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Wow, it’s been a while; lots has happened in the thirteen days since I rambled about Beijing. Michael Phelps won eight gold medals, the Chinese girls gymnastics team got away with cheating, and the US once again topped the medal standings. In the meantime, back in the states, I went on our second vacation of the summer.

This time we traveled to former Olympic host city Atlanta, where I lived for about eight years of my early childhood life, in order to visit my brother, his wife, and their dogs. It was our first trip over there as a family and it was quite enjoyable despite driving 1600+ miles (and don’t start in on me about flying being as cheap as driving with the cost of gas; i’ve done the math and it’s just not true, especially when your car gets close to 40 MPG on the freeways). The drive out was pretty uneventful but did seem a bit long for the girls. Coming home was a completely different story…

If you’ve never driven interstate-20 in the southeast states that’s okay, google images serves us well… This is basically what you will drive through for the majority of the trip. The trees are slightly shorter and more dispersed in Texas and Louisiana, but it’s miles upon miles of this in Alabama and Mississippi (thanks to whoever i stole this image from):

So, what was the big deal coming home? Non… Stop… incessant (redundant)… ceaseless (repetitive)… unremitting (loquacious)… torrential downpour. Imagine being surrounded by 30-45 foot trees with a very low and very dark storm system unleashing (as my dad would call it) a gully-washer for two straight days. I can honestly tell you that we would have barely been able to make out the 18-wheeler in the photo above during parts of the drive. Not all of it was that bad, but out of the 13 hours we were on the road, about 10 of them were spent driving in wet and rainy conditions, but alas we made it home safe and sound, just a bit more wound up than I would’ve liked.

The day we returned, Dionna and I also celebrated our 9th anniversary! I don’t know the exact statistics, but i’m going to guess that they’d say we had a very small chance (20%-ish or less) of making it this far based on the circumstances surrounding our marriage, but by the Grace of God and an extremely loving, caring, and all around wonderful wife, here we are… one year short of a decade and growing stronger every year. We dropped the girls off at my moms and went to Dave and Buster’s for a nice meal and hours of game playing fun. I wish I could tell you the wonderful things I did for her on this trip and on our anniversary, but I must confess that there was so much going on at work, school and with this trip that I was a less than stellar husband this time around. Usually I have pretty decent and sentimental things planned, but I dropped the ball this year. I didn’t forget about it, it was just less than memorable. I’ve already apologize profusely for my lack romance this time around and will start planning for big Number 10 as soon as possible.

So you want to know about the anxiety attack? I had one… a real one… it kinda freaked me out along with several other people… it’s embarrassing, but it comes with good news too… but this is already long enough, so i’ll save it for a post in a day or two (Cliffhanger ).

I hope your two weeks without me were as eventful as mine!

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First off… Congrats to Jonathan and Meredith on their new baby boy!

Now, enjoy the slideshow of Branson 2008 (click to view larger, nicer versions):

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Well… here we are… we timed the driving perfect, arriving in the Dallas area right at 5:00 PM on a friday evening, signifying a return to city life. I learned a few things on the drive home that I would like to share with you:

1) When I’m prepared for mountainous/curvy/roller-coaster-esque driving, I do not let nervousness set in. When it came upon me on the drive up, since I wasn’t expecting it and was not used to the Pilot’s handling, I did not enjoy the scenery as I was too focused on the road… today, knowing what I was up against, there were no nerves and I was able to take in the wonderful views despite the pouring rain.

2) Barbie Fun Sparkleberry Poptarts look just as fruity and appetizing after they’ve been half digested and regurgitated into the car. The aforementioned back-roads highways caused nausea in my eight year old… unfortunately Gas stations are few and far between… so the third thing I learned is…

3) When your eight year old says “my stomach hurts and I feel sick”… don’t ask “can you make it another 10 minutes?” … because even though they may venture to try, it is only about 3 minutes later that you hear the upheaval taking place. I’m the parent… i should take the initiative.

4) Speaking of eight yr olds and (un)natural bodily functions… Her “toots” could kill a horse… they almost knocked us out… several times…

5) Its amazing how much fun you can have with city names in Oklahoma… Imagine all the different ways and voices you can use to say “Eufaula” … try chanting it repetitively in your best stereo-typical native American voice… its a blast.

and finally

6) Texas drivers really ARE that bad. I had no problems in MO, AR, or OK… I’d cruise along at two or three miles over speed limit and leave most people in my dust… On the crazy Ozark roads i’d slow down to a pace the locals probably thought was cumbersome, but they refrained from tailing me, flashing me, or honking at me… as soon as i cross the Red River… WOW… you’d think 70 MPH was for the Sr. Citizens.

So, there you have it… Go and face the world.

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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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