A Nice Visit

This has been a great week (and its only Wednesday!). I always tell people to call me when they are down in Branson visiting, to call me so we can come down there and see them or come to our house for a home cooked meal and a place to hang out. Well, most people never take me up on the offer, but I'm so glad that my cousin Molly did. We are so distantly related, but since the first time we met, we have just "clicked". We are very similar and get along wonderfully. I haven't seen her since our wedding (5 years ago), so when she told me that her and her kids were going to be spending a week in Branson and would like to get together, I was super stoked. Her in-laws (which is my dad's cousin) was going to be with them for part of the trip, so we had arranged for all of us to hang out on Saturday. It was quite a clan. My parents, all of us, Molly and her 3 kids, her in-laws and (part of the time) her parents. We had a great time. They were staying in a cabin in Branson, so we decided to go to a beach for a while and then back to their cabin for dinner and games. This was the first time that me and Ryan and my parents had been to this beach. It was so nice and clean. Its called Moon Shine Beach and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Here are some pictures from the beach.

Who knew we had such a nice place to go, here in Missouri? Due to the heat, we were only out there for a couple of hours.

Adriana had a blast. Molly's kids are so sweet and well behaved and they were fun to be around. Adriana worshiped the ground her daughter, Emma, walked on. Emma is 8 years old and loved having a little follower. They played like sisters and instantly got along wonderfully. We finished Saturday night out by grilling and playing games. We had a great time full of laughter.

Molly and I made arrangements for her to come up to our house on Monday and spend the day. She wanted to do some shopping and hanging out. I was thrilled to have her come and spend the day with us. Our day was jammed packed. We shopped, ate some good eats and took the kids swimming that evening. After swimming, they were able to come over to our house and play and visit some more. We had a great day!

Adriana and Emma

Tuesday, we went down in the evening to Silver Dollar City to ride rides with them and hang out. We ended up staying until the park closed at 10pm. The gage in my van read 103 degrees that day, it was hot! But once the sun set and we rode some water rides, it wasn't too bad. We had a great time and of course, Adriana had a blast! I love how our kids and her kids got along so well.

Jonas and Molly getting to ride the elephants

Jonas, Adriana and Emma riding the butterflies.

Brady, sad that he got stuck on such a slow ride.

The girls being silly.

Making funny faces.

This is what we did to the kids by the end of the night at Silver Dollar City! J/K! They had a blast playing together.

Sadly, this is the best shot I have of all of us. It was HOT, 10pm and we were wet from the rides. We were so worn out but had a great time! Ryan told Molly that her vacation was wearing him out!

Thank you Molly and the kids for coming and seeing us and letting us spend time with you! We will have to do it again!