I’m back from my mini vacation to Branson. I had fun just being with hubby and the kids even though it was not one of our better vacations. We didn’t stay at our usual condo that we love. Instead we stayed at The Grand Country Inn because they have an indoor water park. I knew the room wouldn’t be much because of how inexpensive it was but at least it was clean. The water park was perfect for the age of my kids but the water was way too cold on the first day but was much warmer the next. Someone must have complained. Thank God for complainers!

Our plan was to go to Silver Dollar City on Monday but it turns out that not only is it closed on Mondays but it doesn’t even open until next weekend. So onto plan B which we didn’t have. We let the kids pick what they wanted to do which was to visit Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. Big waste of money! Like a $68 waste of money. To top it off Madeline slammed the car door on Connor’s hand which immediately bruised and swelled up. We spent the next two hours in an urgent care center to spend $206 to find out that no it was not broken. He was a brave little guy though!

We grabbed lunch then visited the Titanic Museum which was well worth the money. The kids loved it because we were given passports with a name of someone who was on the Titanic. They enjoyed looking for information and artifacts about themselves during our tour.

A vacation would not be complete without someone being sick which happened to be me. I have the mother of all head colds. You know the kind where your nose is stopped up but manages to still run. I’m quite a sight with my red nose, open mouth breathing, and dark eye circles from lack of sleep. Hubby says he’d still do me. Not sure if that’s a compliment though.

The great thing about family vacations is how well you get to know your kids. Well maybe it’s not always great but definitely informative. I think Isabelle may also have Tourette’s Syndrome because she was doing a lot of sniffing. She has done this sniffing for some time but it was more pronounced and evident that she can’t help it. Asking her about it made her do it even more. Sniffing was also Madeline’s first tic. So we’ll see. It would not surprise me if all my kids end up with Tourette’s. I just don’t breed well. At least they’re cute!

Madeline informed that her and her friends play a game where they tell each other their deepest, darkest secrets. She asked if I wanted to know what her secret was. I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to know the deepest, darkest secrets of my eight year old but I was quite relieved that her secret is that she loves the show Blues Clues. Ahhh, the innocence.

Connor told his daddy the sweetest thing. We threw coins in a fountain and made wishes. Later that night when we tucked them into bed Connor told my hubby that his wish was for the boo boo on his wrist to get better. (Hubby had surgery on a broken wrist two weeks ago). How sweet is that?

All in all it was a nice vacation and hopefully our kids will remember these times with fond memories.

Now I’m catching up on laundry, phone calls, and emails. Many of the emails are from my crazy estranged mother boo hooing about her skin cancer and in depth details about the cancer that was cut from her vulva. I should feel more sympathy for her but she pretty much brought it on herself. For many years she tanned in tanning beds every day and sometimes several times a day. We warned her that she was going to get skin cancer especially since her own mother had melanoma but she told us to mind our own business. Now she expects us at her side and taking care of her. I’m sorry but I’m a firm believer in taking care of your children so they will take care of you. I feel bad for her in the same way I do for anyone who is going through a difficult time but do I feel a desire to rush to her side and take care of her? Hell no! All she is getting from me is my prayers and that’s all I have to say about that.

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