Lots of Lopez's

We just spent the last few days in Branson, Missouri... and yes, we drove there, all 16.5 hours of it!  We had the Lopez family reunion at the Thousand Hills Golf Resort.  We had about 8-9 condos for all of these people.  I can't vouch for all of the condos since I didn't see all of them, but our condo was awesome.  It was so spacious and we were able to spread out and really relax, which was key after spending two consecutive days in the car together!  We weren't too sure about the bedrooms when we first got there - each room had a king bed and we weren't sure how Brett and Kate were going to do sharing a bed, but they did great!  Todd made a barrier in the middle out of pillows, so they weren't kicking and rolling on top of each other all night.  Kate did a good job of not waking up Brett in the morning, which was a relief because that little boy is like his mama - he needs his sleep! 

The Lopez Reunion 2011 - Branson, MO

Friday night we all got checked in and went down to Branson Landing to eat dinner at Garfield's.  We had several tables outside by the river and enjoyed catching up over dinner and multiple pitchers of beer with live music in the background.  The service was less than desirable, but the company was great.

1-2-3 JUMP!

Saturday morning we took over our complex's private indoor and outdoor pools and hot tub and let the kids get some energy out.  After showers and lunches we all headed to the Talking Rocks Cavern, about 30 minutes away.  While the name sounds a little cheesy, the cave was very cool.  I wasn't sure how the kids were going to do climbing these narrow little steps, 100 feet below the surface, but they were during the hour long tour (during naptime).  At the end of the tour they turned off all of the lights and set a low key light show.  Kate was not a fan, at all.

Happy Birthday!

After the caves, some of the group went to check out a local winery while we headed back to the condo for a little while so the kids could have some downtime.  All 25 of us met up at a seafood restaurant for dinner that night.  My brother-in-law will appreciate that there is no such thing as "good" seafood in the middle of the country... the shrimp were ok, but I definitely learned that I'm spoiled when it comes to seafood, and our seafood 2 hours inland isn't even comparable to what you get at the beach.

Happy Anniversary, Tom & Connie!

Anyway, after dinner we ALL headed back to our condo to celebrate my birthday and Todd's aunt & uncle's anniversary.  Vivian (my mother-in-law) made a cake and cookies.  Some aunts and uncles brought ice cream and beer and wine.  I'm sure our neighbors were not thrilled with the noise level :)  Everyone stayed pretty late - the little kids fell asleep watching movies while we all chatted.

Sweet, sleepy girls watching "Tangled"

Sunday morning we headed to Panera (Sunday tradition in this Lopez household), then went to the pool for awhile.  After showers and lunch, our kids took a nap.  Some of the family went to an amusement park (Silver Dollar City) and others went to the Butterfly Palace.  After naps we went back to Branson Landing to RideMakerz.  (Those pictures are in another post.)  If you have a boy who loves cars as much as Brett loves cars and ever get to check this place out, it is SO very cool!  There are only five or six locations across the country... for you Carolina girls - the closest one to us is in Myrtle Beach.  After we finished there, we went back to the condo to enjoy a little downtime and let Brett play with his new "Ironhide" - that's what he named the new truck that he made.  Then we met all of the Lopez's at El Charro (Mexican restaurant) for dinner. 

Silly second cousins at dinner

They had BOGO mixed drinks... depending on who you ask it was buy one get one free or buy one get one half off.  Either way, they were good.  The food was good.  The service was good... finally we hit the jackpot with restaurants that could handle 25 of us!  Yay!  After dinner we hung out in one of the other condos, enjoyed some more drinks, and crashed hard.  Monday morning came too early for many of us, I think!  Monday morning we all checked out and headed home.  Well, we headed to Rockford, IL with a stop in Saint Louis to see the arch.  I had never seen it before (except for flying over it), so it was cool to see it up close and in person.  We took the ride to the top in the little egg-shaped elevator, which was pretty interesting. 

Gateway Arch

I was impressed with how much character the downtown area had... I really liked the cobblestone streets!  I don't know about the rest of the city, but the part that we saw was pretty cute and enjoyable to walk around.  I think the 80 degrees and low humidity helped too.  It was nice to be able to break up our 8 hour car trip that day with a couple hours to get out and explore the city.  Now we're in Rockford, so who knows what this leg of the trip will bring?!  I see Magic Waters, Wrigley Field, Cars 2, and a trip to Milwaukee in our near future!

I'll post more pictures later - stay tuned!