March 20, 2019-Pioneer Woman Trip 2019

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I did manage to sleep later than I have any other day this week. We did comment that Whitman must still be asleep because he hadn’t been in our room asking for help with his morning milk. My first tasks this morning were the laundry and dishes.

Also the ants are back in full force in the house. Graham was the first one to spy them near his bed. I sprayed last night and then he made sure to sleep on the floor so none of the ants got him during the night. By the time that we went to bed, we had seen some ants in the kitchen. This morning they were in the bathroom downstairs. I sprayed liberally all over the place making sure to spray circles around all of the drawers and cabinets that contain food!

The kids started to wake up, well my big boys were already awake, so I started telling everyone what they needed to get started on. This was met without much enthusiasm. I did have to wake Campbell up because my car was the first one to leave the house.

Robby did have to run to get my gas since I used it all yesterday. Then Campbell, Whitman and I were off to pick up Keaton. She had spent the night at Sophia’s house and had a blast. She told us all about it-they made slime, they made pottery, they watched Tangled.

From there, we took Keaton to her last dermatology appointment. They were super pleased about how well her arms are looking. They have improved quite a bit. We still have a few more days of antibiotic left to finish. The doctor did just say to make sure that we keep her arms moisturized.

My next stop was dropping my little three off at Grannymom and Grandpa’s house for the night. They were super excited. Whitman even asked me to hurry up and leave. I think that they have ben busy with Dana’s dogs and even managed to go to Third Realm today.

Robby was dropping off the big three at Nonna and Pops’ house. This crew was excited as well. I think that they knew they were going to get to stop at Hurts donuts at some point, and indeed they did. We hadn’t even left the state, and my crew was finishing Hurts donuts.

After we dropped off the kids, Robby and I picked up the Wilson’s for our spur of the moment road trip to Pawhuska to see the Pioneer Woman. Our first stop was in Fort Smith at Ed Walker’s Drive In. It was pretty good-Robby and I split their French Dip sandwich which is what they are famous for. It was decent but pretty meaty!

We walked around the Hanging Judge National Site before getting back on the road to Oklahoma. We had thought that it would take at least until 8 before we made it, but we were there around 6. The Mercantile was still opened, and we were able to eat at the restaurant. We didn’t have to wait long at all and were able to browse while we waited.

Robby and I were here with the kids exactly two years ago. It was crazy, crazy crowded. It was so full that we couldn’t buy anything, and we sure weren’t going to wait in the line that wrapped all around the building. We kept telling the WIlson’s how full everything was last time, but they didn’t believe us. It probably helped that we arrived right near closing time.

Our meal was good tonight. The biscuits were excellent, but probably not as good as Joanna Gaines’ biscuits that we have frozen in the freezer. Robby and Tony had the chicken fried steak which was a bit bland. I had the spicy pulled pork which was really good, but again very meaty (I know, I probably should have expected that.) Shannon had the lasagna which was the favorite of the table. We were so full by the time that we left, that we didn’t even think about asking for dessert.

We then walked around the area. We passed the Pioneer Woman’s hotel, pizza place, office, and event place. There were also two areas that were under construction that she is probably building or expanding things as well. Then it was back to the car to head towards our hotel in Bartlesville.

The plan tomorrow is to do some shopping back at the Merc tomorrow, sample a few of the sweet things and even go down to the lodge for little bit. We might even squeeze in some pizza as well. It took us about 30 minutes to make it to our hotel, then we munched on cookies in the lobby. Actually, we did eat one just because they were delicious (chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, coconut and oatmeal-actually, better than any food I have had yet this trip.)

