The McLoughlins Go on the Road Day Three! #VacationInBranson

No wonder I lose weight on vacation: it's always go go go and when we are chilling out I just stick my face in a book, which I NEVER get to do at home. We don't have cable at home so when we take a bit to chill in a hotel room it's all about the Cartoon Network or Disney Channel or Joel does love his special shows like River Monsters (we love to do the accent). So here is Wednesday, day 3 of 5 of our vacation!

Hanging out in the morning. We did more hanging than usual because Mr. Kerrie's back was not up to par and he needed to be flat sometimes.

Since we were up "early" every day (for us) to make breakfast at The Tower Grill, we decided to go ahead and go to Moonshine Beach for a bit before riding the ducks. It's a pebbly, rock beach and only like $5/day ... playground, bathrooms, covered picnic tables, PERFECT!

Gratuitous Jamberry Nails shot. I'm sorry, people, but I freaking love these things because they stay on in water and sand and everywhere else.

Soon after hopping on Ride the Ducks Eva was sacked out on Daddy. See that quacker? Yeah, that's going to be some serious noise in my house in months to come. They should come with earplugs. Anyway, last time we rode the ducks Eva was just a baby in 2008.

View from the top of the tour route

A military vehicle graveyard, for lack of a better term.

Callie drives the duck ON WATER!

Joel is captain now!

We made Michael do it too!

And of course Sam wanted to drive it.

Daddy and ducklings.

Mommy and ducklings.

Why stop there for the day? Let's go to the waterpark! Right, Sam?

Um, this is one of my older boys coming down this scary as crap DARK, twisty slide. I could only do it once but Mr. Kerrie and the boys would not stop.

More lazy river action with kidlets for Daddy's back.

The view from our 2nd floor room ... a beautiful sunset and time to chill for sure.

The McLoughlins Go on the Road Day Two! #VacationInBranson #RonaldReagan

Tuesday in Branson found us with a hodge podge of things to do. Everyone asked us before we went if we were going to a show or White Water or Silver Dollar City and we were like NOPE. I would love to do all those things (Dixie Stampede!), but they cost a lot of money, so not right now. If we are going to drop a wad of cash, we are going to do it at Promised Land Zoo or on Ride the Ducks. And we did. But those are other days so stay tuned! Here's Tuesday in pictures.

Making our lunch before heading out saved a ton of cash

Joel and I dropped everyone off at Stockstill Park and went to WalMart for swim suits. Nothing fit busty me, but Joel found something right away and we did some more damage there before coming back to the park to have our lunch

Michael and Callie playing with "toadrums" ...capture the tiny frogs then let them hop out of the bowl they found at the creek. When I was their age I loved tadpoles caught from Yogi Bear's huge basket at the old Jellystone Park in Branson

Crick fun

At Castle Rock Waterpark day one and I got the kids Dippn Dots, which I never do

Later we did Bumper Boats. Eva impressed us by getting in a boat alone b/c of stupid mean rules and she didn't want to do it but she did it anyway and had a blast. Sam and I rode together and all got WET! Wild Woody's has a mean female manager, though ... just sayin'. She was super rude to my family.

At Dessert Station across from Andy's ... please support them! They are family owned and have been there 20 years! Look for the huge Ronald Reagan and tell them Kerrie sent you!

Ice cream rocks!

Gotta get another Ronald Reagan shot. Good dude.

Here's Day One in case you missed it
And what we think of Castle Rock Waterpark

Castle Rock Waterpark in Branson, Missouri ROCKS!

Thank you to US Family Guide and Castle Rock Waterpark in Branson for 2 free nights at the waterpark for blogging about the experience. It was amazing and we would go again in a second. Two thumbs up! Here are some photos of our room and of the waterpark. Here's Day One of our adventure in case you missed it! The room was spacious, the staff was courteous, the food was terrific at The Tower Grill, and I felt confident that the lifeguards were really on top of things at the waterpark. The game room was a nice place to chill when the waterpark was closed for the night or in the morning. AND it's located in the best spot ever: not on the main drag but behind it.

The first night there the kids crammed onto the top bunk to watch some TV

Mr. Kerrie gave his back a rest on the king-sized bed

Sam shows off the mini fridge

The view from the front door. Plenty of space!

The boys unpacking

The view from the other end

The girls unpacking

The game room was awesome

First morning Eva and Callie woke together on the top bunk

The jams stayed on the whole week in the pool and at the beach (http://kerrie.jamberrynails.net)

Next night was Joel and Sam on the floor where they wanted to be

And Callie and Michael. It was a different sleeping situation every night

The outside of Castle Rock ... on the Yellow Route across from Cherry Berry FroYo

Awesome kiddie area and lifeguards ALWAYS on top of it

UPSTAIRS huge lazy river that helped Mr. Kerrie's back a lot

Kids climbing on Mr. Kerrie

Our view from the 2nd floor, room 2225. This is a view of the outside of the water park that was not open yet ... 3 separate areas out there.

Another part of indoors ... lap pool we just messed around in

View from where our stuff was parked

The McLoughlins Go on the Road Day One! #VacationInBranson at #CastleRockWaterpark

Last Monday, May 19, the 7 McLoughlins left for vacation! I did not take the laptop and I do not have a smartphone, so I was unplugged except for a rudimentary cell phone that only makes and takes calls. Go figure. The only time I was checked out as a parent was when I had my face in the book I'm currently reading (Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates). Here are some pictures from Day One! (Here are pictures of our room at Castle Rock Waterpark, which was free for 2 nights for us because I'm a little ole blogger; we paid for the other 2 nights)

Antsy kids pre-vacation Monday morning

Joel at Osceola Cheese

Michael

Callie

Eva

Samuel

Mr. Kerrie

Mrs. Kerrie

FREE SAMPLES!

Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri

Feeding the giraffes. Or we say it GIRAVES

Baby giraffe born 3 hours earlier

Petting zoo

Mr. Kerrie's back hurt so he had to lay down some

The Naughty Kids outside the maze

The Naughty Kids by the monkeys. We say the monkeys are Sam's brothers.

Mr. Kerrie laying down again. Poor dude.

Wolfie

Tiger

At Castle Rock Resort and Waterpark in Branson, MO

At the Mexican restaurant for dinner (El Azteca)

Us at dinner. Jesus was our waiter. Jesus wanted Mr. Kerrie to drink (above)

Samuel discovers skeeball and is now addicted.