Road Trip 2012! Stop 1

I admit it, I get slightly jealous when I see my friends who get to drop in at their parents for Sunday lunch. I see facebook pictures of my Titus 2 “moms” enjoying their grandkids for the afternoon. I enjoy the pictures but am always wishing my kids had their grandparents closer so we could see them more often. The daunting task of putting 3 kids in an enclosed space for a 20 hour road trip to Michigan, an 8 hour trek down to Tennessee, and then a 14 hour trip home…..Well lets just say I don’t jump up and down about the task!  (although I may blog later about some of things we did to fill the time)
So…..I approached my husband with an idea! Instead of putting the petal to the medal….lets stop and smell the roses.
We first stopped in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It reminded me a lot like Gatlinburg, Tennessee. A quaint little town and upon arrival Levi ask “Is this another country?”

We spent the night in Branson, Missouri…and yep, sister city to, none other than Pigeon Forge!

The kids kept asking to do fun things they saw…and our answer was well, “Nana can get a discount on that at her house!” They understood that answer and didn’t complain.  However, did find one thing that is not at Nana’s house…..and it was SO MUCH FUN!

We all got quackers………

and of course, the Spunky Princess, had to have a PINK one!
We were taken on a land tour into the Ozark Mountains.

Then, we were able to turn our bus into a boat and hit the Table Rock Lake.

Each of the TripleSmiles got a turn being the captain of the boat!


Enjoying the view and the cool breeze on the water!

Another funny story about the quackers. They do make a noise like a duck. So we told the kids they were only allowed to quack their quackers if they saw a pink or purple car driving on the road. After about 10 minutes, the kids said “We don’t see any pink or purple cars!!” Ahhhhh…..the point!