Branson, and Van

The kids had a 4-day weekend & we booked a mini-trip to Branson, taking advantage of the off-season hotel rates. It was cold! 

We stayed at the Grand Country Resort & took advantage of the indoor waterpark. When I asked Leah what her favorite part was, she said the bunk beds: 

They were a little flummoxed with the TV with no streaming. 

Amelie took her book to the pool: 

Leah was big enough to go down most of the slides! (With a grownup!) 

There's Sam in the wave pool: 

There was a giant bucket of water that would overturn - a bell would ring giving the kids a warning so they could run over there and stand under the bucket.

Do you see James? 

Leah in the wave pool (when it was being a regular pool): 

There was also a not-too-hot tub that kids could get in and more things that I am forgetting. I didn't take many photos at all! We also played mini-golf in a fun blacklight course - Leah got 2 holes-in-one! 

And we did go-karts and ate pizza and the kids had ice cream at nearly every meal (including breakfast). 

We very nearly didn't go - and we missed the whole first day - because there was weather on the drive down south of Jefferson City & we got in a car accident & had to be rescued by the state highway patrol. Here is Leah waiting on the side of the road - absolutely every flake of  this snow was melted later in the afternoon. 

It was all very exciting. There was a question about whether all 5 of us would fit in the tow truck. 

Here's $8,000 worth of damage to the van - we drifted into the barrier when trying to stop to avoid the pileup up in front of us (you see the semi off the road in the photo above). 

So we bought a new van - a hybrid / electric Pacifica that we had to drive down to Sedalia to get. 

Here's Sam figuring out how to charge it: