Last week marked our annual trip ‘down south’ to Branson. I’d love to say that we had a fabulous time but I’m just going to be honest and say that once we got there, I was ready to turn around and come home. My kids started fighting and it NEVER stopped. They drove me nuts, Darrin nuts, my sister and her family nuts, my aunt and her husband nuts, and worst of all my parents nuts. I’ve mentioned this before… my folks own 2 time shares down there and are so completely generous to basically pay for my sister and I AND our families to have a real vacation away from homes. These time shares aren’t just motel rooms or condos…. they are nice – REALLY nice. Of course, my sisters kids were perfect the entire time and mine had to be complete crabby brats. [yes children, I know this is YOUR blog but really in all honesty you need to know what you put me through on vacations when you were 1, 3, and 5. HELL – COMPLETE HELL!!! But I love you :-) ] I think it’s way worse when there are other kids along and they are the angels and mine are the spawns of satan. I’m starting to understand that vacations are no longer about rest and relaxation. They are now about keeping children entertained for hours upon hours and days upon days. As long as we were doing something that they enjoyed, the fighting was at bay but unfortunately we DID have to go back to the lodge and heaven forbid we eat out at a place that served food on glass plates with metal utensils and HOLY COW --- shopping???? Really? How dare I enjoy myself in a store. That’s just absurd!
I’m starting to sound a little trite towards my kids … “simmer down, Dina” … as rotten as my kids were, we SOOOO appreciate just getting to leave town for a while. Thanks Mom and Dad:-) Maybe next time we’ll hire a babysitter to come along with us:-) Now that’s a real family vacation. HA!!!!
Pretty much Tucker’s face on the entire trip…
All of the grandkids (except Porter… he was asleep on the boat) and the ONLY time Tuck would step foot on the the tube…
There were a few smiles as long as we were in the pool. That was nice to see… :-)
Not liking this ride…
not liking it one bit…
Ok, maybe it’s not as bad as I thought…
On the last day, my Aunt Candy brought over something so completely special and something that reminded me to just let some things go. There are things in this world so much more important than me worrying over fighting kids, tantrums, or what other people think. And those ‘things’ just happen to be these little ‘gifts’ from God. This quilt made me cry. It makes me cry just writing about it. 
This quilt represents what happens when two people fall in love… when they are crazy enough to have a family… when they realize that life is short and these little people will be grown and gone before we can even say, “How many times do I have to tell you….”.
Thank You Candy. You have no idea how much this precious precious gift means to me. You went through hundreds of pictures and completely managed to pick THE most perfect ones that tell the story of who my kids really are. They are not spawns of satan or rotten brats… they are each unique, sweet little people with their own individual personalities who may throw tantrums and scream hateful words at one another…. but they’re kids and if they didn’t act the way they do, …..they wouldn’t be Tucker, Sawyer, and Porter. I’ll keep ‘em:-) I LOVE it, Candy… I really really love it:-)
….and by the way…. who are those two people in the middle???? Not sure I recognize them:-)
Goodbye Big Cedar! See you next year …
