| The annual GIRLS WEEKEND TRIP to BRANSON was such an adventure! Hafta be honest with ya ... I didn't know if I was gonna have as much fun as last year, and I really was unsure about some of the ladies that were going, but it turned out that those I feared the most, were the ones that I had the BEST TIME with! Once again, I couldn't leave NWA till after lunch. The first set of ladies left around 11, but Jodi & I had to wait till after 1. So John took the day off and we got to spend the day together. Then Jodi & I left, her kids in tow. Her in-laws agreed to meet us in Branson around 2:30. UNFORTUNATELY for us, we got lost. And we got lost listening to the GPS on her phone!!! So sad. But we had an adventure and Jodi is the type of person that you want to have an adventure with. In fact, Jodi is an adventure! We got to Branson after 3 and met up with the ladies: Rachel, Ginger, Heather "Gilbert", Libby, Melissa & her sister, Amy. We met up at the Red Roof and Jodi & I hit the SOCK STORE first! I found all kinds of socks that I just fell in love with. Sadly, no toe socks (cuz they were all stripes and I have plenty of those), but lots of fun, knee-high socks. When finished up there several hours later, we made our way to JOE'S CRAB SHACK. I had never been there before & was truly looking forward to it. The restaurant is in BRANSON LANDING. I had been to the Landing once before, with Tara & Kelly. In fact, our hotel was there ... but I had NO IDEA that there was an entire "city" behind our hotel. Shops. Hotels. Boutiques. Restaurants. Boats. They had it all. We shopped up & down. I even stopped @ a little kiosk to buy a $5 ring and found a $5 necklace for my mom. It was a cancer awareness ribbon with different colors. She had just said a few weeks before how she couldn't find anything that was MM awareness. It had a purple ribbon for the "chain" and the ribbon charm was kinda purple-ish, maroon-ish with gold flakes. So pretty. She's gonna love it. We went over to Joe's and we were trying to decide what to get. Jodi & I decided before hand, to split something, but wasn't sure what. Then we saw it. It called out to us. It was BEA-U-TI-FUL! 
*oh, and we also split this: a crab bucket with corn & potatoes The following is NOT for the FAINT-OF-HEART ... or the super, fanatical. You may want to scroll down if you need to skip this part: 
Isn't she a beaute? *see the ring? That was my new purchase! We had every intention of sharing these monstrosities! It was cheaper to get the 2-fer and split it. And I'm oh-so-glad that we did. We passed it around for others to taste. I was surprised to find Libby, an ultra-conservative-looking, middle aged woman with 2 VERY SMALL children, suckin' it up. Rachel & Ginger decided to get one of their own ... thank, GOODNESS, cuz I was not excited about sharing anymore. Now, here I hafta say, I'm not a regular drinker. I rarely do it. And when I do, I have about 1 drink of something fruity and that is all. And usually there is only about 2% of an alcohol content ... but this, my friends, was tasty. And STRONG. When I was asked if it was a virgin, I laughed ... because nothing in it except for the ice & food coloring was "virgin-ized". 
Jodi ordered the "SHARK BITE ". It had Bacardi Limon Rum, Sky Vodka, BLUE curacua, sweet & sour, and grenadine. My mother has these TUMBLERS that she uses for us to drink coke & punch out of. I saw them mixing my drink in that. And then another one & adding them together. TWO OF THEM. It was MASSIVE. We called it the FISH TANK. I ordered the CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE . Not sure what all was in it, but it was too sour for me. Something about 2 kinds of rum, sweet & sour, orange juice, and passion fruit. WHEW! It was SOUR. SO WE SWITCHED. The fun of the SHARK BITE (which was affectionately called "SHARK BAIT" after the night was over) was pouring RED, grenedine into it, so it mixed with the blue to look like blood. You even got to take the sharks home ... for free! My kids love theirs. 
I was a little LOOPY when we left. We shopped around a little and ran into some old friends from church. It was beautiful just watching the water & light show and then walking the cobble stone streets. We headed back to the hotel by way of CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. We took our time. The first group decided to go the hotel & get in the hot tub. We did not. Jodi, Ginger & Rachel went in search of MORE stuff to drink while we looked at lights (I was just along for the ride). The town was BEAUTIFULLY lit up. Signs every where told of up-coming shows (the TWELVE TENORS) and there were lights lining the streets & hotels. Again, I was a LOT loopy. Jodi was good, cuz she only drank part of hers. I drank all of mine & then finished hers off. $14 BUCKS. I wasn't about to let that go un-done. Then we went back to the hotel to pick up Libby. 
*Jodi, Ginger & Rachel on the phone. It was so funny to see them standing there in the liquor store, talking on the phone and asking their hubby's what they should be looking for. Jodi was calling Libby to find out what she wanted. We were like teenage girls, gettin' our drinks and drinkin' in th hotel parking lot while we waited for Libby to get cleaned up after her dip in the pool. They joked with me quite a bit. I have been to Branson MANY times over the last 30 years. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was not. Sometimes it was with my parents and sometimes it was not. As we drove up & down the strip, we would pass a hotel & I would shout out, "I've been there!" They really gotta kick out of this, b/c apparently at one point, I said "either before Sean was born or not with John." So when we found a hotel I didn't know, they asked me if I wanted to go their with the hunky 12-TENORS! I was so embarassed. I felt like the BAD-GIRL on the trip. Instead of going back to the hotel to play the Wii-FIT as we did last year, we went our seperate ways. Jodi & I stayed up till 3am, talking & watching videos on her i-phone. It was good to catch up, since we aren't teaching together this year. It brought us close together again & I really needed that ... sober or not! NOW YOU MAY REJOIN US IF YOU SKIPPED THE ABOVE CONVERSATION: The next day, we headed out to shop. We went to the GRAND VILLAGE (yes, the place with the big chair, Smax). We shopped and then, Jodi & I spotted him. The "friendly" Santa (he likes to rub your arm as he hugs you). He just makes me smile ... if you can't tell by the HUGE grin on my face. Not sure what the difference is in these pics, but I had them, so I thought I'd share 'em.   
*me, Santa, & Jodi  
SEATED: Melissa, Libby, "Gilbert" Amy, Jodi, & Ginger FRONT: Rachel & me. *so last year, I commented that my shirt, the exact same shirt, was doing weird things, but that I wasn't really that fat. Jodi even reminded me to sit where my shirt would NOT do that again. However, this year, I AM that fat and my shirt DID do the ripplie things. YUCK! After pictures, we went to the HARD LUCK DINER (tara), where they sing to you & have some awesome hamburgers & mixed drinks. COKE, people. Mixed coke with fruit or vanilla. GEESH! Get your mind outta the gutter! When the cook, in his black cowboy hat & greasy hair was going to sing, Ginger requested a song. She said that for the last few years, they have come into that restaurant, just to hear him sing Johnny Cash. He sang and we hooped & hollered for him. Next thing I knew, his 55+ year old arm was around me and he was singin' to me. We didn't get a picture of this, but I'm sure the look on my face was PRICELESS! After the song was over, he asked us if we would come back everyday to cheer for him and then he hooped & hollered just like us. It was fun. We shopped & then parted ways from the regular crew. Myself, Jodi, Rachel & Ginger wanted to stick around to look at Christmas lights. So we drove thru the 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS & the SANTA WORKSHOP of LIGHTS. It was truly a festival of lights! We really enjoyed the time together ... just the 4 of us, getting to know each other, sharing stories, & just hanging out. Each year is a new adventure & I look forward to another trip with these ladies again. In fact, we've decided to NOT wait till the Fall and go back in the Spring, when we can hit Silver Dollar City. OH WHAT FUN!   
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