I made itineraries for everyone (Farrah's had emojis for each thing listed), and we loaded up the vehicle with clothes, fishing gear, food, and a lot of extras, and we headed out early on Thursday morning. A lot of rain and thunderstorms were in the forecast for this trip and about an hour into our trip it started to rain. On our way, we stopped at the Wild Animal Safari Drive Thru Zoo! We kept this a surprise from the kids until we pulled in. We had to wait about 20 minutes for a break in the rain, but we saw all the animals we really wanted to see. I went as a kid and we were able to feed the animals from our vehicles at that time, but now you could ride on a safari bus and feed them out your window, or you could drive your own car but without any food (which is what we did). The animals, however, still came up to our vehicles which made for a lot of laughs!
After that, we stopped for lunch at Lambert's Cafe: home of the throwed rolls. It was my first time eating there. The food was similar to Cracker Barrel, but their rolls definitely were delicious. We then made it to our hotel in Hollister, right outside of Branson, and I gave Farrah a much needed nap while Keane took the big kids to the hotel swimming pool.
We then got ready and headed to the Branson Landing to Buster's Old Time Photos - the one thing I had to do on our trip, and it was a blast. Keane chose the era as the Wild West, the kids looked amazing in their attire, Farrah had fun playing dress-up, and the two girls working were amazing with her and made it a fun experience! It was costly, but we purchased five 8x10 photos, plus a beautiful wooden frame with a mat.
After that, we met up with my old coworker, Debra, and her fiance, Tre', for dinner at Garfield's overlooking the water. After dinner, it was too late to catch Electrify, the music and light show at the Ferris Wheel, so we headed back to our hotel room and chowed down on some Ben and Jerry's before bed.
The next morning we headed out to find the waterfall and old mill remains at Mirror Lake. It was gorgeous, and if we ever go back, we will make sure to bring some hiking shoes and go on the trail that leads to the bottom of the waterfall. We then made a trip to the lovely (dreaded) Wal-Mart and got our last minute supplies before driving down the long and winding path to our cabin!
The cabin was gorgeous inside and had such an amazing view. A huge bluff was on the other side of the White River, practically in our backyard, and mountains were the view from our front yard. It was peaceful and relaxing, and it was everything we had hoped for in a cabin.
Now, the fishing wasn't the best, unfortunately. After some of Keane's research, it seems we were a little too far down on the river, and fishing is better up north where trout are released each year. Plus, there was a lot of rain before our vacation, and after a lot of rain is not ideal fishing either. We seriously had some answered prayers on the weather, though. For a couple weeks before our trip, rain and thunderstorm chances were at 80% the whole weekend, and it didn't rain on us at all while we were there, except for on the trip down and a little on the trip home!
The boys went right to fishing, though, and caught some small bass. Us girls played in the sand and put our toes in the very cold water. We relaxed, enjoyed grilled burgers and brats, homemade sides, baked cookies, ran around the cabin that evening and watched a movie relaxing on some nice leather furniture.
Both kids had their own rooms, and Farrah slept part of the night in the pack-n-play, and woke up and ended up in our bed sometime through each night.
On Saturday, Keane decided him and Kaden would rent a boat for half a day to do some trout fishing. Luckily, they each caught one so we were able to have some freshly cooked rainbow trout for supper, which was very delicate and delicious!
While they fished, me and the girls went back to Blanchard Springs Cavern (where Mirror Lake is) to swim in the spring. It was cold, but warm enough to get it, slowly, and the water was so clear! We could see fish swimming at our feet. We then went and ate at Angler's Restaurant and waited at a small beach until the boys returned.
That evening, Kylie and I fished at our cabin with the boys while Farrah napped and we both caught one of the small fish, too! When Farrah woke up, we all played in the sand for quite some time, building castles and passageways and I buried Farrah in the sand.
We stopped and had lunch at a Sports Restaurant and Bar. After saying a prayer at dinner at the cabin, and before we headed home, Farrah has been hooked on pray Jesus, so at the restaurant, she wanted us to pray before we ate. We all held hands, bowed our heads, and prayed! We stopped at two Red Boxes but were unable to find the movie the kids wanted (Boss Baby), refueled on gas, and then we stopped at a Kohl's to buy the kids back-to-school outfits. We were merely 60 minutes from home, after being on the road for 707 miles on this trip, and Farrah finally and accidentally fell asleep! It was a monumental moment for our family! However, about 20 minutes later, Keane stopped at a grocery store to pick up some Swiss brats for supper, and this awoke the beast.
We were so happy to be home. Rudy and Lenox left us snacks and other goodies purchased by my parents (they were on pet duty while we were gone). It was definitely a nice welcome home, along with a cleaner house than we had left it. Keane and I both agree that while vacations are nice and you need the get-away every now and then, what we enjoyed the most was coming home and appreciating what we have every day. Keane and I spent time in our garden, Kaden went right to fishing, Kylie went right to the couch and caught up on her social media with Wi-Fi, and Farrah played fiercely with all her toys and baby dolls.
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