The Branson Experience

If getting there is half the fun then our trip to Branson was a blast, because the trip there was an experience. Surprise, surprise we got a bit of a late start and decided to have Dave drop us off at the terminal while we went to park the car. I felt lousy – my heart was fribulating – and mom had a broken arm from her biking accident and Danica was carrying Charlie. Mom and I honestly tried to corral Lily and Jensen who were super excited to be on a traveling adventure. They wanted to explore everywhere as long as it was in different directions and they could leave their bags behind. Unless of course one touched the other’s bag then there would be howls of protest.
The airport was really crowded and the security line was at least 30 mins. We were stressing - Dave was delayed parking the car. Our little explorer Lily had found that under the hand rail for the moving sidewalk was this fun black grease that worked like finger paint and tasted good. And Jensen was crawling, climbing, and crowding around all the people. Fodder wing Tracy and I took all three kids through security so Danica could wait for Dave with his boarding pass. In the midst of supreme confusion of the crowd at security as we were removing shoes and unpacking toiletries and the lap top; Lily bit Jensen on the arm he let out a scream that nearly set off other alarms. Jensen ran off to find Danica, the security guard wanted Tracy to open Charlie’s bottle which she couldn’t because of her arm, and Lily started crying – I wanted to cry too, but a few minutes later we some how passed through the pandemonium and limped our way to the gate where we met with Dave and Danica and thankfully a flight that was delayed by 45 minutes.
The hour flight felt like to took three hours with a couple of delays, but we arrived in Kansas City and had a rather unpleasant experience renting a van. They gave us a 5 passenger sedan for 7 people and then wanted to argue about it. Finally a nice lady helped the guy read the rental agreement and we got our van. Four hours later we were arrived in Branson at 4 am. I was glad to have that half of our fun done.
Celeste arrived the next day to added two more children, so we were 6 adults and 5 children all 4 and under – it was almost even odds with the battle favoring the kids. I don’t really mean that cuz I love my grandchildren and we had a great time with them at the pool, miniature golfing, at Silver Dollar City, at restaurants and at the fish hatchery. The adults loved the Beatles show, the second miniature golfing game, the rising table at McFarland’s, shopping at Branson Landing, laser tag, go carts, water fights at Silver Dollar City, and nap time.
It was great fun to be with family, make memories and remember the really important things in life. It is spending time, and talking, and planning, and cooking, and eating, and hanging, and playing, and swimming, and watching movies, and eating caramel popcorn deserts, and in general enjoying each other’s company. Travel may not be smooth, and the costs may be steep, and the ear drums may suffer a little but it is so worth it to be with family…..a little slice of heaven.