"The CLAB" in Branson, MO

"The CLAB" -  is the super awesome name given to the super awesome vacations we get to take with Chad and Annie Pickett.  The name was derived on accident when we all had to initial something, but it's very fitting that it has a name since we have taken a couple trips together in the past, and hope to take many more in the future.  On this last trip we were reminiscing on some of our past "CLABs" and were laughing about how the past 8 or so years have gone for us.  Before kids we took a couple trips together then this is how life got crazy really fast:

2008 - Lydia was born
2009 - Eden was born
2010 - Grace was born
2011 - CLAB to San Antonio, TX!
2012 - Bentley was born
2013 - Claire was born
2014 - Olivia was born
2015 - CLAB to Branson!
2016 - to be determined!  :)

So obviously, until we are done having babies, the CLAB can only happen every handful of years, especially because we seem to be on a perfectly rotating cycle.  :)

So back to Branson, this idea came from Annie who has been there a couple times with her sisters and really loved it.  We were excited to go try something new and experience a new place. We were able to do so many fun things in the couple days we were out there and we had an absolute blast.

Each night we spent some time relaxing in the hot tub before going to bed.  The first night though, it was crazy hot! After very slowly lowering himself in, Chad said, "Yeah, it's hot but it's not too hot" and then he stood up and had a scalding red body where it had been under water!  No thanks! ha ha  So Brad had a couple words with the front desk and the remainder of the nights we were all able to get in without burning ourselves. It was the perfect ending to some pretty fantastic and busy days.

We went to a really delicious restaurant called Cantina Loredo where that guy (that looks a little creepy in this picture) made us the most delicious guacamole.  We ate several pounds of chips, delicious entrees and the best apple pie I've ever had.  In the few days we were there, we ate there twice and it wasn't enough for me!  :)

One morning we spent a few hours in the Titanic Museum.  They had all kinds of cool artifacts and things to see.  It really made me want to break out the old Leo Dicaprio flick, but we still haven't done that yet.

There are several different go-cart tracks there on the main street so we picked one that claimed to be the "fastest and best ones in Branson".  It ended up being a total blast.  We raced twice, and both times Chad was a bit of an aggressive driver and kept causing accidents (or so I'm told, I was too busy racing away in the front of the pack and coming in first place! Who knew I had race car driving skills?).  We had a lot of really good laughs.  It was awesome.

We did some shopping, ate some more, and just had a blast feeling like we had free time to do whatever we felt like!

And then, somehow Brad's bucket list got brought into this and before I knew it we were Zorbing!  We couldn't convince Chad and Annie to do it too, but fortunately they were great photographers and videographers of the whole experience.  We ended up sending the video of us rolling down the hill to my mom and my kids enjoyed watching it over and over again.

 It was a fun experience - one I'd probably be ok not doing again though ha ha.  Brad's laugh as we rolled down was the best, and I love that we have these weird, crazy experiences together so we have something to reminisce about when we're 90.  :)

I look a little dizzy, which I totally was!

 And then we were able to see some really amazing shows!  On the first night we saw a magic show, which was really good but also really frustrating to me!  I hate feeling so tricked and deceived and I just wanted to know how he did all those crazy things.  Then we saw a play called Jonah, which is the story from the Bible of Jonah and the Whale.  The theater was amazing, and the stage and props were like nothing I've ever seen before.  The story itself though was a little slow, and Jonah was kind of whiney and annoying, but I'm still glad we saw it!

The "Jonah" theater.

The other two evenings we saw "the Haygoods" and "Six" and both of these shows were absolutely amazing.  The music and instruments were awesome and I'd highly recommend both of these shows.  They were so fun.

That's the bass guitarist zip lining upside down from the back of the theater down to the stage.

Brad and I had fun recreating some of the show posters, which just ended up being a bunch of really awkward pictures, but we had fun.

We went to one place that had a ride through a haunted maze, then we did a mirror maze, and then ended that excursion going through the wax museum.  It was all very fun and entertaining.

I just can't say enough about how much fun we had.  When the time came to head out we were all a little sad it was ending.  We had some time to kill though before going to the airport so we figured we would go into the Borders Book Store and find a quiet corner to play a couple games.  Well apparently that book store was the place to be that day because it was packed and no where near quiet!  We ended up finding a good table in the kid section and played a couple card games.  Then Brad brought out a new dice game he got while on the trip called Tenzie, and this is where it went downhill fast. The game is fast paced and apparently pretty loud because we started to gather a little crowd of curious children... and then their parents... and then a book store employee who very kindly was trying to make us leave.  The conversation was something like this "Ummmm, this table and section is really supposed to be for kids" and Brad said, "So are you asking us to leave?"  It was all very funny how it went down.  Who knew we would end the trip being kicked out of a bookstore.

I love these trips for so many reasons.  It's so nice to get away as a couple, and even better to do it with friends we love so much.  I'm so grateful for my mom and her willingness to take such good care of our kids.  I was excited and anxious to get back - especially to my baby girl who would cry hysterically every time I tried to talk to her on FaceTime.  Poor baby - we missed each other.  :)

Thanks Chad and Annie for being such amazing friends!  We look forward to the next CLAB!!!