Volume 2- The Timeline

SATURDAY APRIL 10TH~

Flying and driving.....

This was the girls first flight. They both did very well. At one point when we were above the clouds and all you could see was blue sky and a lot of puffy whiteness Hazel asked if we were still moving. I also found out that turbulance has a different effect on a 3 year old than say...me. When we were coming into Denver and bumping all over the place I heard Hazel at one point say "weeee", not exactly what I was thinking.


We got off the plane in Kansas City and got right into Aunt Sandi's van and headed the last 4 hours to Branson. It was then that Hazel decided to have a long day, tired girl melt down about wanting ketchup for her chicken nuggets. All in all we were blessed with an uneventful trip and safe travel.

SUNDAY APRIL 11TH

Went to church at Hollister church of Christ.
Went shopping with Kira at the outlet mall
Went to Dixie Stampede with Kira, her boys, and my mom. This was a whole lotta fun!!! The girls were chosen to represent the North in the chicken chasing race. They went down and each chased a chicken to the other end of the arena in front of a whole lot of people. I was so proud of them. They did an excellent job! I wish I could have taken pictures of it. They won a medal and a book. Such good little chicken chasers, good thing they had practice. =) We had a wonderful time with Kira and the boys. If I would have known this would be the only time we saw them the whole trip I would have taken pictures. Sorry Kira. =(

Here we are in front of one of the horses in the show. You can see the girls medals around their necks.

MONDAY APRIL 12th

We walked the girls like crazy!! Mom and I and the girls walked from grandma's to the Branson Landing, and met Eric there. It is about a 4 mile walk round trip.

We had to cross a bridge on our walk and saw some big 'ole turtles.

Here the girls are using some their energy reserves running on the board walk at the Landing. We had already walked a mile or so at this point.

Here we are at The Bass Pro Shop. This is a true fishermans Mecca! I bought the girls hats while we were here, because the sun was out and we aren't used to it. Hazels has a camoflauge butterfly on it. Love it!

Needless to say that on the way home from this trek, mom and I were backpacking 2 tired hungry children.

TUESDAY APRIL 13th

We started the day off with a 10 am show with Eric. The show was called JEERK. It is a group of Swedish guys who are Rhythm Artists. It is similar to Stomp, in that they use all sorts of things to play as instruments. Here is a sample.......



Violet was up and dancing pretty much the whole 2nd half, she got a few compliments from people behind us after the show. Hazel gave all 5 guys high fives and fist bumps after the show.

The weather was INCREDIBLE while we were there. We took advantage of a creek at Stockstill Park and played. It was great because it wasn't very fast moving water and not very deep. Mom had fun building a little pool, we were hoping to get the little fish in there to catch. But they are fast little boogers.

Here are my sweet girls playing in their swimsuits in April.

We didn't catch fish, but we did find a couple of "crawdabs", as Violet says. We ended up taking these two guys back to grandmas house. They sat on the porch for a few days, but it's interesting that they don't live if you don't feed them.


Tuesday ended up being one of our busiest days. We ended it by going to a show about Noah. It was a pretty incredible set. The whole first half is done on the stage and is when Noah is building the ark. When the 2nd half starts you are "inside" the ark. Curtains on the right and left of the auditorium raise up and there are 4 stories of animals all around you. I wish I could explain it better. The girls LOVED it. Hazel sat on my lap the whole time, and when Noah first came out on the stage she kept insisting that she wanted to go up and talk to him. I finally asked what she wanted to tell him and she said "I want to tell him Violet has a loose tooth". You just never know what she is going to say.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 14th

We went to the Grand Village and had lunch at Mel's Hardluck Diner, where the wait staff comes around and sings to you during your meal. At least 3 people came up and sang to Violet, but she was so shy wouldn't look at them.


After lunch we walked around the Village and found this big chair

That night we sat around and watched those slide my dad brought.

THURSDAY APRIL 15th

Silver Dollar City Day! Thanks to Eric my mom and I got in for NOTHING! THANK YOU ERIC!


They have a GREAT kids part of the park. With rides made specially for kids Violet and Hazels age, but still fun for the adults that brought them. You can see Violet is thrilled about the coaster, Hazel was more content to grip the bar in front of her for dear life. But she still rode it twice!


They have a fun water park part, the blue on the ground in the right corner is where water jumps out of holes in the ground. Once again, couldn't have asked for a more perfect day, and the water was very refreshing.

We rode the train in the park. Smiles all around....


We had rode almost everything there was to ride, and then we came upon the Powder Keg. The name alone should have had me thinking twice about taking Violet, but I took her anyway. This thing starts off going 0-53 mph in 2.8 seconds, Violet was done with this ride 2.8 seconds into it. I spent the whole rest of the ride saying "it's almost over, just close your eyes".



She didn't cry until we were off of it. I think I will have to preface every roller coaster from now on in life with "it's not as bad as the Powder Keg".



That night we went to Peirce Arrow, which is the show our friend Tim is in. It is a very good show, with lots of talent and a very funny comedian. If you're counting, that is 4 Branson shows in one week, we were showed out. Once again a VERY long busy day.

FRIDAY APRIL 16th~

I got to go to Bob Evans for lunch, YUMMY! Then back down to the creek to play and "release" the dead crawdads.

After an hour or so of playing in the water, we went to a playdate at the Storms.


If there is a dress up dress to found, my girls will find it! Here are Hazel and Emma.


My social whirlwind Violet has found a fast friend in social tornado Emma.

SATURDAY APRIL 17TH~

I have no pictures for this day. It was mainly doing last minute running around and getting in all the visiting time I could with my grandma and grandpa. I did get to eat at the last place on my list, The Shack. Then that night we went back to the Storms' for dinner and a little last minute visiting.

SUNDAY APRIL 18th~

Good bye day. =(

We had to leave Branson by 10 am so I spent the morning packing.

And taking last minute pictures of a lot of VERY special people in my life. I don't know many 31 year olds that are blessed to still have both sets of grandparents. I love my grandma and grandpa Isenberg very very much, it hurts my heart to be so far away from them.


After a 4 hour drive back to Kansas City, with a miniature tour of homes my dad once lived in growing up, we were back on a plane headed to Oregon.



When we got back we got a very good Welcome Home present. A beautiful view of Mount Hood.

This was a trip I will never forget, but most importantly I don't want the girls to forget.