{Missouri} Lake Visits

2018

2017

2016

2015  - ?!?!?!

2014 - Nate's first year (so uncomfortable in that life jacket!)

2013 

2012

2011

2010

2009

2000 - 2008 - we think were all at the same place, 2001 and 2002 may have been elsewhere

I'm trying to make a collection of all our photos (or at least the highlights!) from every year and making a small book through Shutterfly or a regular photo album. It'd be fun to flip through every year. 

Side note - I also thought about doing that for major holidays and/or birthdays. Like one page per scrapbook/photo album for year for the kids' birthdays, Halloween (to compare costumes!) and Christmas (which we already started). After so many years, I could make it into a book instead of a photo album. 

How do you store your photos? Do you do books or photo albums? Or are you all digital? I've lost many photos after computers have crashed so I'm trying to print all my favorites and save them "to the cloud". Some day I'll figure out how to get photos off three old computers - one of which is literally just the hard drive, not an actual laptop anymore. 

{Missouri} Lake Trip 2018

Happy Monday!

We just came back from a crazy, busy weekend. We spent the majority of the time on the water at our favorite lake and it's NOT the Lake of the Ozarks. That lake is crazy!

My mom bought a vintage boat a couple years ago and it finally saw this lake. It's been to other places, just not on vacation. 

My girl!

This crazy boy and his amazing hair. 

Lily really wanted to jump off the cliff last year but we didn't let her. This year though, we decided to go check it out and see if she wanted to do it. She was a little nervous but decided to go. She ended up loving it and said its was her favorite part of the trip and what made the day "the best day ever!" She also finally learned how to skip a rock and was successful and caught her first fish! 

And no, Doug did not throw her in even though it kind of looks like it. He was about to jump off himself. 

And Mr. Nate had his first this weekend - first time on the tube. I got a few good photos of them but I like the lighting of this one. They were so happy and excited but definitely could feel it the next day. We are looking into buying the type of tube that the kids can sit up on. This tube has been around since I was in high school. 

And my girl, loving some time alone with my parents (and me). Doug stayed back with Nate who was passed out in the cabin. Lily loves to drive the boat and has become really good at it. She was standing up here to see the trash in the lake that turned out to be a beer can and coozy that my dad picked up. 

And the weekend continued with another first with Lily. She went off to Girl Scout Camp. This road leads to her cabin and little area for them. It's part of a bigger camp and I hope she's having a blast!!! 

{Missouri} Part 3 - Branson

Welcome! This is the final post of our trip to Springfield and Branson. Part 1 covered the Pythian Castle and Springfield, Part 2 covered the Fantastic Caverns and Lambert's Restaurant, and now to Part 3 - Branson!

Now, speaking of Branson, we aren't a family that goes during their prime visiting time to watch the shows, go to Silver Dollar City, and the like. We did, as a family of four back in the day, go to SDC but I was so small and young that I almost fell out of the water ride when the water came on me. That's small! And also the only other time I've been to Branson, other than driving through it once or twice to go to Arkansas. 

My mom found a hotel that included an indoor water park, called Castle Rock. Lily is a HUGE fan of water… ocean, lakes, pools… so we knew that even though we weren't at the beach, she'd be happy. And boy, was she! 

Even Nate enjoyed it!!! 

Our first full day at Branson also saw a visit to The Butterfly Palace. It is worth the time to go! It'll only take a couple of hours to see the whole thing, if that, and that's if you spend time taking photos of the butterflies. They release newly hatched butterflies twice a day (I think) and it's fun. Lily absolutely freaked out (in a bad way) when they tried to land on her, so she wasn't a fan. However, she did enjoy the lizards, frogs, and other attractions. 

 We ate some delicious food, some mediocre food, and enjoyed our little getaway. Next year we're thinking of Florida again, so let us know if you have any good beaches! Nate will be 2, so he'll be a little bit easier (although I say that lightly as I doubt Nate and easy will ever go together), but it'll be a fun time to take him to the beach. And Lily will be over the moon to go to the beach again! 

