Stop Making Me Laugh Or I'll Pee My Pants! Go Back! I Lost My Shoe! Trip Report!

[mickeystoontown]

Hum...the boss is still gone. I think I'll post a Christmas tree picture or two. I really wanted a big one like we usually get but I couldn't justify paying a bunch of money for a tree that would be in the house for only two weeks.

Keep in mind that I haven't put any presents under the tree yet. There's just one measly little bag underneath it and it was brought over by my Mama. It'll look so much better when there's lots of stuff under it.

A few years back, I bought some Walt Disney World ornaments from my favorite ebay seller. John and Hunter found them and hung one on the tree yesterday to see if I'd notice. Of course I noticed. It has a blue string and everything else is silver and gold. I didn't take it off though 'cause it's Disney!

Some close ups of the decorations:

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

You know I am always handing the kids money. Not out of guilt but because I happen to have some extra in my pocket. Andrew uses my charge card to purchase his xbox points and has the money to give me. So when I see him he hands me the money and I thank him and hand it back. That is the main reason I work so we can have fun with my money. Don't tell Don.

Gotta love Walmart at midnite. I bet you weren't 10 miles from the resort by the time you actually got there.

I do hope the camera works good for you

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I like your tree. I'll try to take one of mine tonite. THe boss comes back tomorrow. I spoke with him earlier. He was in a good mood and his new laptop came today so he is coming by tonite and getting it.

 

[mickeystoontown]

More decorations:

 

[mickeystoontown]

You know I am always handing the kids money. Not out of guilt but because I happen to have some extra in my pocket. Andrew uses my charge card to purchase his xbox points and has the money to give me. So when I see him he hands me the money and I thank him and hand it back. That is the main reason I work so we can have fun with my money. Don't tell Don.

Gotta love Walmart at midnite. I bet you weren't 10 miles from the resort by the time you actually got there.

I do hope the camera works good for you

My income is our "play" money and "back up" money. With John being self-employed, you never know when or if the next job is coming. Like I said, I know for a fact, I will be spoiling my grandkids like crazy. I think I've already spent over $1,200.00 on my two kids alone this year for Christmas. Oh well, I had 'em. I'll spoil 'em.

We were way out in the boondocks for sure. Walmart was dead when we got there. Just a few people in the store. The other customers were probably idiots just like us who either forgot to pack something or replacing something broken (like a camera).

I like your tree. I'll try to take one of mine tonite. THe boss comes back tomorrow. I spoke with him earlier. He was in a good mood and his new laptop came today so he is coming by tonite and getting it.

I usually get a big tree and it's all fat and tall and, well, big. This year, I feel like we've settled. It's okay though.

I hope your boss stays in a good mood (or good move as Hunter used to say when he was little). Maybe the laptop will keep him happy for the rest of the week.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Fun update! on the Branson update....you look like your momma!!! poor Lacey having to do all that driving and riding...but when you're young its alot easier and she was so excited to be with you guys!!!

Love the dream...sounds like something we have all had!!

That's the Walmart we went to!! our first few nights were at townhouses two blocks down to the left and another two blocks in a gated area...(thank goodness it was gated; it was a very nice resort but I was not crazy about the area we drove through!!)

Your Christmas decorations and tree look wonderful!!! still need to decorate mine...maybe in the morning--we had a busy day today!!! I hate doing the lights and I cannot beg or pay anyone in the house this year to do them either!


Have a great day, tomorrow!!!
Connie

 

[Kathy Jetson]

I can totally relate to the walmart story. We did that TWICE each time in the middle of the night looking for a battery for my camera which I had just bought from walmart about 6 months earlier but no one has them anymore and mine would not hold a charge so on 2 different nights we drove around looking for walmarts but no luck with the battery so I didn't get to take as many pics as I wanted I did get 661 but I wanted alot more! Believe me next year I will be ready with the camera stuff befor we go!
I liked your tree, and the stove I've always wanted one of those.

 

[Mikes:)Mom]

what a great dream!

We leave tomorrow at 6am for Disney World!! I can't wait! We are telling my friends kids they are going to Disney World too, half way to the airport when we stop to eat. They think they are just giving us a ride to the airport. It's going to be awesome!!

Happy Holidays!!

