Branson

Dave did a little secret planning and decided we needed a night away. Two weeks ago the three of us we went to Branson for an overnight stay. It was just what the doctor ordered! Despite the gray skies and occasional drizzle we had an awesome trip. We went Friday evening and our hotel was right on the Landing so we parked and first went to dinner. Joe's Crab Shack. We donned the goofy bibs for one photo and they were off. We're still too cool for bibs (or at least we think so...)

After a big meal we walked around and went to a few shops. Will picked out this monster hat and as you will see he wore it the ENTIRE weekend.

One of the neat stops we made was at a store with a temporary Lego store/exhibit. Both boys had a blast building.

After that it was almost time for the fountain and fire show so we walked back to the center of the Landing.

So the fountain and fire show happens every hour and while it is nothing like the Magic Fountain in Barcelona, it was a sweet second place :) There is nothing better that watching your children truly enjoy something. Will laughed out loud with surprise every time the fireworks went off. Even the people around us were getting a kick out of his enthusiasm.

The next morning we were enjoying some breakfast at Starbucks when we spotted a train depot. We walked over to see what the crowd was all about. Well, it was a real train ride that took us through the Ozark Mountains and even into Arkansas. It was to last an hour and a half and we only debated a few minutes before deciding our little man would have a blast. What a great decision. He couldn't have smiled any bigger when we told him we were going on a train ride.

Once on the train we could pick our own car to ride in. We moved around several times but we spent some time here where we could put our feet up and there was no one else in our car.

The ticket master came by and declared he was an artist and punched a "W" in Will's train ticket.

I wish I had words for how excited Will was. He was giggling, pointing stuff out, and practically yelling everything as he was too wound up to use an inside voice. It was just as good as Christmas morning for Dave and I to watch him enjoy this event so thoroughly.

The scenery was spectacular and we found a second car after while that had reclining seats. We cozied up and enjoyed the hum and gentle rock of the ride.

It was such a perfect weekend and we got some great family time in. I don't know how long the memories of the fountains and train rides will stick with Will but Dave and I will look back at this weekend with the sweetest of memories.