Happy birthday, Jacker!

Tomorrow is my actual birthday,

but it's Culver's Night for school.

I don't want Culver's for my birthday...

so we went out a night early!

I want Strouds!

After all the chicken strips we could eat,

Mom and Dad had told our waitress it was my birthday.

So the cinnamon rolls came with a sparkler

Because I just love being the center of attention

(no really, I hate it!)

Geez.

There was even singing.

Didn't stop us from enjoying them, though!

And look who showed up

for the season,

just in time for my birthday?

Happy birthday to me, indeed!

Silliness

Piggyback rides

and secret disguises

Yep.

Silliness.

Go-carts and more go-carts

For our last day in Branson,

we got up nice and early to hit the pool

one last time

before we headed out

for some fun on 4 wheels...

We had a blast driving the go-carts

until I bumped Kayla

and sent her into a spin...

sorry about that!

We all recovered

and hit the arcade for some games

We played some air hockey

and spent a lot of time

in the laser maze

(forgot the pictures on that one).

Even Mom did it!

I was so excited...

I FINALLY hit a jackpot

on one of those ticket machines!

I bought so much junk;

I bought stuff for my brothers and cousins too!

We decided to brave the go-carts one last time

Everyone buckled in

Prepare yourself!

Here we go!

Around and around and around 

Beckett was really bummed

he was too short to ride,

so Dad buckled up and

took him for his

own special ride!

Wheee!

While we waited,

we pretended to be a rock band

in this funky mock stage

at the track

Beckett didn't look sad anymore

when he and Dad got back!

We had some lunch,

and then had to say goodbye

to Austin, Mikayla, Uncle Adam and Aunt Michelle.

By the tears, you would have thought

they lived hours away from us!

Guess we'll have to make that

20 minute drive to Raymore

to see them soon!

Thanks everyone!

This trip was DEFINITELY

one of the best Christmas presents EVER!!!

Stampeding on the Express

We woke up this morning to 

more adventures!

First up,

Dixie Stampede!

It was a little odd

to each lunch at 10am,

but we made due

The Christmas show was pretty cool!

We had a good time cheering

for the North Pole

One of the cowgirls

threw me a flower!

Tucker was just happy to be

sitting with Papa

While the Littles took a nap,

the Bigs recharged in the pool!

We had fun, splashing around,

having ball fights with Uncle Adam

and Mom.

Time flew by

and before we knew it,

we needed to get our PJ's on

for our next adventure

We look good!

But where are we going?

The Polar Express!!!

We got our golden tickets

and took a few pictures

while we waited

Just the brothers

All the grandkids

We had to hug Grandma

to tell her thank you for all this

Our car finally loaded up

Settled in!

Each car had 2 chefs

and a conductor.

The chefs read 

the Polar Express book out loud.

Then they did this cool dance

to the Hot Chocolate song

from the Polar Express movie.

And then...

they passed out delicious hot chocolate!  

Tasty!

Did we mention there were cookies too?

While we snacked,

the conductor came around 

and punched our initials

into our tickets

There was a lot to see out the windows,

lights, trees, and...

WHOA!

That's Santa!

The train suddenly stopped.

We backed up...

and Santa was gone!

Turns out,

he hopped on the train with us!

We all got a chance to chat with him

one more time...

Jack

A very happy B

And a much happier Tucker

than yesterday's visit

The Reeds

And the Other Reeds

We had time for a few more light displays

before we were back at The Landing

You'd think that would be

enough for one day.

But, oh no!

We watched the fire and fountains show

It was pretty cool!

Had a Mexican fiesta

and stopped off at a chocolate shop

for a little treat

Now THAT was an awesome day!!!