 

[Jessie888]

 

[leamom2princesses]

Your Mom is so cute Lisa-I agree with Ginny you can see the love for her grandkids in her eyes! Your tree is very pretty too and gosh what a dream huh! Sorry for being MIA...I will try to do better.

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

Like you said, at least the kids are getting something out of it. I certainly don't expect anything else from them.

I'm always asking the kids if they know they are spoiled rotten and they say yes but they love their dad and I for it. I can't imagine how dirty rotten stinky spoiled my grandkids are going to be.

Oh, I can imagine they are gonna be PRETTY rotten! As they should be!

I love your Christmas tree! How fun that John and Hunter put a Disney ornament on there for you. I love it!

Your house looks so charming, too. I love the stockings by the fireplace!

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Good morning Lisa. Hope you are having a good Wednesday. Maybe you'll get lucky and your boss will be gone for a while. Mine is back. He did not come and get his computer last night. I was totally shocked. So unlike him. He must have been tired. He is here working now anyway. That is always a good thing.

Have a good day. I'm mailing patient statements after I printed them all off. There went my postage.

Ginny

 

[mickeystoontown]

Wowie Kazowie! I just spent my lunch hour (and a little more) updating my first post to include the post number and page number of every Disney trip installment. I also included information on the Hot Springs report and Branson report. Stupid me lost the list that Connie and I had done earlier so I had to go through all 150+ pages.

The boss has three appointments this afternoon so I hope to get a Branson trip report installment posted. Let me get a few things off my desk first and I'll be back to reply to everybody and post an installment.

 

[mickeystoontown]

We were up about 8:00 a.m. the next morning and were eating from our snacks that we had packed. It's funny how John always asks/fusses about me bringing along too many snacks yet he grazes from the snack bag along with the rest of us. Because we brought in only our overnight bags, it didn't take us long to get packed and on the road. We had about 4 hours ahead of us.

The drive was very uneventful for us. Thank goodness. I don't think I could have stood it if any more animals had run out in front of us.

My sister had said something about her and her husband maybe meeting up with us in Branson. It was their anniversary and they wanted to get away. However, she found out she had kidney stones the week before we left. Looked like she wasn't going to be traveling anywhere.

My Mama tried calling her several times to check on her but didn't get her. Mama doesn't like leaving messages/voice mails so every time she'd get the voice mail, she'd hang up. Finally, John asked what my brother-in-law's number was and he called and left a message for one of them to call us back. Soon after leaving the message, my sister called back. She had passed the kidney stone and they were at the camp relaxing. She wished us all a Happy Thanksgiving.

The road was winding in spots but the scenery was beautiful. I know that ya'll are expecting pictures but my Mama doesn't like it when I take pictures while driving. Thus, no pictures.

Somewhere around the Harrison, Arkansas area, we saw an Elk Crossing sign. I didn't know that there were elk in Arkansas. Hum. The kids were asleep in the back seat. John, Mama and I talked about all sorts of meaningless stuff. Mama and I saw a sign for black apples and we made a mental note to stop on the way home and get some. I've had them before and they are delish.

We made it all the way to Branson without having to stop and tinkle. I was proud of myself.

Our hotel was on Hwy. 76 which is the main strip in the middle of Branson. We weren't sure if we needed to turn left or right. I can't remember which we chose but it was the wrong one. We drove through the old town part of Branson and turned around and went back the other way. All along the way, Mama was reading signs and billboards outloud. I remember her saying "there's a croc store" and me saying we needed to come back and check it out.

The traffic wasn't too too bad. Not like I had seen on our previous trips. We got to the hotel and checked in. The lady was very nice. I made sure to mention that we had added an extra night and that it had been discounted to $69.95. I paid for our room with my credit card and Mama paid for her's and Lacey's room with her credit card. We both signed the necessary paperwork. The lady gave us our bracelets for the indoor water park, our Silver Dollar City tickets, our mini-putt vouchers and our breakfast vouchers. She also gave us both a card that entitled us to free water or tea from any of their vendors.

She gave us our keys and took out a map to show us our room location. It was on the third floor. That wouldn't work because of Mama not handling stairs too well. When I said something, the lady told us that the building had an elevator. Good.

We all got back in the car and drove to our building. The location was good. Out of the way and not at all near the main street (no traffic noises at night ) but still within walking distance to everything. We got to the room and started unloading. The kids and I took our stuff up the stairs. John and Mama took the elevator since he was carrying her stuff.


