Branson Vacation - Day 1

Technially, vacation started Friday @ 4pm when I walked out the door from work. Saturday, Sheri and I began our last minute preparations while Sunday had church and Cooper's last baseball game. Finally, it's bedtime, the night before departure on our first ever true family vacation and Sheri and I can't sleep a wink. Not because of the excitement and anticipation 3 of a 3 week countdown that began after receiving the e-receipt confirmation in my inbox, it was because Olivia was throwing up. Sheri worked on the bed, while I managed a slimy, smelly, screaming child in the tub. Countless "involuntary reflexes" over a garbage can and 4 hours later, Olivia had enough and passed out for the night, along with an exhausted mom and dad.


Doughnuts at home kept the kids occupied while the van was packed and 6 people were all buckled in an hour ahead of schedule! I was impressed, until Sheri discovered we forgot the stroller. Not quite a false-start, as we hadn't left the driveway yet, but the foreshadowing indicated this was shaping up to be an interesting vacation!

Irony proved it would not disappoint. Stroller in tow, and only 2 minutes down the road, we discovered we had no coffee... nor had we told any of the kids to go to the bathroom before we started on our 4 hour journey! So, to the gas station we went, my gauge reading a solid 'F' and irony not caring one bit that we made a special trip last night for the sole purpose of filling up!

Once inside the bathroom, the fun continued, for I quickly discovered that what one kid had coming up last night, another kid had coming out the other end this morning. So while Sheri worked on the coffee, I worked on a pair of underwear, and so spend the better part of our first 2 hours of vacation doing the same thing, all while trying to convince Maddox that we were not lost, that we had to take the backroads to get to the interstate, and find that magical speed where the kids could be entertained by the roller-coaster roads, while keeping Sheri from repeating Olivia's ordeal from the night before.

But soon enough, we made it to the interstate. I took I-44 west, and the steady speed and rythm of the interstate settled the bickering, the tummies, lulled some to sleep, and allowed others the peace of mind to just think.

Just then Sheri broke the silence with an alarmed, "Oh, no!"

My heart sank. "What is it," I asked?

"I forgot to say 'good-bye' to the dogs!"