Rylie's Quinceanera

On Saturday, we were blessed to attend Caedmon's "best girl friend" Rylie's Quinceanera.  I had never actually been to one, though I've known of lots of people who have had them.  Several people have asked me what it is, so I'll do my best to explain!  It's basically a "Sweet 16" for a 15 year old, typically Hispanic, girl.  I've heard that most of them are done by Catholic families, which include a rosary/mass/communion.  But Rylie is a good ole' Baptist, so hers was a little different.  She entered escorted by her parents, and then her pastor led a charge to her, her parents, with different elements represented.  She received a ring to symbolize purity, a Bible, and a tiara to represent her heavenly crown she'll receive one day.  It's a HUGE affair (some families spend as much as you would on a wedding!) with months of preparations.  The girl chooses a group of guys and girls to "stand up for her" and they lead a march in and do special dances.  Caedmon TRIED to get out of going, (he was so nervous!), but we convinced him to do it, and he had a blast!

An excuse to get dressed up!

Western jeans, check.  White button-up, check.  Heavy starch, check.  First pair of cowboy boots, check!

TJ, Caedmon, Weston, and Keygan

Caed and TJ

We had a yummy meal of brisket!  Rylie's dad stayed up the whole night smoking 7 briskets!

Cason and Rylie's brother Rex are good friends.

Sierra and Cambree

Caedmon's dancing partner changed a few times, but he ended up with Lindsay.

Rylie escorted by her parents

Gorgeous dress!  And for those of you who know that Mama Dee makes awesome cards, she made Rylie a birthday card matching her dress!!

Caedmon and Lindsay marching in and looking nervous!

Let the dance begin!

The Cumbia!

A quick spin with Rylie

Marching out with great relief on his face!

We are so thankful for Rylie in Caedmon's life!  She is a very godly girl who wants to be a missionary one day - we love her!

And now, lest you think we were going to be bored, Caedmon is off to Preteen Camp to serve on the Rec Team for the week, and Blu and Cason leave tomorrow as sponsor/camper!  

Branson Summer Vacation 2020!

Our family has been talking about "doing Branson" for a few years now!  It's not TOO far of a drive from Texas, we love shows, and there just seems to be a lot to do!  So this year, around February, we decided yep, we're doing it!  We booked our shows, asked to borrow Mom and Dad's RV, booked 4 nights at Jellystone RV park, and then Corona hit!  We checked the show schedules ALL the time to make sure they were going to be on in July, we adjusted our dates to account for a big event Caedmon needed to be back for, and we cancelled our one day trip to Silver Dollar City due to the mask rule.  Aside from all that, the trip was a go, so we spent July 20-24 in Branson, Missouri!

Mama Dee and Grandpa made us tons of cinnamon and banana bread for our trip - Blu couldn't stay out of it!

We told the kids to "pack a small bag..."

7:45am and ready to head out in the RV!

Now that's a nice ride!

The state of tolls...we paid over $40 to drive through Oklahoma!!!  Which would be fine, if the roads were decent...

Our kids' first time to Missouri - Blu and I had driven through the edge of it before.

It was so beautiful - so many rolling hills!

We found a "yarn shop" and Cambree had to stop and talk to the sweetest lady who owns it!  They discussed stitches, crocheting, etc... (I had no idea what they were saying!)

We made it!!

The strip in Branson is SO neat - so many fun buildings!!

We made it to Jellystone Campground in Forsyth (about 30 min from Branson)!

We got there at 7pm and made a mad dash to set up the RV, tents for the kids, blow up air mattresses, and get the grill going for supper!

Here's our setup!  We were a little surprised by the COMPLETE lack of shade...and the closeness of the other RVs..!!

Ready to get that fire going for steak!

Still going!

The sun is going down...and Blu is getting more and more frustrated by the second!!

Poker Night in the RV!

The kids made some friends the first day and had fun in the pool!

We discovered during this trip that Caedmon gets a LOT of stares from girls...

