Home Again, Home Again...
...Jiggety Jig.
That's one of Ethan's favorite things to say (though it sounds more like 'Jiggy Jig' when he says it). I often start the phrase whenever we return from running errands, and he completes it. This time we were returning from vacation, one day early.
Really, it was only about a half-day early. It was because the grown-ups were exhausted and the kids were exhausted and I think even the car was exhausted. We ate entirely too much and did everything else to excess, too. We parasailed, boated, swam, and tried SCUBA. We ate a fried seafood buffet, a buffet breakfast, and oily nasty pancakes. We went to Silver Dollar City TWICE in one week (which we will never repeat). We rode giant swings, drove go-karts and bumper cars, and played arcade games until our eyes crossed. We slept. Some of us did, that is. I don't think Greg had a good night's sleep the entire time we were in Branson.
A recap:
We spent one night at Grandma's house, celebrating Laurel's birthday. Laurel was getting annoyed because Ethan used his noisemaker to blow out the candles on her cake:
The next day we moved on to Branson. On Sunday we rented a boat and spent lots of time on Table Rock Lake. Ethan jumped on Greg, then Greg and Laurel chased ducks around while Ethan and I tempted them (the ducks, that is) with leftover crusts of bread and baked Cheetos. Turns out ducks love baked Cheetos.
You have to wonder what the people in the other boat were thinking of all this. Really. I mean, who goes to the lake and chases ducks around, right? Who thinks they could actually swim fast enough to catch a swimming duck? Must be either Michael Phelps or city folk from St. Louis.
The next day we visited the trout hatchery. We arrived right as they opened, which meant we got to see them dumping new fish in the ponds and we also got to see them do a mass feeding with a feeder truck. It was fascinating. Ethan loved feeding the fish and we managed to occupy the kids for a short time. Laurel naturally became upset when some of the new little fish didn't make it into the ponds, and scurried around scooping them up and tossing them in.
Next up, parasailing. Like many things this week, it wasn't how I thought it would be. I'm worried about heights but felt safe here. It was more relaxing than thrilling, which was just fine by me. It was very quiet up above the lake.
Parasailing was great, but Ethan couldn't hold out for the end of the adventure:
Which was a recurring theme (he went into his room at the condo himself and did this around 6 p.m. one night):
And he was very concerned over the fire cannons at the Branson Landing later in the week.
Recommendation: DO NOT sit near the fire cannons during the show when it is nearly 100 degrees outside.
Laurel and I rode the Skycoaster, something she wanted to do 2 years ago but I wouldn't let her do then. She was just too young. This time, it was a birthday gift to her:
The rest of the week was a blur. We did Silver Dollar City, as I mentioned. I thought for sure Laurel would have fun with the giant swing at SDC, having done the Skycoaster the night before, but she was terrified, screaming "GET ME OFF I WANT OFF I AM NOT OKAY GET ME OFF" the entire time while I tried to no avail to convince her that a) we were not as high as on the Skycoaster, and b) I was quite sure that Silver Dollar City's rides are as safe or safer than the Skycoaster.
Whew.
The rest of the week was a bit of a blur. Greg tried SCUBA, decided he wanted to be certified, and prodded me to try it, too. I did, but my mask was ill-fitting and I was overwhelmed by it all. I'm not a confident swimmer to begin with, and being under the lake with a foggy, ill-fitting mask sort of put a damper on it. I had fun in the beginning though, and I'm willing to try it again.
We came home a half-day early. We love vacations, and we looked forward to this one for a long while. By the time Friday rolled around though, we started thinking about all the things we still had waiting for us back home (a birthday part for Laurel to have with her friends, laundry, book fairs, school shopping, mowing the lawn, etc.) and realized it was just time to go home.
There is, after all, no place like home.
And speaking of home, this will be it for awhile. During our vacation we backed out of our contract for the new home. The sellers are mighty proud of their termite-damaged home with its bowed foundation walls. We, however, are not idiots and will not throw $20,000 in to fix a home when the sellers don't want to come off their price more than $2,000. So here's a big middle finger to the sellers and their real estate agent who tried to screw us over and caused us to throw away all kinds of money on inspecting their home when they really had no intention of negotiating after all.
In the end, it's probably a good thing -- no use throwing good money after bad. Their home can sit on the market for another 6 months with no offers. Good luck to them.
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