Handsome Branson

ICYMI: Here's Part 1 (The Great Tornado of 2014) and Part 2 (Les Mis(souri) and the Prettiest Wedding Ever) of our vacation.

Mom, Dad, Joey, Brandon, Jax, and I left St. Louis late Sunday morning after sleeping in, enjoying another delicious hotel breakfast, and repacking basically everything we own (see picture here). Since Turin and Peter's gorgeous wedding was only a few days before my parent's 25th wedding anniversary, we decided to caravan down to Branson to celebrate for a few days.

Bullet points and pictures commence!

Sunday

• After leaving St. Louis (and before heading to Branson), we made a stop in my Grandma Mitz's hometown of Linn, Missouri. My dad has a book about the history of Linn so we stopped at the Catholic Church (which had been torn down and rebuilt in recent years), cemetery, second cemetery (where we actually found family!), and then to Dave's Pizza & Wings for a delicious pizza lunch. 
• Back on the road for what seemed like 10 hours (having to stop numerous times for a baby makes the trip soooooo much longer). 
• Grocery stop in Springfield.
• Checked in to our gorgeous condos (my parents & brother stayed in one and we stayed in another) and rested for a few minutes. 
• Dinner at Starvin Marvin's--our favorite place in Branson!
• Back to the condos for showers and sleep. 

A tribute to the unborn (at the Catholic church in Linn)--very powerful!

My Grandma Mitz's maiden name was Lock and her mother's maiden name was Hundepohl.. soooo, we're guessing the Hundepohl grave was her (my grandma's mom) parents. **Confusing much?** We're going to do some digging to find out if we're related to these Lock's in the Linn cemetery.

Our fabulous condo! My parent's was the same, just on a different floor.

All four of my guys at Starvin Marvin's--they have the best all you can eat seafood buffet and we go there every time we're in town. Yum!

Monday

• Slept in and ate a small breakfast at our condo.
• Lunch with the family at Steak and Shake.
• Brandon, Joey, Jax, and I went to Ripley's Believe It or Not, waited in line for over 20 minutes, and then walked out when we were told the price of admission (we're very cheap).. so we went back to the condo and took naps. 
• Shopping at our favorite area, The Grand Village, and dinner at Mel's Hard Luck Cafe (where Jackson managed to have the biggest blowout EVER). 
• Long walk with my mom and Jax.
• Visiting at my parent's condo. 

(If you follow my Facebook page, you've already heard this story so bear with me) The sweet waitress at Steak and Shake brought us a few little souvenirs for Jackson, including a paper hat--I immediately put the hat on him and got out my camera to snap a picture but he wouldn't smile. I finally got him to smile, snapped the picture, and then realized that I didn't even get the freaking hat in the picture!

Christmas store!! We bought a few Sesame Street ornaments for Jax :)

Tuesday (Parent's 25th Anniversary)

• Breakfast in our room (Brandon made a beautiful breakfast for the whole family, complete with yummy Mimosas!). 
• More shopping for the girls & Jax; movie for the guys. 
• Dinner, show, & cruise on the Branson Belle--the "kids" anniversary gift to mom and dad!
• Shopping and ice cream at the Branson Landing. 
• More visiting at my parent's condo. 

Mmm breakfast foods..

Dinner on the Belle.

My beautiful family!

Jackson began fussing during the show so I took him to the (dark) back of the boat to nurse him--I could still see the show just fine and Jax fell asleep!

He laughed and smiled the whole time we walked the Landing--gosh I love this boy!!

My "little" brother, Joey.

The man on the right has the most honest face I have ever seen..

We had such a fun time in Branson and I think my parent's really enjoyed their anniversary--I'm so excited for our next big family vacation (wherever/whenever that may be)! 

Have you ever been to Branson? What are your favorite things to do there?

**Come back on Friday for Part 4 (Jackson's 1st Haircut) of this epic vacation saga**