Epic chess battle!

Oh look, it's Blu on Day 2 trying to get a fire going again!!

Grilled burgers for lunch!

Fun times unhooking the sewage so we can head to town!

On Tuesday afternoon, we decided to head into Branson and explore the Lakeside Forest Wilderness Area - 5.3 miles of trails, caves, and waterfalls (dry this time of year!)

 It was a LOT of hiking!  And it was HOT.

The lake, however, Lake Taneycomo, was FREEZING!  The longest anyone (Cason) could stay in was 10 seconds!  It was seriously COLD.

338 steps at the end of our hike to get back up!

Tired!!

This was about 3 seconds before I fell!

We were DONE.

Big waterfall!

We found this cave that was once lived in by a man during the Civil War!  He was a gunsmith who supported the North and was trying to avoid being drafted by the South.  His wife brought him food and provisions!

Cambree hit her head on the top of the cave...we learned this trip that she's a little bit clumsy...

Gorgeous views from the top!

Every night, we attended a different show.  After our hike, we cooled off at IHOP for supper and headed to the Noah show!

The Sights and Sound Theater was so beautiful!

We were a little underdressed due to our hike, but we had great seats!

We also got to see the Titanic Museum - it was awesome!  (No pics allowed inside and masks the ENTIRE time - that wasn't awesome!). We were each given the card of a passenger and got to discover their fate at the end.  All of ours survived!

After Titanic, we headed over to the Dixie Stampede!  This is the #1 attraction or show in Branson for families!

We were on the front row and supporting the South!

The girl on these horses fell off RIGHT after I took this pic!  It was scary!

Our own chicken!

We got some great family pics!

Ok, I'll give an honest review.  This was the most expensive thing we did, and it was just ok.  If you've been to Medieval Times, we all thought Medieval was way better.  But we still had fun!

On our last night, we attended the Amazing Acrobats of Shanghai show!

Blu and I had seen the Amazing Acrobats at Six Flags once, and we had seen the Amazing Acrobats in Beijing, China, so we knew it was going to be an awesome show!

Our kids LOVED all of the acrobatic acts, but it was definitely not what we expected!  Only 3 of the 15 or so performers were even Asian!  The music was kinda off and most of the acts bordered on cheesy.  We found out afterward that that actual acrobatic group left the USA to go back to China on January 3rd and haven't been able to return due to COVID, so they had to scramble and hire random acrobats from all over to make a show!

So....confession time.  After 2 nights in the RV and tents, with NO shade, major closeness to random people, and then a huge thunderstorm (with our kids in tents) the second night, we packed up and spent our last 2 nights at the Grand Country Resort!  For $450, we got a huge room with a nice bathroom/changing area, access to an indoor waterpark, 2 free games of mini golf, free go kart ride, 2 free pizzas, free desserts, tea, and water every day, and 24 hour access to the pools.  It was AWESOME!

Go Kart time!

Guess who won...??!!!  Only because she drives like a MANIAC, cutting us all off, swerving at us, and ramming us!!!

We definitely developed a love for mini golf on this trip!  Our kids are the perfect age for it!  We loved the blacklight mini golf especially!

Caedmon won one game, I won one, and Blu won one!  Blu got a hole-in-one, Caedmon got two holes-in-one, and I got THREE!! (Thanks Grandma W. for the mini golf trips growing up!!)

We also had fun playing the XD Reality games...nobody can beat Mama!

We spent a LOT of time in the (air-conditioned) arcade!

This 15 year old boy can EAT....he was always hungry this trip!

The kids playing another XD game (Blu and I could only play once - makes us dizzy!!)

Playing Galactica with Blu - this was super stressful!

The boys (big one included) LOVED this virtual reality game!  At one point during the game, about 15 people gathered around to watch Blu because he was hilarious - screaming like a girl, etc.!

After a LONG trip home on Friday, we made it and can say that we have officially conquered Branson, MO!