Day 3... the big day

4 am. Again. My body must be on Branson time. Although Branson time is the same as home time… so I don’t know why I’m waking up so early.

I tossed and turned and managed to drift in and out of sleep until 6:45 or so, when everyone else finally woke up and we decided to go investigate the free breakfast at our hotel. This is our 4th stay at Southern Oaks, so it’s not like we were about to be surprised. Pretty much carb city -- doughnuts, toast, bagels, cereal and biscuits and gravy. I prefer protein for breakfast. In a pinch, I’d settle for fruit. Carbs are not a way to kick start my day, however. So I choked down a doughnut while Brady ate his weight in bagels and cream cheese. The child has serious hunger issues.

We decided it might not be a bad idea to go shopping on Black Friday. And it really wasn’t. We were out and about long before 10 am and the crowds weren’t bad anywhere. We went to Target, where we finished up a lot of the Christmas shopping. Then it was down to Branson Landing, which is just a fun place to shop anytime, but very festive at Christmas. Watched the fountain show down there, bought some things at Justice for the girls, had a pretzel or two (that's Ches enjoying a drink with her pretzel), and then stopped in at Belk’s to get Brady some shirts. On the way back to the motel, we stopped at the craft mall across the street to pick up a few more gifts for my co-workers.

About this time, Brady is hungry again. Are you picking up on the recurring theme here? It was 11 am, and definitely time for him to eat. Dan mentions that we haven’t eaten at Steak and Shake for the last couple trips, so off we went. We ordered 2 turkey club platters which Dan, the girls and I split 4 ways, and then Brady got his own burger and fries.

Then it's back to the hotel. While at Target, we had bought some card games for the kids so they settled in to play them. I got out the laptop and did some Black Friday digital shopping. I think Dan was playing games with the kids. Then I got done shopping and he took the laptop and played poker while I read. Exciting times, huh?

We were really just hanging around waiting for the Gramps to arrive. I had called while we were at the Landing and knew they must be getting close. Sure enough, they showed up about 3 pm, hungry.

Which is Brady’s favorite state of existing. Off we went to a little restaurant across the street, where my parents and Brady ate lunch. Nevermind that this was Brady’s second lunch of the day. He ate 3 bowls of soup and a salad.

After Brady’s 2nd lunch, we went back to the craft mall and walked around. Then back to the hotel to waste time. Around 4:30, I decided it was time to start getting ready for the evening, so I hopped in the shower. Gotta look good for my boys.

Around 5 pm, we started out for our evening -- my mom, the girls and I. It took me awhile to do the primping thing, but I think we all looked cute in our Christmas shirts.

I had prepared myself for traffic, but this was unreal. It took us an hour to get to the theater, and even then we couldn’t get to the theater. Traffic on the strip was not moving at all. We sat in a line waiting to turn onto the strip for about 15 minutes and in that time, the cars didn’t move even an inch. In the end, we parked in a strip mall parking lot pretty close to the theater and walked.

First, we had to cross the strip to get to Applebee’s to eat dinner. At Applebee’s, my mom and I ordered margaritas, and everyone shared appetizers. Except Ches. She had a kids’ chicken finger meal.

We were done with the meal by 6:45, so we still had over an hour to waste before the show. We decided to move the car since traffic was moving now, then walked down to a little gift shop. At the gift shop, my mom found a bunch of gifts (funny how that works) and then about 7:30, we were ready to head back to the theater. Here's the girls messing around at Grand Country Square just before we left for the show:

I practically skipped to the theater. It was almost time to see my boys.

Comments

[Tracyg]

Kim...I hope you had a wonderful time in Branson! :)