Missouri Trip

We just got back from Missouri...my nephew, Wes, graduated from High School, so Josh, Angela, Jillian and David went with us to see the sights :) We had so much fun! We had to take two cars, since there were so many of us, but we had a boy car and a girl car, which we decided is the best way to travel. You don't have to freeze because the boys are hot, or argue the whole time, or talk about dumb stuff...you can talk about cool stuff and be warm and make fun of the boys all day! But, we brough walkie talkies, so on the way up there, we made up a game where we each said things about somebody in the car and we had to guess who it was. The boys sucked at it, they don't know their wives very well...but it was fun.

We got in pretty late on Wednesday, but we stayed at my parents house, so they had our rooms ready for us. Thursday when we all woke up Eric had gone to McDonald's to download the season finale of Lost..and he had been gone for two hours. It's the only place in town that has wifi and my parents don't have internet :) So, the boys went over to hang out with him and the girls just lounged around the house and relaxed. After 4 hours they came home and we had lunch and then went to Mammoth Spring (I can't believe they actually have a web site for this) and walked around...this is one of our claims to fame. It's definitely beautiful and fun to walk around, they have a huge waterfall and a really really small aquarium. There has been a small alligator in the aquarium as long as I can remember, but I have never seen it move...until this trip. Eric kept ticking it off just by looking at it and it would jump around out of the water...it was awesome. We relaxed for a while that afternoon and then went out to my brother's house...he wasn't home, but we got our first ticks of the trip! Getting ticks is kind of a rite of passage when you visit my home town for the first time. Then we came home and watched The Office and 30 Rock and then played Catch Phrase...boys against girls. Of course the boys suck at that too, so we dominated :) Then, Josh, Angela, Eric and I watched Lost. It was awesome!!! One more year!

Friday we woke up and decided to go visit Grand Gulf (I also can't believe they have a web site)...our other claim to fame. We walked around and got more ticks...I had like 13 before it was all said and done. I've had lots of ticks in my day, so it doesn't really bother me, but Angela and Jillian were freaking out...it was hilarious. Angela had only had ticks the other time they visited MO with us and it was Jillian's first time...like I said, rite of passage. Anyways, we had a good time "hiking" at Grand Gulf and them came home and got ready for Wes' graduation. I can't believe my nieces and nephews are so grown up!

Saturday we went antique shopping at some of the local stores...Eric bought a Stryper CD, but nobody else got anything. It was a bust and then we celebrated my Dad's 66 birthday! I bought him overalls...that's what he wanted....weird. Then we played a few more rounds of Catch Phrase and watched "Taken." And that ended our trip..we left Sunday morning to come back home, but we had a blast! Some of my favorite moments on the trip:

1. Angela sang a song listing the names of the 12 disciples, the song ends with the line "And by him Jesus was betrayed."
2. My dad gives everyone nicknames...but the best was that David inherited the name "booger picker." It's a long story.
3. During catch phrase Josh had the word "lemon" and described it by saying "it's a type of cake."
4. Spending time with my family and getting lost behind the school with my dad after the graduation. While we were lost he said "see, now we know where they work on the buses, we never knew that before."
5. There are so many moments that I can't think of right now, but it was awesome! I love the Smiths and the Walkers and I'm glad we got to hang out in my home town together :)