Branson and Black Friday

Mom, Dad, the kids and I left Thursday evening for our annual Thanksgiving trip to Branson. Mark joined us on Friday night. We had such a blast! Again, one of the most enjoyable trips ever! Mom and I got up at 2:45 a.m. to do some Black Friday shopping. I do the same thing every year on this trip. I buy tons of stuff but come home with hardly any Christmas presents. But it's just so much fun!

We went to Branson Landing and Bass Pro on Saturday night. The kids like to see the lights and as Kam said when we were walking there, "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" Cooper loves Bass Pro Shop because they get to see the fish and animals. Santa is always there at Christmas time and we actually talked Kamdyn into sitting on his lap for a family picture, although neither of the kids told him what they wanted for Christmas. I was hoping they would tell him because they've not told me a lot!

Bass Pro had a table set up where the kids could make Santa ornaments out of fishing bobbers (is that right? I'm so not a fisherman!) and as I've said a thousand times, crafts are right up Kamdyn's alley!!!

Cooper went ballistic when he saw the remote control race cars and a huge slot track on display that he got to play with. There was a big train on display that he also managed to derail before we left. Here he is with Pop shooting the guns they had out for the kids...
This summer while I was in Branson with students, I discovered a new store called "Ridemakerz" at the landing and I kept telling Mark that Coop would love it because he is so into cars. I made Mark promise that we go there before he and Dad left to go watch the Razorback game (priorities!!) and let me tell you that it was sooooo worth it! I know that the guys probably missed the first half of the game, but my little Cooper was in car heaven! He literally shouted when we walked in the door. There was no way we were getting out of there without him building a car!

Naturally, Kamdyn wanted to build one too so Mimi had to step in and she offered to take her across the street to "Build a Bear" to buy her bear an outfit. She came out of there with a new dog in a police uniform and boots named Tucker, but I digress.

So in this store you choose the car body, wheels, sounds, stickers, etc and totally customize it. This is "Build a Bear" for boys and men.

Cooper chose a red Mustang with flames.... here they are assembling it together.
We let him pick out his wheels but we drew the line there.... he is 3 after all and it is almost Christmas so we didn't opt for the $25 remote control addition.

So excited...Trying out his new ride... his license plate says "Cooper."
I mentioned this was "Build a Bear" for men. I'm not joking when I say that there were grown men in there building cars and my dad was one of them. Not sure what he built but his license plate says "Pop." Here are he and Cooper walking out of the store with their car boxes.

We only had Mark's blackberry to take all these pics but you get the idea. Can I just say that my heart melted when I saw Coop walking out. He was so excited. The first thing he said to my mom when he saw her was, "Mimi, I built a cool car!" He carried that box around the whole night and acted like such a big boy. This car is now our bargaining chip for when he reverts back to his baby talk mode.

It was a great weekend and I hated to come home. Back to life....back to reality!!!!