has been three months since he has been gone and there is just such a big void in our life since his passing. However, I know he was smiling down on us and loved that we were enjoying life together and making memories.
The men went back fishing that night, but we were all exhausted from a full day of shopping and hit the hay!
Monday morning we woke up to cinnamon rolls and some leftover bacon. The kids played outside while we packed our things up to get ready to go back to Dexter. We helped Matt and Julie get everything with their camper put back in place and then said our goodbyes and hit the road.
Traffic was CRAZY coming back home and it took us a lot longer than it normally would to get home. The girls slept most of the way home, they were exhausted from staying up late every night and playing with their cousins. When we got home we still had time to mow the yard, go get groceries, and get ready for the upcoming week.
Leaving you with our #selfieSunday. I pray you have a blessed week!
~Jen
What a fun weekend. Looks like you all had a great time. Looks like you got some awesome stuff at the outlet malls too! We are getting one right next to our bass pro shop in October and I can’t wait :). xoxo ERIN