Summer flashback: Branson

It was almost 4 months ago, but almost feels like it was just last week? We had a great Lund family trip to Branson for a long weekend and I want to document it because, 1. it was good times and, 2. the girls will someday say - did you ever take us anywhere fun ??? (And we'll say, well, no we didn't, but your grandparents did!)

Erik's parents found a house that would fit ALL of us - 10 adults and 7 kids - not an easy feat. It worked really well for our group and was close enough to all the Branson activities, yet far enough from the strip that it just felt like a getaway and not Atlantic City. I wish I could say that I had tons of great pics of the group, but I don't of course. Seventeen bodies moving in 17 different directions, but the adults had fun and the kids had fun and everyone even got some sleep! It was our first travel attempt with Georgia and there was tons of gear to negotiate, but she did really well. (I think? Perhaps I've blocked any rough patches from my memory).

We did Silver Dollar City a couple of days and Ellen was big enough to do some of the little kid rides, but not big enough for the real roller coasters (thank god). Georgia was really too demanding to do anything, so I nursed her in the nursing room and she napped (a bit) in the stroller. The big kids (and adults) got to ride all the scary stuff.

 The second day we figured out the best parking scenario and how to navigate the park to beat the crowds and Steve and the kids got to the log ride first thing and rode it about 10 times in a row. All soaked to the bone, god bless 'em.

Lots of good cousin fun time, both with our nieces that live in Denver that we see too rarely, and Ellen's in-town cousins, that we also don't see enough!

Birthdays in this family are clustered in June and December, so we celebrated all the kids' birthdays (except our kids) and rounded out our weekend on Father's Day. We had brunch at the College of the Ozarks and it was really great.

Look how little G was!

Our sweet niece feeding her Dad ice cream, photobomb courtesy of Ellen.

And, rounded out the weekend with some family pics. We clean up pretty well!

The whole group, G trying to get away and E pouting because we had to leave.