What the what is my problem? How did I get
so behind? Oh I remember, I spent like three hours writing this fabulously hilarious and adorbs blog post like two months ago and then I accidentally deleted the ENTIRE thing. It was awful. Like tragic. Basically I was so annoyed that I had no desire to blog again. But I have been through the grieving process and I am ready to get back to the blog.
Well way back in August (I know, I know, who even remembers what they were doing in August) the Blanchard clan joined the whole Hagee family on a little vacay to the lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. You're probably thinking, "Missouri?? Sick." and most of the time I would agree with you, except the Ozarks is da bomb. (I mean,
Brangelina has a home there) However, for those of you who do not know, both of my parents are Missourians. Born and raised. They love Missouri (to the point where it is embarrassing) and take any opportunity to go there.
Since Billy was gone for two years it had been a while since we went on a family vacation together. In fact the last family vacation we went on was before Garrett and I were married, so this was the first Hagee family vacation both him and Jack were experiencing. The drive from McKinney to the Ozarks is about 8 hours and thanks to the DVD player in my parents suburban Jack didn't mind it. Everyone else might not have enjoyed watching/listening to Finding Nemo, Barney, and Cars for that long but it's better than listening to a screaming baby, right? Also we were glued to our phones playing each other in Scramble with Friends (if you've never played be careful, it's sups addicting).
We stayed at this cute Lodge where we all shared a cabin, there were rooms for everyone and the laundry room made a nice place for Jack's crib. Don't judge. In our "front yard" there was a full playground, a pool and a game room. However, the best part was our backyard:
Like for reals, it was awesome. Being out on the lake is my favorite and I would love to someday own a boat. Until then I'll be totes fine with renting boats from Mark. Who is Mark, you ask? Well quick background, most of my parent's high school friends haven't left Missouri and the few that have share the same passion for the state as Harlow and Jennifer. Oh and whenever any of them are together they act just like they did in high school, pranks and all. It's amazing. (I mean, have you ever seen a group of 50-something year old men play with a fart machine? I have; it was at my Dad's high school reunion basketball game) Well Mark is one of these friends and he owns/run/plays all day at his own Marina and Gas Dock from which you can rent boats and jet skis. But for reals, if you are ever at the Ozarks go to his gas dock - free ice, coffee, koozy cups, gum, and entertainment. Mark is hilarious, every time we drove up on the boat for gas he would yell, "HERE COME THE GRISWALDS!!!" which yes, was equally embarrassing and funny. Plus he brings his dogs to work and who doesn't love dogs?
A few weeks before the trip Garrett and I were talking and he asked, "So what are we going to do if Jack hates the boat?" It was kind of a scary realization, I mean basically the entire trip was planned around the fact that we would be boating daily. Jack loves the water but we knew there was a good chance that he might be afraid of the boat or that he just wouldn't want to be on the boat for very long. Well don't worry, Jack loved the boat. I mean he would want to go hang out on the boat when it was just sitting in the dock. What he didn't like was when anyone rode on the tube. It was actually pretty funny, when anyone was on the tube they were often yelling and laughing and we would have to reassure Jack that no one was getting hurt.
We did actually do other things besides the boat, even though you wouldn't know from the pictures so far. We spent a few of the mornings going jet skiing and every night we would play board games and make fun of each other. Of course we went out to eat, because that's half of the fun of vacations (lesbehonest) and I may or may not have found the only cupcake place in all of the Ozarks (it's a gift I have). We went to a car show, mini golfed and one afternoon while the guys golfed we hit up the downtown shops, one of which was a bong shop and it was hilarious.
Peace out Ozarks.
