It's not often one is so lucky to get all of the family together in one place, for an extended time, and share good memories. But we got lucky the first weekend in November when we met Gram, Poppy, Unkie, Staci and Thurston in Branson. Everyone arrived Friday evening to a condo on Table Rock Lake. The big surprise for the kiddos that evening: Uncle Frank came along! We had dinner and stayed up late playing and chatting. Saturday morning everyone woke up early...some to shop, others to play. After lunch, the whole group headed to Silver Dollar City. Although our family are "old pros", several in our group had not been, or it had been a LONG time since they had experienced SDC. We rode some rides, had some funnel cakes and enjoyed a train ride. Everything was Christmas themed, which was the point of our venture to Branson. SDC lights up EVERYTHING, and it's absolutely spectacular! The train ride stopped not to train robbers (like usual) but to the telling of the Christmas story. And The Flooded Mine (a ride) had Christmas trees among the baldknobbers (hee hee!). The best part was the huge Christmas tree that lit up in time to music, and the lighted Christmas parade. All the children smiled and laughed while the characters paraded by, and even the adults seemed to be in the spirit! Sunday morning was departure time, and everyone went back to their normal lives. Thank you to my parents and to my brother and his family for taking time out of the hectic schedule that is life and being together. Those are the times our children will remember, and those are the stories I want to tell them so they never forget!
