Branson Vacation Day 5-Headed Home

We woke up Saturday morning and it was time to check out and head home.  We have good friends who live in NW Arkansas so we took a little detour on the way home so that we could meet them for lunch.  There was also another spot I wanted to take Stephen.  Eureka Springs, Arkansas is nearby Branson and we often went there when we came to Branson.  There is a gorgeous church in the woods there called Thorncrown Chapel.  It is made almost entirely of glass and pretty famous in the area.  We had always stopped there with my family when we were on vacation in Branson and I wanted to show it to Stephen and Jake.

You have to park and then walk down a little path to get to the chapel.

 

 So pretty

Jake was interested for a few minutes, since it's a church, they ask you to be seated and sit quietly while you look around.  Well, Jake was not very interested in sitting still, so we looked quickly and then went back outside so that we didn't disrupt anyone who was wanting to pray or anything like that.

Jake had seen a butterfly out the window and was trying to follow it along the pews.  I could tell the older gentleman who was greeting the visitors wasn't exactly happy with him moving around so much, so we went outside to find the butterfly.

 I really didn't think we would find it, but it was pretty much waiting for us right outside the door to the chapel

 It's hard to see the butterfly in this picture, but I was trying to show that it let Jake get super close to it, like less than 2 feet away.  He was so excited!

 The scenery around the chapel is beautiful!

 

 

 

We left the chapel and went to meet our friends, the Hattiers.  Stephen coached with Ryan and Whitney and I used to go to church together.  These are the friends that set Stephen and I up on our first date :)  They used to live in the DFW area, but moved to NW Arkansas a few years ago.  We were glad they were able to meet us for lunch so that we could catch up.  I meant to get someone to take a group picture for us, but in all the fun of catching up, I totally forgot!  So all I have is a picture of the BBQ place we ate at.  We had to keep our family tradition going :)  They were supposed to be pretty famous in the area for the BBQ...it was pretty good, nothing amazing, but still fun to stop and check it out.

 

After lunch, it was a 6 hour drive home to Dallas.  We had a wonderful time in Branson and can't wait to go back again next year!

Branson Vacation Day 4

Friday morning was our last full day in Branson.  After two days of being up early and non-stop vacation fun, it was nice to not have anywhere to be this morning.  Jake came and laid in bed with us to watch cartoon and eat breakfast.  

The resort had a beautiful swimming area and this was our first free chunk of time to go swimming.  Jake hadn't been in the pool since last summer, so he was unsure for a few minutes, but after that was zipping around with his pool noodle like a pro.  Swim lesson are on our 'to do' list for the summer.

 'Racing' Grandma

 They had the most beautiful hydrangea bushes all around the pool

 

 

Now our plan the night before had been to grill out.  Since we had all the fixings for it, we packed everything up and took advantage of the grilling areas by the pool.  We had a yummy lunch of grilled chicken, mac-n-cheese, beans, fruit, chips, and green beans.  

 We had to drag Jake out of the pool to eat, but I needed him to eat a somewhat early lunch and get him down for a nap.  We had tickets for a dinner cruise on the Branson Belle and needed to leave the condo by 3:30.  Thankfully, the pool wore him out, but he was hard to wake up from his nap!

 

The evening we had tickets for a dinner cruise aboard the Showboat Branson Belle.  It is a beautiful paddleboat that takes you out on Table Rock Lake while you get to each a fancy dinner and watch a show.  Branson is famous for it's variety shows, but most don't start until later in the evening so we didn't go to any while we were there.  Jake is still a little too young.  The Belle has a 4:00 cruise, so it worked out perfect for us.

 

He is almost as big as the anchor

The Showboat Branson Belle

 The view of the dock from the Belle

View from inside the dining room

Our seats:  we were on the main floor about 5 rows back, pretty nice :)

 We had about 20 minutes before dinner was being served, so Stephen and I took Jake exploring around the boat.

Jake was all about being on a boat!

 The Hurricane deck...4 decks high.

Checking everything out.

 Texas Deck!

 The smoke stacks

 The paddles: we hadn't left the dock yet so they weren't moving

Looking down on our table from the 3 decks up

 Sorry for the blurry pic, but Jake insisted on a selfie wih the salt and pepper shakers...he was seriously obsessed with them.  They had these neat push tops, kind of like a tea kettle and he thought they were the coolest things ever!

Seriously...obsessed with the salt and pepper!

 

 They served a 3 course meal and the band played while we ate.  Now, it was pretty early for Jake so he only picked at dinner, but he was mesmerized by the band, especially the drummer (bottom, left corner)  He started playing the 'air drums' along with the band.

Since we were so close, the drummer could see Jake and noticed him playing the drums along with him.  He started waving to Jake, making faces, and playing peek-a-boo behind the cymbals with him.

 More air drums

 Okay, so the total highlight of the trip happened next.  The band took an intermission after dessert was served.  Not 5 minutes later, we see the drummer come out and he is looking in our area.  He came over to our table and introduced himself to Jake, his name was Brian and was seriously so sweet to Jake!  He asked him how old he was and if he liked music.  He told us he has 4 kids of his own.  Then, he made my child's whole trip by giving him one of his drumsticks!  It was the sweetest thing ever!  Jake didn't put it down for the rest of the night and 'played' along on the table during the show.  My Mom got some great pics of him with Jake, but all I got were ones of Jake.  I'll add the rest once I get my moms pictures.

 

 

After dessert, we had about 30 minutes until the show started.  We took Jake back up to the Hurricane deck to see the view of the lake.  We were also able to go up to the wheelhouse and meet the captain!

 

 

 The wheel was massive! The boat is still driven manually, nothing automated.

The paddles in motion

 Then it was back to our seats because the show was starting.  The theme was "Red White and Blue"  They had a 5 member boy band that sang songs, and this crazy talented lady who played the violin, sang, played the piano, and did acrobatic stunts, and there was also a comedian/magician guy.  It was a great show and we all really enjoyed it!

 A better shot of Jake's buddy the drummer, Brian.

 Okay so here, the crazy talented lady was hanging from the silk ropes and playing a mini-violin medly of West Side Story music...only in Branson :)

 

After the cruise we went back to the condo and headed back to the pool.  I was swimming this time so I don't have any pictures, but my Mom got some really cute ones, so again, once I get her pictures I will add them to the post :)