you make my heart happy: Everything I Needed to Know about Life-I learned in Branson!

Well - that isn't exactly true - it's more like, "everything I needed to know about Life I learned in Branson with Poppy and our 3 oldest GRANDS!

Our 2 oldest son's, Ryan & Sean, and one daughter-in-love, Laura, allowed us to take 3 of their children, Lawson-7, Taylor-6 and Britain-5 to Branson for a week. Poppy and I have been anticipating this trip for months - ever since January when we bought a week of someone's time share at Big Cedar Lodge on craigslist.com. We bought it with the hopes that we would be able to take the 3 oldest grandchildren and spoil them rotten and have lots of fun with them there.

We had a week of fun, constant movement, adventure and candy! Yep - the first day at Silver Dollar City we let the kids go in the candy store - gave each one a basket and let them fill it up with their favorite candy for the week. Our babies love candy! When we checked out, we had 3 bags of candy, 3 happy kids and a bill for $36.00.
;-)
Definitely money well spent!

Poppy and I had fun - we found ourselves a few times laughing so hard that our sides hurt. These 3 kids are incredibly entertaining and they don't even know it. We also found ourselves so tired that on a few nights, we could barely muster up enough strength to brush our teeth and fall into bed. I have to admit, there were a couple of times when Poppy and I looked at each other and thought, "what have we gotten ourselves into?"

Lawson, Taylor and Britain, for the most part, get along really well and play very good together. We did have a couple of times when we had to get loud in order to be heard over them and get them to quiet down, and a couple of times when they had to be separated for awhile to cool off - but nothing really bad. I was super proud of them all the way around.

We stayed very busy while we were in Branson for 5 days and had loads of fun. We spent THREE WHOLE DAYS in Silver Dollar City, went swimming several times in 3 different pools, water slides, the lazy river, shopped (only fun stuff for them), went to the Giant Imax and watched a documentary about fighter pilots and the Blue Angels, rode the wiggle scooters, walked all over Big Cedar Resort and managed to find time to sleep a little bit.

Here area a few of the things I learned:

If Taylor says that he is thirsty 3 or 4 times while riding in the car, what he really means is - pull over, I'm about to throw up.
Do not order Lawson popcorn at the theatre unless they have extra butter. He won't eat it.
If you want to make Britain's day, don't make her wear a hairbow.
True love is going on the giant swing ride with your 5 year old granddaughter because she really wants you to ride it with her - even though you know there is a 90% chance you will throw up after.
Golden Coral is the new favorite place to eat for Lawson, Taylor and Brit. Where else can one get an endless supply of pizza, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes & gravy, spaghetti, & ice cream? It also helps that one can top their ice cream with gummy bears, M&M's, sprinkles, nuts and crushed cookies.
Not sure how many times I was asked, "are these your kids" "are they triplets?" I finally just started answering "Yes they are my children - they are triplets." That way I only had to answer one question - even though it was a lie.
"I love you Nene" are sweet words that make my heart happy. I learned that they are even sweeter when the speaker dog-paddled all the way across the pool just to hug me and tell me that.
Poppy was a bit worried that Britain had something wrong with her stomach because she said it hurt several times. AND THEN I pointed out to him that her tummy ONLY hurts when she doesn't get her way. I love you little girl.
30 minutes is too long for a 5 ,6, and 7 year old to wait in line for anything!
Each of these precious children were told they could have anything they wanted in the giant souvenier store. They each ended up with a shirt, a back scratcher and a giant pencil. Yep - a back scratcher and a giant pencil. ;-) But along the way to making their final decisions the following were considered: a coon skin hat, a skunk skin hat, a bag of rocks, a magnifying glass, candy, a walking stick, a cane, a cowboy hat, a necklace, flip flops, a miniature wooden outhouse,... I am sure there are more items - these are all that I remember. Sooo.... really.... a backscratcher and a giant pencil are pretty good choices.
I learned that the reason these 3 oldest grandchildren of mine "clash" on a regular basis, is because each one of them are natural leaders. They are not accustomed to following. That is pretty exciting to me.
I learned that I love these precious children even more than I believed possible. I love their sweet little faces, each of their unique personalities and seeing glimpses of the amazing adults that they will become. I am truly smitten with them, they own me, they make my heart happy.

Silver Dollar City