Jaybrams.com

Its 11:00 PM local time, I’m hi-jacking some poor guys bandwidth who is sharing his wireless with the world (thank you “Wizard15″ wherever you are). This isn’t the first time this week I’ve latched on to his signal… Its a low connection, but it gets the job done and beats walking up to the office every night. On to the fun stuff:

Sunday, Branson Day 2: Sunday drives in Branson are nice and relaxing. The streets are less crowded and the tourists are sparse. We trekked ten miles down the road to the Butterfly Palace. First up, a cheesy / funny / interesting 3D movie about bugs, specifically a Praying Mantis and a Caterpillar-Butterfly (ironically brought to us by Terminex). You’d think that a place called the Butterfly Palace would have a movie with a happy ending, but alas the butterfly gets eaten by the Praying Mantis (but not until after they mate… not together… like other like-species). Then you walk around in the actual butterfly area where hundreds fly around, land, tease and look pretty for you. Dionna had one on her from the time we walked in until the time we left. Photographers would love the place, kids enjoy it, everyone else finds it relaxing and neat. Besides, afterwards you can take your kids through a darkened mirror maze, which is always funny. We finished the afternoon off with a swim.

Monday, Branson Day 3: It rained. We ate lunch at IHOP. We taught our three yr old Chicken Foot (Dominoes). We watched National Treasure.

Tuesday, Branson Day 4: The sun returned and we went spelunking 1000 feet underground… Okay, we actually just walked down concrete stairs at the Talking Rocks Caverns, and it only took us 100 ft below the surface… but we were in a cave! The girls did awesome! They were a little nervous at first (tight spaces, some steep stairs, fairly dark and damp enclosed cave), but then relaxed and took in the sweet cave formations. Mac even did most of the walking herself, which helped the arms and backs of the parents. The guide was humorous and personable and the group wasn’t so large that anyone got lost in the shuffle. After the 45 minute cave tour, the girls panned for gems (eh) and crawled through a maze box. I was shocked at how well Mac did in there as well… Tristen did fine, but her legs are getting a bit too long for some of those tight corners.

Wednesday, Branson Day 5: Today was the last of the big days… The question was Silver Dollar City? or Celebration City?… For us this year it came down mostly to price. So Celebration City it was. All things considered, I’m confident we made the right choice. I know there is probably more bang for your buck at SDC, but the girls thought Celebration City was amazing, and really thats all that matters. When they get a tad taller and a stronger set of nerves (or we bring along the grandparents ), we’ll try out SDC, but this year the smaller version made sense. The rides, from an 8 and 3 yr old point of view at least, were more than thrilling… the shows were entertaining (a hilarious fun Parrot show and their big fireworks/laser show extravaganza)… and their behavior was the best I’ve ever seen over the span of 8 hours… Combine all these factors and you have a fulfilling end to a vacation.

We don’t check out until Friday, but tomorrow is a relax and recover day before the 8/9 hour ride home, but if you haven’t caught the hints, we do plan on returning in a couple of years. The town is a tourist trap, but its an effective one that doesn’t make you feel like they’re raking you over the coals money wise (though sometimes they do). There are tons of places we didn’t go, but i’m not the type to cram my vacations from sun up to sun down. I’d rather find a place we enjoy and come back every few years.

Oh, and I’m turning 27 tomorrow (probably “today” by the time you read this… June 12) as well, so supposedly I get to make all the choices, but hey… i’m the dad… i do that every day.

Pics and vids up within the week. Special thanks to Blake who wished me happy birthday this morning… i guess he just wanted to make sure he didn’t miss it.

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Category : Family, Vacation