***Interruption. Boss needs something. Be back.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

I'm ridng the elevtor with your Mom. No 3 flights of stairs for me. I'm so amazed you managed 4 hours without a tinkle stop. You never cease to amaze me.

 

[mickeystoontown]

By the time we got all our stuff in the room, we were starving. We hadn't eaten anything but the snacks that were in the snack bag. The hotel had a pizza parlor and since none of us wanted to get in the van again, it was decided we'd go eat pizza for our Thanksgiving lunch.

Oh wait, I forgot to post pictures of the room:

Okay, room pics are posted. The complex itself is pretty large. They have a buffet, an indoor waterpark, two outdoor pools, a small outdoor water park, two indoor mini-putts, an indoor bowling alley, a pizza parlor, a fudge shop, an ice cream parlor, a couple of stores and a show theater. Even though it was super windy and downright cold outside, we walked over to the pizza parlor.

Inside the pizza parlor is the world's largest banjo. It has been signed on the back by a whole bunch of country singers. Stupid me forgot to take a picture of the signatures. I did take pictures of the banjo. It's so big, it goes right out the window.

The pizza is served buffet style. Let's see if I can remember the pizzas they had out that day...bbq pizza, hawaiian pizza, pepperoni pizza, hamburger pizza, cheese pizza, veggie pizza, cheese sticks, cinnamon sugar dessert pizza, apple dessert pizza, chocolate chip pizza and cherry dessert pizza. They also had a salad bar. It's not very big but it had all of the favorite toppings along with cottage cheese, peaches, yogurt and pudding. They also had vegetable soup and chili.

If I am remembering correctly, it was somewhere around $7 or $8 for the all-you-can eat buffet. The drinks were free since we had our card.

We were so hungry that I forgot to take pictures of our food. It was all good and fresh.

A picture of John, Mama, Lacey and Hunter when they weren't looking. I have no idea what Lacey and Hunter were doing but look at Hunter's silly face.

We sat and talked for a little while so our food would settle. Actually, we were dreading going out in the cold wind. As part of our package, we received free tickets to one of the shows at the hotel's theater. I think there were four different shows. We figured we better go get tickets to that night's show before they were all gone. We walked over to the building that housed the theater, buffet, ticket booth, ice cream parlor and stores. We walked pretty fast 'cause it was so cold.

When we walked in the building, we saw the world's largest fiddle. It was straight above our head.

As soon as we walked into the building, we could see the line to the buffet winding all the way down the building. It was ridiculously long. Thank goodness, we had chosen to eat pizza and not eat at the buffet.

There was no line at the ticket booth so we were able to get all of our tickets in less than 5 minutes. The show would start at 8:00 p.m. so we had plenty of time to kill. Hunter wanted to go to the indoor water park. Mama and John wanted to take a nap. Lacey and I didn't really care what we did.

Before leaving the building, we looked around in the stores. One of the stores had the cutest Mickey statues. There was one that was yellow and looked like cheese. Another was red, white and blue. One was Mickey dressed as a tourist at Walt Disney World. There were several others and they were the cutest things ever.

We shopped some more but didn't buy a thing. We walked back to our rooms where John and Mama laid down. Hunter changed into his swimming trunks.

Up next: The indoor water park.

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Stayed at that hotel, ate pizza, saw the banjo and fiddle. Played tons of putt-putt and did the indoor water park with the kids. Only then it was outdoors. There is another place that had an indoor one. They did have lots of cool shops. I think we put quarters in any machine that took them. Fun Fun

 

[mickeystoontown]

Fun update! on the Branson update....you look like your momma!!! poor Lacey having to do all that driving and riding...but when you're young its alot easier and she was so excited to be with you guys!!!

Love the dream...sounds like something we have all had!!

That's the Walmart we went to!! our first few nights were at townhouses two blocks down to the left and another two blocks in a gated area...(thank goodness it was gated; it was a very nice resort but I was not crazy about the area we drove through!!)

Your Christmas decorations and tree look wonderful!!! still need to decorate mine...maybe in the morning--we had a busy day today!!! I hate doing the lights and I cannot beg or pay anyone in the house this year to do them either!


Have a great day, tomorrow!!!
Connie

I think I look like my Mama too. I really look like my Mama's mama. We have the same features and build.

