Blog Hop

A friend of mine over at Perfectly Imperfect Mom is hosting a blog hop of fellow mommy bloggers. Click on over and meet some fun new moms!

Here's the Blog Hop !

Oh my Branson.

I haven't written a post in just over a month.

I'm a loser.

I'll be better. I promise.

I have an excuse though. I took an extended vacation to visit family in Branson with my two little monsters.

Poor Branson. Not only did a tornado knock it around a bit, but there has been quite a bit of building on the strip. Not the good kind. Unless you call a 40 foot chicken wearing an Uncle Sam inspired outfit "good". The strip looks like Dollywood had a garage sale and people were like, "You know what would look great next to the Wax Museum? A giant tower with a fake King Kong on it. YES!"

No. Just no.

Don't get me wrong. I love Branson. I lived near there for several years, and it feels like home. Only, like home after you move out and your parents turn your old bedroom into a game room/tiki bar. Yeah. Like that.

I also rang in my 30th birthday while I was there. Which was fun.

No. It wasn't.

Guess what I did on my 30th birthday? What's that, you say? I threw out my back. Fantastically. Like, couldn't walk, could barely move, sat in a chair all day and not in the fun "palm frond fans" kind of way.

When I turned 25, I suddenly developed acne for about the first time in my life. When I turned 30, my body began to mutiny, and I couldn't walk. I'm sincerely scared of 40. My husband made me go to the doctor, and he adjusted my back and neck. That was terrifying. You know how you turn your head sometimes, and your neck pops, and it's really loud, and you shout like someone shot you even though it didn't really hurt, but just felt really weird? It was kind of like that, times a thousand. He told me to take stronger pain pills though, so it was a win.

Once I could walk again (thank you pain pills) I had a great time visiting family and friends, some that I hadn't seen in years. And then I saw some more people. I visited and visited. By the end of our three weeks there (White Water, Silver Dollar City, a road trip south to visit more family, horseback riding, swimming, etc.) We were all about to drop.

I limped my car home in dire need of new brake pads and ready to sleep in my own bed.

And the very next day, my niece came to visit! I like her though, so I was excited.

She's 19. She's a know it all. And she's hilarious. Plus, she likes my kids, cleaned my kitchen for me, and helped me move furniture. Pretty much the best combo ever.

Oh! And she ran The Color Run with me.

 Isn't she cute?

That's right, folks. The first 5k of the year is under my belt, and I didn't throw up or anything.

Also, when I say "ran" what I mean is "walked". We didn't run squat. Remember that part where I turned 30 and my back turned 80? Yeah. I wasn't taking any chances.

   

 We were pretty colorful by the end. 

 

 We took the little dude along for the ride. He slept through most of it. 

He was actually almost clean at the finish, but then he wanted me to pick him up, and he rubbed his face all over my shirt. Cue grubby baby. 

The Color Run was an absolute blast, and I'd definitely recommend it if it comes to your area. It was a great family atmosphere. There were lots of little kids and strollers there, and the little ones really loved it. Plus, the stroller was a great place to stash water bottles and bags of color for the finish.

The little lass did not go with us. She had a birthday party to attend, and a wonderful, amazing friend took her at an unreasonably early hour and kept her most of the day. We saved some color dust for the lass and her friend, and when they got home we let them fling it at each other. Fun was had by all. We will definitely be doing it again next year, and taking the lass with us this time.