March 19, 2019

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• I didn't mark too many things off of my list today. I wish that I could some how explain to Whitman that it is spring break week, and there is no reason to wake up early. Since I was awake at pretty much the normal time, if not earlier, maybe I should have accomplished a few more things off of my list.
• Anderson, Graham and Whitman were the early ones to wake up. They all worked on their school work fairly early this morning. I really should make them do something like this each day of the summer since it takes them no time at all or maybe not since it is a bit of work for me too. 
• Whitman and I read this morning in my bed. I tried to convince him to go back to sleep, but not surprisingly, he would have nothing to do with that. Soon Campbell and Keaton were awake and had me helping them with their school work.
• Keaton and I ran to the Dollar Store this morning to pick up a few little presents to put in a birthday gift. I also ran in Michaels to buy something (for Christmas-yes, Christmas). We hurried home so she could return to playing with the neighbors outside.
• I worked around the house a bit this afternoon, but at 2ish we loaded up to head to Third Realm. On the way we picked up 4 extra kiddos plus Robby dropped Cash off to meet us. The line was long, but when we stepped in the line with 11 kiddos, the line became very long. The worker man was wonderful and quickly let the pass holders move out of the long line.
• The kids all had fun jumping. It took me a while to herd and count all of the crew to get them back in the car. We ran Cash home, then dropped of the Heltz, then ran home to give Keaton a dose of her medicine before taking her to her birthday party. Keaton was so excited to get to her party, and I am so happy that her arms aren't bothering her anymore so she can enjoy herself.
• Once we finally made it home, I had a few minutes of down time before we headed to the Wilson's house for supper. We picked up Reagan from down the road on the way there. Tony had made some delicious chicken and fried pickles that we gobbled up. Actually, I am the one that gobbled up all of the pickles. 
• We stayed out too late because when we came home, the kids still had to do some last minute packing and straightening. We managed to get it all done and get in bed at a decent hour-maybe tomorrow will be the day that we sleep in a little bit.

March 18, 2019

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• Spring Break Day 1 and we woke up to Graham telling us that there was a police car at a house across the way from us. I heard more sirens and got up to look in time to see another police and them ambulance arrive. It wasn't too early, though it was early for a spring break day. What was interesting was that the sheriff stayed for a good long while after everyone else had left.
• Robby's spring break work week is busy so he wasn't much fun today since we didn't see him come downstairs at all. Since he was busy early, I decided that I should get busy as well. I started with my bathroom cabinet and drawers. That didn't take too long but I did have to stop a few times to help people with their school work.
• Then there was the laundry followed by making pumpkin muffins with Graham. We made the muffins to thank the neighbors for watching our house while we were at Branson. I read to Whitman this morning and listened to him read to me. 
• I eventually settled in the kitchen and made 2 recipes of breakfast burritos along with 3 pans of manicotti. It is not often that I think that I need a larger stove or even more burners but today I surely felt that way trying to boil 2 packages of noodles, brown 4 pounds of sausage and scramble 2 dozen eggs. 
• By the time that I had finished my kitchen duty, it was after 1. The kids grabbed their lunches-well, Reagan ate hers around 4 when she came down the stairs. She spent most of her spring break day upstairs on her bed-I think that is her happy place.
• I had planned to take a few folks with me to Third Realm but the neighbors came out to play so I had no takers. Instead I took Whitman to the library. He had asked to go the other day when I ran in on a Wednesday. So this time I gave him plenty of time to look around. 
• At the library, I would show him a book and he would read the title and decide it he liked it. One book was about someone's underwear. When he read that title, he just laughed out loud. Then he walked up to a little bit playing with a toy. Whitman told the kid, "that was my favorite toy when I was growing up."
• On the drive home, Whitman read a book to me. It was one that he did not want to me to turn in so we kept it. He read each word and when he came to a word that he didn't know, he would spell it out for me to tell him the word. When we made it home, he was still reading. I told him to get out of the car but he didn't hear me and continued reading. He eventually came in when he had finished his book.
• Most of the kids played outside for the rest of the afternoon/evening. I worked on cleaning our shower but I think that it needs more attention than just me trying to scrub it. I might need me to tear the tile out-nah, not really. I have plenty of spring break projects but nothing that large. I do have plenty of large projects but nothing on my list for this week.
• Graham made a gigantic sugar cookie this afternoon for our supper tonight. The Wilson's came over to eat our manicotti with us. After eating, we gabbed for a long while the kids played. Whitman and the boys enjoyed throwing pretend snowballs all over the living room as we tried to talk!
• It was a pretty great first day to our break. I haven't decided what I will try to accomplish tomorrow, but maybe I will just take a nap!

