WHERE Have You Taken Us?!?

Hello, everyone! We took a quick trip over the weekend that I thought I should share about before we leave on our next excursion (in two days . . . eeep!). We've been burning up the road lately, and I'm about ready for our summer to slow down a bit.

Last Friday, the kids had summer run in the morning. Chris took the day off work, so as soon as we got home from summer run, they all took showers while Chris loaded the van for our weekend trip. We hit the road toward Branson, Missouri at about 11:30am with all our kids plus Chloe Jo. It was a full van!

Our main purpose in going to Branson was to be a part of the annual Branson church of Christ lectureship. Dad was scheduled to preach on Saturday evening, but our goal was to make it in time for dinner, singing, and two lectures that evening. It is a three hour drive from our house to Branson, and we made great time driving. We rolled into town at about 3:30pm, and the kids' reactions to Branson were hilarious. They had never been to Branson before, and had certainly never seen a town quite so . . . sparkly, haha. When we started seeing all the glitzy billboards and buildings where the shows take place, the kids were like, "Where have you taken us?!?" Lol. 

We rented a VRBO for the weekend, and it worked out ok. It was a two bedroom, two bath place with a living room, full kitchen, dining room, and balcony. Brianna and Chloe had one bedroom, the twins slept on a pull-out couch, Chris and I had a bedroom, and Bren insisted that he would have no problem sleeping on the floor. Well, it didn't exactly work out that way because Bren decided maybe the floor wasn't going to work for him after all, haha. He crawled in bed with me about 20 minutes into the first night, so Chris bailed to the pull-out couch with the girls. However, Brecklyn wanted nothing to do with that and joined Bren and I in the bedroom. Sleeping between two kids isn't exactly ideal, but we survived!

After we arrived and got settled into our lodging, we had just enough time to change clothes and take a few photos on the balcony before we needed to leave for the church building. 

Brooke and Brecklyn

Brianna and Chloe Jo

Cute kiddos!

💓💓💓

We met up with Mom and Dad at the church building and ate sandwiches there for dinner. We saw many familiar faces, and it was wonderful to connect and reconnect with people we know!

On Saturday, the lectures were only in the evening. That meant we had the day to fill, but we didn't want to do anything that cost much (which is just about everything!). We settled on a tour of the Tablerock Lake dam and fish hatchery. 

Chloe, Brianna, Brecklyn, Brooke, and Brenson

The kiddos had a blast feeding all the fish!

Grampy and Brecklyn

Chloe and Brianna

Brooke and Daddy

Bren and Grampy, haha!

Of course, the kids had to have some lessons from Grampy about the fish hatchery and dam. They have no idea how blessed they are with a Grampy who wants them to learn and understand things!

Beautiful Tablerock Lake!

Brooke, Brecklyn, Brenson, Brianna, and Chloe

The dam has a really neat visitor's center that has great views of the lake and educational activities for kids. We were impressed!

Enjoying the view!

The kids were especially interested in an exhibit about electricity!

This module on boat safety was a hit, too!

After spending the morning at the fish hatchery and dam, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Then, we went back to our VRBO for a little rest time before heading back to the church building that evening. 

Dad preached one of the lessons on Saturday evening, and had quite the crowd from Springfield there to see him. Again, it was wonderful to see familiar faces and give hugs to people who are special to us. 

On Sunday morning, we went back to the church building for worship services.

Chloe and Brianna

Chloe, Brianna, and Brecklyn

Chelle, Brooke, Brecklyn, and G-Jo

Once Sunday morning services were concluded, we changed clothes at the church building and hit the road for home. Our goal was to make it back to Oologah in time for Sunday evening services there. We stopped at Wendy's for lunch with Mom and Dad, and had no problems making it back to Oologah in time for services. 

It was definitely a quick trip, but I am so thankful we were able to make it work. The fellowship of faithful brothers and sisters in Christ is truly a sweet thing!