Missouri Trip

Last weekend was Susie's fall break, and we used her days off to travel to Missouri for the Bloome Family Vacation. Susie parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this month, and in lieu of a party they wanted to take a trip, so we all converged on the Lake of the Ozarks for four days.

We got there Friday evening. Angie and Jerry, and Rosalind and Harry had already arrived and were making dinner.
We took some time to look around our awesome house, which was very graciously offered to us from a friend of the family.Above is the upstairs living room with the fireplace and big screen T.V. Below is the kitchen, which was stocked with every gadget and utensil we could want.

There is another huge living room downstairs as well as two bedrooms, one of which we claimed as our own.

The area where we spent the most time, though, was out on the big deck that had a great view of the lake. It was Jackson's favorite spot.

After we'd had our tour, Jerry was ready to serve us some great ribs that he'd cooked in the slow cooker.
We all relaxed and ate ourselves silly while we got caught up around the table. . .
The Bloome girls then retired to the couch, where they talked and laughed some more. Can't tell these three are related, can you?

The next morning Jackson was up early to have some breakfast with his Bella, and they made big plans for the day over their eggs and bananas.When Grandpa woke up Jackson, ran the itinerary by him, and he, as usual, was happy to do whatever Jackson and Bella wanted to do.
So we went for a boat ride. Not just any boat, mind you. We went out on the Celebration yacht for a two-hour lunch tour of the lake.

The weather was just perfect, and the scenery was, too. We saw some amazing houses and soaked up the sun.

Then we went down below for our BBQ lunch. Jackson put away our baked beans for us as well as relieved everyone of their ice.

Susie got a chance to catch up with her dad a little bit over lunch. Aren't they a cute father-daughter duo?

After lunch Jackson was eager to get back up top where he could feel the breeze in his hair and goof around with his Aunt Diva.

She likes to tell him, "I'm the fun one," and he laughs and says "Yeah."

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging around the house watching baseball or at the outlet malls. The evening was spent on the deck blowing bubbles with Jackson.

He would say "blow bubble," and we would. He would say, "blow more," and we would. Then he would say "blow big bubble." As you can see, he's got us all well trained.

Jackson also enjoyed the attention of his Bella and his grandpa, whom he adores, and we think the feeling is pretty mutual.Thankfully the mommies were able to steal a few cuddles too, but as you can see in the picture he was always eager to run back to Bella and Grandpa.The next day Rach, Suz, Jack, Bella, and Grandpa were off to an indoor waterpark. We love this picture because you can see how big it is compared to Jackson.

He walked in, looked up at that and said "Awe-some!"

There was a "lazy river" that we all floated along singing "Row Row Row Your Boat" while Jackson kicked his feet.

Rach and Suz also went down the big water slide (the one you see in the top right corner of the first waterpark picture). It's about three stories high, winds out of the building and back in, and is completely dark. After we rode it a few times. Susie's mom decided she wanted to try. We were shocked she wanted to but were eager to see her do it. Of course we also wanted you to see it too.

Did you notice how you can hear them screaming long before you see them come out. I looked at Jackson and said "That was hilarious." Jackson, through his giggles, said, "Hil-WARE-e-us!" Go ahead, watch it again :)

Not to be outdone, Grandpa Harry also went down the slide. We don't have a video of that because we didn't know he was going to do it, and he actually scared us quite a bit, but he did it, and he said he would have done it again if the slide had an elevator instead of all those stairs.

Jackson ended up being the only part of our group who didn't want to go down the waterslide. He did go down one of the little ones though, and he was not in love with it. He was a much bigger fan of the beaver raft in one of the side pools. While the raft was a little tame for our taste, how can you say no to a smile like that?

Of course he was almost as fond of climbing naked through the lockers. That's our boy.

Back at the house we got Aunt Diva and Uncle Jerry caught up on the grandparents' water sliding adventures. Needless to say Jackson had to say "Hil-WARE-e-us" many more times.

Monday the Spangler clan and Bella and Grandpa headed up to Ha Ha Tonka to do some hiking.

First we hiked an easy trail up to the ruins of a big castle . . . seriously there was a huge castle in the middle of Missouri.

Who knew, right? It was pretty cool, and it was a very easy hike along a paved path, so we decided that we had plenty of energy for another trail.

We took a more rugged path under, around, and back over a natural land bridge. It was an awesome sight, and the trail was very challenging. Grandpa wasn't able to come along on this one, but Bella hiked it like a pro.

We had to take breaks at a few points along the way, which just gave us a chance to take in the beautiful scenery, like this shot across the valley toward the castle.

Jackson, as usual, was enjoying the ride. He loves being in his backpack, and he's become our little scout because he likes to watch for the trail markers.

However, it isn't easy to be such a hard working scout, and as the trail wound on, he started to fade.

By the time we reached the end of the trail, he was totally conked out right there in the backpack.

He didn't even wake up when we took the pack off. That is one exhausted baby!

Still, he sleeps hard and fast because when we pulled up to a playground ten minutes later, he was ready to run, climb, and slide.

Mommy is not so resilient. It took Rach a few minutes to recover after Suz gave her a serious spin on the tire swing. While she didn't lose her lunch, Mommy needs to remember she's not 12 years old any more. Jackson had a blast running around, but he was also gracious enough to pause for a "three generation" photo with his mama and his grandpa.

We went home to have lunch with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Diva, who had chosen to skip the hike and enjoy some time together. Aren't they photogenic?

We didn't stay home for long though. Jackson filled up on pizza, took a great nap, and was rearing to go again.

This time the three Spanglers headed out to Ozark State Park and did a one-mile trail, which ended in the middle of a parking lot one mile away from our car, we turned around and did it again, just in reverse :) At least we got some great views of the lake along the way.

Back at the house, Jerry was putting together a chiminea as a gift for the owner of the house to say thank you for letting us all use it. Grandpa supervised.

Then we all sat down for our last meal together. Ribs again, and they were even better this time around. Uncle Jerry is a master with the slow cooker. Jackson, of course, served as the entertainment. He took turns sniffing everyone at the table and telling us what animals we smelled like, ranging from goat to horse to cow. This is his new favorite game. What can we say? He's a weird kid, but very funny.

The next morning was spent cleaning and packing, but Grandpa got a few more minutes on the deck before we had to get on the road.

It was sad to say goodbye, but as Jackson, Bella, and Grandpa showed, the getaway served it's purpose because they were all very relaxed. (I know it looks like exhaused, but really they said they were relaxed).

Happy 50th Anniversary Bella and Grandpa!