Branson Surprise

Last weekend Jesse and I went to Missouri to surprise my mom for her birthday. I'd been emailing with my dad to get everything set up and boy did we surprise her! I texted her a picture of their view of the lake, which totally caught her off guard. Then we showed up at their door :)

The weekend was nice and relaxing since we didn't really have anything planned. Morning coffee on the deck was great, especially when we had a tortie neighbor friend show up :)

The second day we were there we went out for an awesome breakfast, then went out on Table Rock Lake. We floated in the water and saw a few sites. We ended the day with a small car show.

 

The second day we thought we would hit up another car show in Springfield. There were only about 8 cars there, so we had to find something else to fill our time until supper! We decided hit up some yard sales, which is something my parents have started to enjoy in their retirement :) We found a cheap set of golf clubs perfect for the air boat and I found a couple nice baskets that will work great at craft shows.

In all our driving around, we came across this fun bicycle "fence" and awesome mailbox :)

Then we headed to Bass Pro to see the new exhibits and do a little shopping. My favorite was this guy with heart-shaped antlers :)

We ended our stay with a bang! We all rode the Ferris Wheel that is new to the Branson area. The cool part was, it's the same Ferris Wheel that Jesse and I rode in Chicago last September! They got a new one in Chicago and moved the old one to Branson! It was fun riding at night and seeing all the lights!

Then my mom and I rode the Ozark Mountain Sky Coaster. This is something we'd done several times when we used to vacation there when I was a kid. We decided it had been 18 years since we had ridden it last! They take you up 100' in the air, you pull the rip cord and fly. And I screamed...The.Entire.Time! It was a thrill, but I think I'm good for another 18 years...lol!

It was a great weekend away and I'm so glad we pulled off the surprise!

Chicago - Part 2 - Navy Pier

  For our first full day in Chicago, we visited the Navy Pier. I'm definitely no fan of heights, but I knew I wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel no matter what. I had to do a little convincing to get Jesse to go with me..lol. To be honest, once you get moving, you pay more attention to what's in front of you and around you than actually looking down. I wasn't scared for even a second...and that's saying a lot!

A beautiful shot of the sailboats on Lake Michigan with that great skyline in the background.

 

 Ferris Wheel Selfie :)

 Another thing we decided to do while visiting Navy Pier was ride a tour boat. We chose the Architectural and History Tour given by the Seadog. Neither Jesse and I are much into history, so we were a little worried about that part of the ride. But we had the best guide who made the entire 75 minute tour lots of fun.

And of course I loved getting to see all these awesome buildings from the water. Cruising from Lake Michigan down the Chicago River was so much fun!

 A beautiful light house on Lake Michigan.

 We pretty much spent the entire day at Navy Pier just walking the strip and taking in the beauty. We did a little shopping, got lunch and enjoyed the beer garden later on :)