Smokin' hot vacation, part 2

As mentioned, Branson was hot. There was a pool, shuffleboard, mini-golf, and more at the resort where we were staying but with the temps soaring, even swimming was eventually deemed almost intolerable. The sidewalks around the pool were sizzling! We ended up discarding our idea to spend time on the lake and going to a theme park to spend the mornings and evenings out and basking in the a/c during the afternoons. Our condo had cable and three TVs so no one really complained about the extra time to watch cartoons or the Food Network.


Personal highlights
Tyler's highlight was playing laser tag. He said that it was the best form of exercise and that he wanted to finish our basement into a black-lighted laser tag arena. Then he was told that just one pack cost over 2K. I think we could find a gym membership cheaper than that!

E.'s highlight of the vacation was all the free mini-golf he could handle. So first thing every morning he asked to go play. His second favorite activity--and Tyler and I couldn't believe it--was riding a ferris wheel at a local race park. We had taken him there to drive the go-carts (he is crazy about Mario Kart) and to let the girls ride the little carnival rides, but he was too short to ride any of the carts of interest to him. On one course he passed all of the other drivers on the inside; talk about competitive!


S.'s highlight was the swings and then "swimming" with just an inner tube. (Sorry, no pool pics. It was too hot to not be in the water up to my neck!)
P.'s highlight? Mobility. Being out of her stroller and walking around with E. and S. made her giddy with glee.
So, what was my highlight? The jury is still out on that one.

On the way home
We were supposed to go to a drive-thru animal safari on the way home, but this was the view around the time we drove by the safari's exit:

Well, it isn't exactly the view because the photographer had her own head cranked over onto the headrest. Guess feeding the animals didn't end up being that alluring for any of us.

More to come
I would like to post a handful of vacation videos as well. So as soon as I have four free hours to upload them, you will get to see them! =)