Lacey is used to riding long periods of time. When the Mission kids travel, they sometimes drive all night long until they reach their next convention.

The dream was soooo real. I actually woke up and looked around me to see I was in a meeting room.

For years and years, we stayed on Hwy. 192 and it was perfectly fine. Over time, it just went downhill. There are still a lot of nice places to stay but I'd rather stay onsite. In 2000, our room was burglarized while we were at the pool. The deputy that I talked to said that rental homes are the worst places for a tourist to stay. He said the thieves target them.

The tree isn't really what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to be more snowflaky. Not fancy but it ended up with the more glitzy type ornaments. Oh well, it's okay. I didn't put out too many other decorations in the house. It's too late to do much.

I can totally relate to the walmart story. We did that TWICE each time in the middle of the night looking for a battery for my camera which I had just bought from walmart about 6 months earlier but no one has them anymore and mine would not hold a charge so on 2 different nights we drove around looking for walmarts but no luck with the battery so I didn't get to take as many pics as I wanted I did get 661 but I wanted alot more! Believe me next year I will be ready with the camera stuff befor we go!
I liked your tree, and the stove I've always wanted one of those.

Doesn't it just frustrate the poo out of you when you have to take time away from your vacation to deal with camera issues!

John traded out and got the stove. There was an old man who needed a cabinet built. When John went over to give him a bid on the cabinet, he saw the stove under the man's carport. He gave the man a price and it included John getting the stove. The old man agreed and I ended up putting it in our dining room.

what a great dream!

We leave tomorrow at 6am for Disney World!! I can't wait! We are telling my friends kids they are going to Disney World too, half way to the airport when we stop to eat. They think they are just giving us a ride to the airport. It's going to be awesome!!

Happy Holidays!!

I can dream some really weird things can't I.

By now, you are well on your way to Disney. I hope that you are having a super fantastic trip. I can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hey! Please feel free to chime in any time you'd like. We love to hear from others!

Your Mom is so cute Lisa-I agree with Ginny you can see the love for her grandkids in her eyes! Your tree is very pretty too and gosh what a dream huh! Sorry for being MIA...I will try to do better.

My mother is 75 years old and her entire life revolves around those two grandkids. She absolutely loves 'em and you can see it in her eyes every time they are around.

Thanks for the compliment on the tree. It wasn't quite like I wanted it to be but it turned out okay.

Don't apologize at all for not being around. I haven't been so good with keeping up with all my subscribed reports either. The boss is supposed to be out of the office the rest of the week in court. Maybe then I can get caught up.

Oh, I can imagine they are gonna be PRETTY rotten! As they should be!

I love your Christmas tree! How fun that John and Hunter put a Disney ornament on there for you. I love it!

Your house looks so charming, too. I love the stockings by the fireplace!

Oh, I know they are going to be spoiled. I have already started telling Lacey and Hunter to get ready for it.

I thought that was sweet of them to put the ornament on the tree. The blue ribbon is bugging the heck out of me though.

I love my house. When we talked about building a house, we both agreed we wanted a log house. The fact that we built it all by ourselves makes it even more special.

Good morning Lisa. Hope you are having a good Wednesday. Maybe you'll get lucky and your boss will be gone for a while. Mine is back. He did not come and get his computer last night. I was totally shocked. So unlike him. He must have been tired. He is here working now anyway. That is always a good thing.

Have a good day. I'm mailing patient statements after I printed them all off. There went my postage.

Ginny

It's sad....It's almost 5:00 p.m. and I'm just getting around to replying to your good morning.

I hope that your work day went well with the boss being back. Just two more days and we're off!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm ridng the elevtor with your Mom. No 3 flights of stairs for me. I'm so amazed you managed 4 hours without a tinkle stop. You never cease to amaze me.

4 hours was a major accomplishment for me. Of course, I went to the bathroom as soon as we got in the room.

Stayed at that hotel, ate pizza, saw the banjo and fiddle. Played tons of putt-putt and did the indoor water park with the kids. Only then it was outdoors. There is another place that had an indoor one. They did have lots of cool shops. I think we put quarters in any machine that took them. Fun Fun

This was our third time to stay at the Grand Country. We like it. Nothing fancy about the place but I like that it's centrally located and everything is within walking distance.