Can't Silence These Lambs: Weekend at Branson

The second weekend in August is a busy week for our family:

Mary Frannie's Birthday is on the same day as Todd and Jennie's Anniversary

Me and Mike have an Anniversary

Jennie and the kids are getting ready to head back to school

My parents invited the whole family to a fun weekend in Branson. They had the whole weekend planned and reservations made. We went shopping at the outlets for school clothes. We hung out at the 3 bedroom condo in Thousand hills Resorts. We went as a big group to Dixie Stampede. We went swimming at the outdoor pool in the backyard of our condo. We celebrated MAry Frannie's 9th Birthday. The guys and Mary Frannie went golfing after the rain stopped. Mom fixed everyone a huge breakfast. We ended the trip with a visit to Silver Dollar City. It was the weekend we needed to spend together as a family to end the summer vacations.

Below are a few pictures, stories, and captions.

I still stop to walk every hour or hour and half for my blood disorder, and the boys don't mind stretching their legs either. About 30 minutes away from Branson we stopped and played on some rocks outside a gas station. It was a good pit stop.

Next stop, Branson outlets. Have you ever been shopping with 5 kids under 8? If not you are welcome to borrow our 5 and give it a try sometime :) Honestly we were just there to visit with the kids and make sure they had fun. We took turns watching them, let them ride a few rides, sampled some fudge, ate lunch, and never lost a one of them, I'd consider that a win.

The kids at the fudge show....What do you call a cow that just had a baby? Decaffeinated....lol

After we shopped we went back to the condo to relax, change, unpack, and than head to the Dixe Stampede. We had some fun with Max in the car while Alex snoozed.

a rare picture of Mike without glasses....he was cleaning them when I snapped the pic

entertaining Max by letting him stick his head out the sunroof

Preshow at Dixie Stampede was fun. It was a juggling act. These kids were glued.

My mom had them annouce our anniversary at the show. That was fun :)

My favorite part of the show. A mixture of patriotic songs. Everyone always stands (normally my dad first)(he is a veteran) I really do enjoy it though

Best part of the whole trip was when we sang Happy Birthday to Mary Frannie. I love trying to get these on video so that we can always look back. I didn't know if Alex was going to plunge into the cake or burn himself on the candles but I kept videoing. Watch til the end when Mary Frannie puts her hands over the boys mouths so she can blow out the candles herself. It sure gave us a laugh.

sleepover in our room. I made a pallet. The kids did great.

woke up to rain, it didn't last long

Alex always wakes up happy

Time to pack up and head to Silver Dollar City. We made the kids pack their own bags. This was entertaining to watch for sure.

All crammed in the Sequiya and ready to head out. Me, Mom, Jennie, Laney, Alex, Max, and Mabry headed to Silver Dollar City while everyone else played a round of golf. Don't even ask how we got everyone one and everything and all the car seats in the correct cars. That was interesting and took all of us to do it and plan it out. We fit though!