{Missouri} Part 2 - Fantastic Caverns

Our second day of vacation started with the Holiday Inn's breakfast, which always provides a nice variety especially for kids! After that we decided to go to Fantastic Caverns, a great little area not too far from Springfield. 

Below are the 13 names of the First Explorers, all women. Pretty cool! 

After awhile in the cave, my camera fogged up… on the inside… so pictures became all blurry, similar to the one above but even more so. Luckily I got a few decent ones! 

When we left, we stopped by Lambert's Restaurant, home of the "throwed rolls"… even Lily caught one!! 

Next… Part 3, Branson! If you didn't check out the creepy photos from Part 1 - Pythian Castle and Springfield, you'll want to check those out too. 

{Missouri} Part 1 - Springfield

After Christmas, my family (my parents, Doug, and the kids) took a trip. This year, due to Nate being more challenging (and young), we stayed close to home. Although in years passed, we've gone to Florida and Alabama. We do plan on going to Florida (possibly) again next year so if you have any recommendations and good beaches, I'd love to hear it!

So this year we stayed close to home. We went to Springfield for one night and my dad watched both kids while my mom, Doug and I went on a tour of a supposedly haunted castle, known as the Pythian Castle. Now, we thought we were actually going on a haunted tour. We got more of a haunted history tour in a group that was way too large. The place was beautiful and we'd love to go back to do a real haunted tour as a lot of things seem to happen there. It was interesting to say the least!

Below are two rooms in the basement. The first was once a gym type area. The second is the tunnel that lead to the boiler room and laundry that were housed in a separate building. The tunnel is supposedly haunted of a man who roams the area. Although we didn't see anything, I definitely felt like I was being watched in the tunnel! It is closed off now but you get an odd feeling down there. 

Below is what used to be a bowling alley. Nice orb, right?! 

If you read the blocks from the other side, they say "ICUDIE" .. I read it as "I see you DIE" … scary, huh? And let's just take a moment to look at the creepy doll. These were both in a room that used to house various kids of different ages. "Petey" is supposedly still there. This is also the room that my mom was poked in and no one did it.

Talk about creepy!! 

Be sure to check back for Part 2 - The Fantastic Caverns and Part 3 - Branson.

{Missouri} Lake Time 2013

In the middle of Lily's Big Girl Room remodel and our deck and everything else going on, we went on our yearly family vacation. We go to one of the local lakes for a few days, stay in a cabin, and enjoy my parents' pontoon. Some years there are more family, others less. This year it was just the 5 of us - my parents, Doug, myself and Lily. It was a lot of fun. We left on Sunday and came back Wednesday, giving us plenty of time on the water. Lily took swim lessons earlier this year and although she still needs more practice (who doesn't!?), it was a dramatic increase in last year's abilities. She could swim between people, her confidence was boosted a million times, and she was so much more comfortable in the water. She wore her life jacket the whole time without complaining (a big plus!) and was happy playing around with the four adults. 

So, here are some photos (minus the sunset shots that I'll show later) of the trip. For those curious, the red heart shape on Lily's forehead is the left over scar from when she fell at daycare a few weeks back. It's slowly getting smaller but it's taking its time!

{Missouri} Lake Trip 2012

For the past 10 years or so, my family has been getting together to go to a local lake. We definitely have our favorite lake and little cabins we rent from a sweet older couple. They aren't 5 star hotels by any means but they are great for our little getaways.

This year I didn't take nearly as many photos as years passed but that's ok. We also normally go for a sunset cruise but I didn't get to do that this year. As Lily gets older, our normal routines change to fit her needs. Maybe next year I'll do a sunset cruise with my parents. They make for beautiful photos!! And speaking of beautiful photos, these are shot with a 6 year camera that I'm afraid is on its way out. Some photos I swear will turn out great and they aren't, it'll make some photos blurry when I have everything in focus. It's annoying, but it'll do until I can afford a nice DSLR (mine's a Canon Digital Rebel XT and has been known to take some beautiful photos).

Anyway, enough about that, here are some photos. If you're family, you'll notice there are more on Facebook.

Last year we didn't go to this lake but did spend some time on the water, as seen here, here and here.