Day 688-692 Kiester Family Fun Fest!

I spent a little more than a week toward the end of July up in
Indiana.  I stayed with my daughter Emily, my friend, Susan,
my friend, Wanetta, and my momma.  It's always a whirlwind
trip trying to see everyone, but it was much needed.  I am
a girl who loves the life of travel and adventure, but I long
for 'my people' and getting grounded at 'home' once again.
Funny how I never liked being grounded at home when I
was a teenager!  Mom and I had a laugh about that during
my visit with her.  I didn't know how special that visit was
meant to be until six weeks later.  I returned my rental car
to Indianapolis, met up with Len, and then we headed to
Branson, MO, for the Kiester Family Fun Fest!

Len and I decided to get to Branson a day before the rest of
the clan descended upon us.  I needed to decompress from all
the miles on the road, and I needed to get Len in the right
frame of mind to meet the rest of my family, lol. 

Getting in the right frame of mind included a
swim in the lake, some margaritas, and dinner
cooked over the campfire. Perfect <3

We went for a drive to gather some firewood for the week...

...and I was so excited to see a white tailed
deer!  It never gets old :)

After dinner, we walked back down to the marina....

oopsie....and another margarita!

So many turtles! They were begging for food :)

It was a gorgeous sunset.  I LOVE camping!

Kent and Kathy own a time share condo in Branson,
but this past spring they also bought their retirement
home there, too.  It's so strange that my brother and I
talk about our retirement homes- his in Branson, and
mine in south Florida.  As we waited for all the kids
and grandkids to trickle in, we went for a walk to a
waterfall right by their condo.

Y'all know how much I love waterfalls!

I will put my head in a waterfall
every. single. time.

On the first day of the Kiester Family Fun Fest, we went to
Silver Dollar City's White Water Park.  These are my
great nieces and nephews, Addison, Gabby, Kaleb, and David.

My brother's kids, Kristal and Kevin.
I <3 them, so so much!

We played in the wave pool, tubed around
the lazy river, rode the water slides, and then
Kent talked me in to the big slide.  He took
off first (on the right) yelling, "C'mon, sis!!!"
I inched my way over the end and screamed
my fool head all the way down- Holy Cow!

I survived- bathing suit intact!

Most evenings, we hung out at their time share condo for dinner,
went swimming in the pool, and the kids played putt-putt golf.
Kent and I were being silly behind the waterfall :)

  

There's a special place in this auntie's heart for her Kristal-
I love her like one of my own. I am so proud of her and her family.

The next day they rented a boat.
All of us Kiesters are water babies :)

Miss Gabriella reminds me so much of my Emily
at her age.... I miss those days, for sure.

Any day on the water, on a boat- any boat- is a very good day.

They did a little cliff diving...

My brother took the helm, and I went
water skiing!  

This old gal still has it!

Then Len took the helm, and my bro got up, too!

...and then there was that little mishap and crash between Kevin and Eric 

(Kristal's husband) that landed Eric at the lifeguard station with a busted lip.  Oops.

Still, it was a two thumbs up kind of day with the fam :)

In keeping with the Kiester Family Fun Fest theme, we spent
the next day at Silver Dollar City. The look on Kent and his
grandson's Kaleb's faces is awesome, but the look on Kevin
and Amy's faces sitting in front of them is PRICELESS, lol.

I love my people <3

I'm just a big kid at heart!

Oh yeah, I'm up there, too!

We met up for lunch at this place that made a mixed grill BBQ bowl.
It was delicious!

Silver Dollar City really is a beautiful
forested amusement park for families :)

Little Sissy (Addison) was reading the park
map to me and showing me all the rides she rode.

After lunch, we all split up to divide and conquer the park some
more.  Len and I stumbled upon these two guys playing music
on the front porch of a log cabin.  Soon the bass player got
Len a guitar, and he joined in on the jam session!

This was the highlight of the day for him :) 

My sister in law, Kathy, is the QUEEN of organization and
meal planning- she kept the entire brood well fed all week!

Kristal and her family getting in one more swim at
the lake before the sun went down :)

Thank you, Kent for a wonderful week in Branson.
I think this was the first family vacation we have had
together in over 20 years- since Donnie and I were first
married and came to OK with all of the kids in tow.
I love y'all so, so much!

Len and I broke camp the following day, drove to Memphis,
then on down to AL where we found a beautiful state park
to set up camp for our last night.

We made bacon wrapped kebobs with
everything we had left in the cooler!

We spent the rest of the evening enjoying
the quiet (no offense, family!), the
gorgeous sunset, and just being together.

Our last stop was in Gainesville, to visit Len's good friend, Chris. It was a little over a year ago that Len went up to Gainesville to be Chris' best man in his wedding.  After the wedding, Len decided to take a detour on the way back to Conch Key, and that was when he found our home.  It had just gone on the market 'for sale by owner' just two days before.  It was the location we had wanted, on a canal, with access to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.  Within a month it was OURS. It's funny how life happens like that.

After being on the road for two weeks, I was anxious to spend my last ten days of summer vacation in our new home...we had a deck to build before I flew back to China for another school year!

More on the summer projects to come-

G'nite, y'all!