March 17, 2019

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• Last night Robby asked me if I had set my alarm. Indeed I had and not too surprisingly, at some point in the morning I had even turned off my alarm. I woke right up when I finally did wake up. I am not sure what woke me up, but it is a good thing that I did wake up when I did! 
• We still had plenty of time to get ourselves ready and make it to church on time. Campbell and Keaton had already laid out their clothes for today to make sure that they remembered their green for St. Patrick's Day.
• We saw all of the grands before big church. On the way to church this morning, Whitman was complaining and Robby told the boy that he was going to sign him up for "Big Church Summer Camp." 
• We had lunch at Grannymom's house. After we ate, the kids enjoyed the nice weather outside and played until we left. We took Cash with us and stopped at Third Realm on the way home. The kids acted like they were pretty tired today-maybe since they haven't been to Third Realm lately, they are out of shape.
• After jumping, we all came home. Robby and I went to work on the laundry while the kids played some more. I think that they played a bit outside before coming in. Cash was with us so they all enjoyed playing with him.
• The laundry took Robby and I a good little bit. It was at least 3 days worth of laundry to fold. I often see people on the computer posting about their mounds of laundry when they have one or two kids. I would like to smack those people over the head. But that wouldn't be nice! 
• Once we finished the laundry, we did work on our grocery list for a bit. We then took Cashy home to his house. Afterwards, we ate at Popeyes for our supper. We did leave Reagan and Graham at home, so we brought them supper to eat at home. 
• We also ran to the grocery store for a little bit. Of course a little bit often turns into a buggy full. Campbell and Anderson enjoyed ringing up all of my groceries for me. Once we made it home, everyone had their showers while Reagan and Graham ate. Then it was time for bed for the crew-I am sure that everyone will sleep in for the start of their spring break tomorrow. (Not really!)

March 16, 2019-Branson Trip 1

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I do believe that hotel sleeping is the best sleeping. Now Anderson told us last night that he didn't like hotel beds. I thought that Robby was going to throw him out of the room. Seriously though, we were both in disbelief at how our child could not like hotel beds-even motel beds.

I guess that just means that the kids' beds are much better than ours. Maybe we love hotel sleeping so much because our bed is pretty sad. If you do remember, the salesperson who sold us our mattress said that it was a good choice for a kid's bed. She quickly changed her story when we told her our budget, and then she highly suggested the kid's bed mattress for us!

I got a bit of track, didn't I? Back to this morning, we slept in a little bit. Then we rushed around to get to breakfast before it closed. We all went together and then ran back to our room to load up and leave. The kids tickle me when we check out of a hotel-it seems that everyone helps check to make sure that we don't leave anything. 

Everyone did help us load up the van, but since we were in a motel there was lots of excitement about pitching our bags from the second floor down to the van below. I am not so sure why this excited the kids so. Robby eventually put a stop to it when he saw his computer backpack hanging over the edge!

From the hotel, we headed on to our final stop in Branson-The Coleman Store. We are pretty consistent at that store. We walk around-touching everything. The kids get in tents, lay on cots and sit in chairs. Then we also almost always buy an ice chest and today was not different. Today's ice chest was bought to store water bottles on a trip. 

Then we headed on towards home. We stopped at our normal rest stop that we always do. It was after the curves so Keaton's tummy was giving her problems. While everyone else ran to go to the bathroom, Keaton and I walked around outside. There was a river behind the gas station so we looked at it for a bit. As soon as she is distracted, she usually perks right up and did today. We then met up with the others in the bathroom to meet up with some folks from home heading to Branson.

We made it to Greenbrier before eating. We stopped at Steak n Shake for our late lunch. The meals were pretty inexpensive so we even had shakes for dessert. They were pretty good-I try to avoid shakes but still had my share as we passed the 3 around taking one bite at a time.

From there, it didn't take too long at all until we were home. Everyone helped unload the car and put away all of our stuff. The neighbors were out so the kids headed out to play and for the most part, they stayed out until Robby called them home for supper.

We heated up all of our leftovers around 7, and then picked up the Wilsons to try out Hurts. Unfortunately, by the time that we finally made it all the way across town, we decided that the line might just be too long to wait. Since there is really no other dessert place around, we ended up at Krispy Kreme. 

We brought our donuts back to eat and it didn't take long for us to demolish 2 dozen donuts. The kids then had some extra energy and ended up back outside playing with the neighbors who were surprisingly still out. 

Once the Wilsons headed home, it was shower time and bedtime for the crew. It was well after 10 before everyone finally laid down here. I think that my crew was pretty tired-or at least I am!

