Happy Birthday Ryan!

Happy Birthday to my big 6 year old!



Grammy and Papa came over since Grammy wasn't able to make it to the party


CHEESE!!!

Ryan's 6th Birthday Party

Ryan had a Lego Birthday party with 12 kiddos and numerous adults - it was 100 degrees outside so we all agreed an indoor party would be the best :)

A Lego birthday cake and candles of course






Opening thousands of gifts is tough work...


I think the space launch pad was a big hit


Look at this cool wrapping paper Trever made for Ryan


All the guys checking out the homemade card Trever made. I have to laugh at Trever's cheesy smile here.


Caroline - Ryan's girlfriend






So we had them pick teams to do a ping pong ball relay.  Too funny.



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Caroline is pretty talented


Here is the balloon race - if you can get past Ryan's melt down in the middle, it is pretty humorous



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All the guys decided to pop all the balloons.  Apparently that is pretty difficult


My friend Candy made lego hair bows for the girls - aren't they adorable?  Here is Jorja modeling for me


Ahhhh, finally - we have the airport!


This scooter is pretty cool!






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HAHAHAHA - Lego overload!

Branson Vacation Day 7

The girls went shopping and the boys went golfing. We drove past this cool looking dinosaur mini golf place on our Ride the Ducks excursion earlier in the week so we decided to check it out.



Papa attempted to keep score for about two holes then realized it was not worth the effort. The kids didn't care and Grandpa and Daddy were so terrible it didn't make much difference.





We came out of this tunnel through the middle of the volcano and looked straight ahead at a GIANT mechanical T-Rex. He was really cool looking and the boys were definitely checking him out. The "scary" part is that he had a boot and what looked some tattered clothes in his mouth.



This gives you and idea of how large that T-Rex is. If you look closely in his mouth you can see the boot on the right side. Notice the climber on the wall is missing his right foot. His pants were all shredded and bloody.



This is the front of the house we stayed in. The boys loved that there was a bridge to get to it.





For our last night we went out for ice cream, then stopped by the dam on the way back. Didn't have the camera, so these are from my phone.





We walked down to the water (88 degrees) and the boys decided to stick their feet in. Luckily they were wearing their water shoes. Note that Eric is getting a tad wet here - haha.

Branson Vacation Day 5

SILVER DOLLAR CITY!!! Even while melting, it was still fun.
It was actually raining when we got there, so no rides were running, but luckily that passed quickly




Seriously - could we find a smaller horse for Sean?








The flooded mines ride was really cool!  Everyone in the boat had a gun to shoot at targets



Anyone else find this scary?






Both boys thought this was cool - you could roll/rotate this giant marble ball since it was covered with water





We had to wait a while for the train - the conductor came over and let the kids wear his hat






We were held up by bandits while on the train


Ryan holding up his hands




This area was sooo cool!  There were hand crank water canons on the sidewalks and you could spray the people on the boats as they went by.  Only problem was, they had cannons too :)

I was actually quite impressed with Ryan, I think we have hit another milestone.  He has never liked being sprayed with water, NEVER.  He always wants to be in control of where the water is.  The first time he got sprayed here, he started to cry.  However, he went back and had a BLAST!






Not sure if you can tell how soaked he is here.


Papa decided having an umbrella would really help his cause.




Ryan, Sean, Papa and I all rode the boat after this.  We were absolutely drenched.  Grandpa manned the guns on the side and followed us throughout the whole ride.  He was a tad wet as well!  It felt great in the heat, and Ryan had so much fun.

Ryan and Sean wanted to ride the BIG swings, while they waited, Eric decided he should ride too, so Grandma took him.  This is when my camera decided it was out of batteries.  And believe it or not I could NOT find a gift shop anywhere in this area to buy more batteries. BAH.  So I didn't get a picture of Eric and Grandma.


The rest of these were taken with my phone, not the best, but better than I thought they would turn out.

Grandma and Eric decided to ride the frogs.  We STILL hear about the frogs to this day.  I think this was the highlight of the day for Eric.


Not sure if you can hear Eric as he comes around, but he is saying "I hoppin'"


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As we stood in line for the tram to take us back, Eric passed out on Sean's shoulder.  It was a long, hot day, but oh so much fun!