We didn’t do a big vacation this Summer because we are going on vacation in October together-more about that later- but we wanted to have a mini-cation together at some point this Summer. We have been wanting to do a float trip with the kids for a while so we decided it was time to do it. Ryan had a friend from work that lives by the Current river in Missouri. They have people come stay with them a lot and they have all the stuff you need to float the river. They have invited us several times and it hasn’t worked out so we decided it was a good time to do it.
The week of our trip Allison went to girls came Monday through Thursday. She was actually pretty close to were we were going to be so instead of having her drive home and then all the way back to the same place, we left on Thursday and picked her up at the camp she was at before they left to come home. She was actually at camp for her birthday. We had lots of little celebrations to celebrate her this year. Becky made her a cake and we celebrated with the rest of the KC Terry’s on Sunday before she left for camp. I sent a surprise gift bag for her to open on her actual birthday at camp. Her main gift this year was a new bed and mattress for her room. She wanted a queen bed instead of a twin. She also wanted to but some board and baton on one wall in her room and make an accent wall. We got that put up for her and painted it the blue color she wanted. Then we let her pick a place to eat out for her birthday dinner when we were on our float trip and Matthew and Emilee were back.
Matthew and Emilee came home from their Florida trip late Wednesday night and we left to get Allison Thursday morning and then go straight to the river. On Tuesday Ryan’s work buddy that was going to take us to the river and let us stay with him called and said that his wife was pretty sick with COVID and he would still let us use stuff and take us to the river but it might be best if we don’t stay at their house so we didn’t get sick. I would always rather stay at our own place than with someone so I thought it worked out great. Ryan decided to see if he could find a VRBO even though it was last minute. There were literally two options available. One was a definite no and the second was pretty new but had a handful of decent reviews. Once we gathered our kids from Florida and girls camp we headed to the Current river. We had some time to pass before we could check into our place so we stopped and watched the new movie Twisters on the way. It was pretty good. It still makes me feel old to watch ‘new movies’ that are remakes of movies that came out when I was young. After the movie stop we finished making our way to our little VRBO that the kids quickly nick named the “Crack Shack”. We were a little concerned when we pulled up. It looked a little rough from the outside. Luckily it was clean and not as bad on the inside, and had good door locks. It was literally 30 feet from a Dollar General store which is a little ghetto but very convenient. We settled in and went to dinner at an outdoor burger and ice cream stand. We watched the Olympics and played games the rest of the evening.
The next day we met Ryan’s friend and he hooked us up with all kinds of floating options. Ryan decided to get a kayak and the rest of us went with a tube. He drove us to a spot on the river to get in at and planned to meet us about 4-5 hours later at the pick up spot. Allison was a little tired from her week at girls camp and was a little less than excited about the whole trip. It took some convincing to get her to come out of her room and do anything with us the first night. With a little bit of help from us, mostly her brother Matthew, we loaded up and headed to the water. Once we got on the river it was much better. All of us loved it. The weather was great, the water was clean and a perfect temperature. It was so relaxing. We had the river to ourselves most of the time too because we went early instead of in the evening. We stopped to swim and play in the water a few times. We caught a baby turtle, saw some fun animals, got tan, and enjoyed each others company. I love float trips. It was the perfect length too. About the time we were getting tired and had run out of snacks we saw the pick up point.
After we dropped off the equipment we went home and showered and went to a pizza place that was recommended. It had potential…but they must have been short staffed and had a new cook, and something. It was comical how ridiculous it was. They only had half the items on the menu available…no pizza, which is what we went there for. Once we ordered the waitress (who had to go ask someone else about everything because she was brand new) said it would be about 45 minutes before the food was ready. We decided to try some of the games they had…the only one that worked was the dart board. That after asking almost everyone that worked there only had two working darts. They had axe throwing-another reason we went there… but it wasn’t available. When the food finally arrived it was ok. Nothing great. We decided to see if we could save the meal with shakes for dessert. After what seemed like forever waiting for the shakes we asked if they were coming and our waitress said they were almost ready. Then we watched her walk over to check on them and they must have told her to do it herself because she then went over and made them by herself one at a time. It took a while and we think it was her first time handling ice cream ever. By the time we got the shakes, the first three were liquid, two were the wrong flavor, mine was only half full and tasted like thick milk. It was so ridiculous from start to finish we just all laughed about it. We left and went back to our crack shack. The Dollar Store was still open so we got some junk food and played games the rest of the night. The next day we headed home.
It was a short but sweet vacation. Lots of little hiccups but I will still probably remember it as one of my favorite vacations with the kids. Our season of life is getting ready to change after this year. I have loved this season. I love the kids being older and a little more independent and watching their personalities develop. It is a time they are developing themselves and trying things but it is still a little bubble that their lives don’t have to much craziness or stress. They are all awesome people and I love spending time with them.