March 15, 2019-Branson Trip 1

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Aw, hotel sleeping is pretty good. Though Robby couldn't get to sleep last night and a few times during the evening, I was hot or I was cold. So I would have to kick the covers off or move closer to Robby, but when we started to stir at 7, we were all super rested.

The boys in the room with us were the first to stir. When they saw that it was 7, they went to get their ipads and then sat with their heads under the cover and played until more people were awake. Whitman woke up and climbed in the bed between Robby and me. I think that he still thought that it was night time because it was so dark outside still.

Soon everyone was dressed and headed out to go and get breakfast. Well, everyone but Reagan, Whitman and I. Reagan and I were still getting ready and Whitman didn't care. Anderson and Graham brought Whitman back breakfast, and then Reagan and I went to grab something to eat. They didn't have a large selection but it was plenty because Keaton had her toast, Robby had his gravy and I had my bagel.

The sun was blaring into our room every time that we opened the door this morning. We assumed that was a sign that it would be warm even though we knew that it was about 10 degrees cooler today. There was still some wind so most of the day was spent with our hats and gloves on. In the afternoon, it did warm up but by the time we left again, we were again getting chilly. Overall, the weather could have been much cooler so they day was actually pretty pleasant. We are pretty sunburned and windburned tonight!

The park opened at 9:30 and we were there before. Many of the rides can't open until it is a certain degrees so the first few hours of our park time was spent walking from here to there looking for a ride. We were able to do Fire in the Hole and the Flooded Mine.

By lunch time more rides started opening. It was crowded but not too bad. Keaton and Campbell are such daredevils. Keaton can ride a few of the big roller coasters-well, she snuck by on them. She is probably an inch to short but with her hat and hair in a bun she passed. She loved every single ride that she went on. And Campbell could keep riding and riding without every stopping.

We were with the Heltz all of the day long. They had come down with just Alyssa to celebrate her 13th birthday. As they were buying their food, Robby did buy us fries to supplement our lunch. Along with our fries we had cracker packages, granola bars and Robby had cut up some sausage that we ate along with some crackers. 

I guess that Whitman's breakfast had been light because he ate a package of crackers, at least 4 slices of Robby's sausage with crackers, a bag of gummies and a a muffin that we had thrown in Robby's bag that he didn't eat at breakfast. He was about to dig into a package of cookies, but it was time to start walking. We did let him have his cookies the next time that we stopped to wait on the big kids to ride a ride. 

We covered the park about a zillion times to day. My watch says that I walked 19 thousand steps today and I am sure that it was at least that. We didn't think that we woulds stay at the park all day long, but since we were in no hurry the day was pleasant.

Some of the kids would have been content coming back to the hotel to eat some more bbq, but instead we opted to try a new restaurant. We picked Falls Creek-Robby had seen that they had catfish and that sounded good to him. Robby and I usually split a meal but the largest catfish plate they had was 2 fillets.

He thought that we should order our own, so we each were brought a plate with a baked potato, another side and 2 catfish fillets. However, the fillets were the size of my computer keyboard. Seriously, they were as long as my head. I couldn't eat all of one. It was laughable at how large they were. And really none of us needed anything to else after the rolls.

We had seen that the sign said that they had throwed rolls. The kids loved the rolls at Lamberts-even more than the rolls, they loved catching the rolls. When I went in to find out the wait, they were even throwing rolls in the entry way. I was eating a roll as I went out to tell Robby and the kids that there wasn't a wait. The place was actually huge, so there was no need to worry about a wait at all.

By the time we had our food, we were all working on our third roll. I did let the kids get one more while we were eating, just so we could put it in our take home box. Yes, I know. I have become my momma. But seriously, we had 2 and a half catfish fillets to take home. They alone nearly filled up my box. If I had a ruler, I would take a picture of them so you could see and really believe me about how big they were.

After eating, we headed back to the hotel. Only probably about having a big family in a hotel room is the lack of bathrooms. Both boys needed to use the restroom so that slowed us down on our showering. We did catch up though and soon most everyone was showered. 

Once most folks had their showers, Robby pulled out his hair trimmers. Anderson had his hair cut first, followed by Whitman and then Robby. Whitman was not too sure about getting his hair cut. He told Robby, "Seriously? We are in a hotel." He continued to tell Robby that we were messing up a hotel. Robby assured him that he would clean it all up. 

After hair was cut and showers were finished, we tired to finish off our ice cream. We still have quite a bit left but I don't think that we can get it home. We will probably pass out ice cream sandwiches at some point during the morning!

March 14, 2019-Branson Trip 1

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While I was hitting snooze on my alarm this morning, Graham came in to our room. I guess he didn't know what kind of sound it was. Then he asked me if I was going to get up. I politely reminded him that of course I was going to get up, but I always hit snooze for 45 minutes! Well, almost! When I did wake up though, Graham had already done his school work and placed it in the floor right in front of our door.

I made a few trips around waking people up, telling people to start their school work, checking things, reminding people to brush their teeth and put away their laundry. Probably by the time that we left the house, I had nearly 5 thousand steps just walking around the house. I did have time to take my shower and fold the last little bit of the laundry. 

By the time that we left this morning, I had given Keaton her medicine and put three different creams on her little arms. They are looking a bit better, and I think that they will even improve more as the antibiotic starts working. We even lotioned up again while we were on the road. I plan on getting those arms better!

We had talked about leaving around 10, but never really rushed. So it was about 10:15 when we finally pulled out of the driveway. We started our trek to Branson. We stopped once for the potty and once for lunch at Arbys. For some reason, the drive up seemed a little bit long to Robby. He did have to battle quite a few construction barrels along with some crazy wind. 

We weren't too sure if we were going to go to Silver Dollar City today or not, but decided that we might as well. We knew the park closed at 6 tonight, but since we arrived around 2:30, we had plenty of time to play. We were pretty surprised at the full parking lot though.

Our first stop in the park was the bathroom, as it usually is. After the drive and the walk up to the park, I was the one that needed to stop in the bathroom. Then we headed on towards Fire in the Hole. A few of the big roller coasters had long waits but the kids did go on Wild Fire. Everyone rode Thunderation twice. This ride is Whitman's favorite.

We stopped for a bit to eat a snack and then as soon as we left our snack spot, Robby handed Reagan money to go and buy a funnel cake. Even Graham said, "did we just have a snack?" We still all devoured that funnel cake though like we hadn't eaten in a few days. It was pretty perfect. Now Anderson wants me to try to figure out how to make funnel cakes at home. Wonder if the instant pot can do that?

We rode the gun ride and walked down the one of the kiddie areas. Campbell, Keaton and Whitman rode on the little roller coaster. It was the longest wait that we had, and it was also the coldest that we were waiting on that ride. Today was 10 degrees warmer than it should be tomorrow, but today the wind was blowing like crazy. We all had on hat and gloves today, and tomorrow hopefully everyone has packed a bit warmer clothes. I will have a whole other layer to wear tomorrow. We did enough today though that if we leave early tomorrow, we will have seen and done it all.

Once we left the park, we drove right to our motel. We have stayed here before but it has been a very long time. We have one room that is larger than a regular motel room, plus there is a kitchen and a whole other bedroom. It is a huge place which fits us perfectly. There is a bed for everyone so I can see us staying here a few more times in the future. 

We all found a few spots on the beds and vegged out for a little bit while Robby did some work. Then we worked on our supper. We had brought bbq, chips and corn. It didn't take long for us to heat everything up. I think that everyone was pretty hungry since we ate a bit over a pound of meat, all the corn and a bag of chips. 

After everything was cleaned up, we then headed to go and find some dessert somewhere in Branson. We headed towards Hurts Donuts but decided that we might just should save Hurts for the new one at home. So we ended up at Walmart in the ice cream section. We bought a few treats along with an atlas. We just need to start keeping one in the car because Robby and I really like to plan our next trip or two or three while we are in the car. We can do it all on the phones but it is just a bit easier to be able to see things on the map.

There was pretty much no one on the strip tonight so it didn't take us long to get back to the hotel at all. We then pulled out the bowls and scooped up the ice cream for everyone. I think that everyone enjoyed the treat-Keaton was really the only one that wanted Hurts so she did get to pick her favorite kind of ice cream-mint.

We watched some tv and played on all of our devices until it was finally time for everyone to head to bed. It was a pretty great day.