Branson, MO!!!!! What, you thought I meant something else? This is post 2 on our Branson adventure. Papa and Drea had just pulled out to head back to sunny Florida. The fun didn't end when Papa & Drea left, but we sure missed them..... We had a break before we had to leave town for classes, so we planned a few things like a SIX concert, a fishing day, and my favorite place on earth, Silver Dollar City! We had read some good reviews about a Belgium waffle place in town, so we went to check it out right after we waved bye to Papa and Grammy. This recipe is 150 years old, a secret passed down from generation to generation. WOW! Amazing you guys! Right across the street from our breakfast joint was the COOLEST restaurant building I had ever seen, so of course I begged Dale to let us go take a photo. Noodles all over the ground, cool "tablecloth" sidewalk, a giant meatball, fork and spaghetti. And a green pepper and tomato. SO AWESOME! One of our favorite shows on the strip is SIX: Six brothers who sing acapella, from gospel, to oldies to hip hop. They also do a really awesome movie reel sketch, where they do that deep base melody that plays when the little robot comes out to adjust the sound at the beginning of the movie. Am I even explaining that remotely right? Its been a while since I've been to the movie. Its like a silver DHX, or something?! Anyhow, then they start doing these video snippets and making the sound effects. BEST PART! Well, second best only to the song they sing to their beautiful momma that makes me cry! The next day was SILVER DOLLAR CITY DAY! Whoop whoop, happy dance! Ok so this year marked a VERY different dynamic for our family. This is the FIRST year that we have kids old enough and tall enough to want to and get to ride the BIG roller coasters!!!!!! I am not a spinny twisty round and round kind of person, but I can handle the occasional rollercoaster. As a mom though, I was not so sure about sending my BABIES on this crazy big twisty UPSIDE DOWN and SIDEWAYS roller coaster! I actually walked to the observation and deck and proceeded to call Dale 5 times in a row to see if I could catch him. Did they know it was the twisty upside roller coaster? Surely they didn't know and surely they needed their MOMMY to come save them. I just prayed and prayed and watched and prayed........ I was just hoping they didn't come off sobbing and start the day off sadly with tears and upset tummy's........ Guess I didn't need to worry! Fire in the Hole is a family favorite, except poor Paxton. He was scarred from last time and elected to stay out with daddy..... The rest of the day was spent taking turns on rides, and the littles and I had some downtime together while daddy and the bigs got their roller coaster fixes. It was different, but still so so fun! The perfect end to a perfect day! :) After this is was time to head to Rolla, St Louis, Columbia and Kansas City for 12 classes, bootcamp and business trainings! I am so blessed that my job doesn't feel like one. I love sharing oils with people and watching their lives change, even within the hour class.
I'd love to come teach one for YOU! :) Hugs, T
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Hi friends......welcome back to our blog!
We LOVE LOVE LOVE the faith and family based fun found in Branson, MO. It's like Christian Las Vegas! And Silver Dollar City is like Christian Disney, but kicking it old school. We love how everyone speaks of their faith without apology and the shows are clean and family friendly, So, as I am going through photos, first doing the Texas blog and now this one, I am realizing EVERY SINGLE PHOTO I AM USING IS FROM MY CELL PHONE! Oops. I never got out my big camera, not once. That is so so bad! But you guuuuuuys, it gets SO HEAVY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sigh. I will do better next time, ok?! :)
So we were planning a surprise when we arrived in Branson.....PAPA AND DREA were there waiting for us! It worked out perfectly for us to meet back up on their way home and our next class schedule in MO.
I didn't know how things would go down, or how close we'd be parked to them. It didn't take long once we pulled in because they happened to be out on a bike ride. Check out the kids reactions, this makes me smile SO BIG: Surprise! from Tonya Ferguson on Vimeo.
They had found us a beautiful RV close to Branson Landing, FUN, and with a beautiful view of the water!
The surprises kept coming as far as our activities for the week:
Say Moses! from Tonya Ferguson on Vimeo.
Ahhh! This makes me so happy! Lots of fun memories to come.....
Have you ever been to the Sight and Sound Theatre? This is our 3rd show. We saw the Nativity story, Jonah and now, Moses. If you haven't been its worth every PENNY! The sets, the music, wow. There are no words how detailed and phenomenal they are. We left feeling like we had been to a revival or extra powerful church service! No photos or videos allowed during the show, so just this to share:
We doubled up on school a couple days, so we'd have some free time to have fun with Papa and Grammy. We tried to get the kids to HURRY and do their morning chores, but after a few hours we had to get out the marker board and start recording "Strikes".
Yup. As in 3 strikes and you lose a privilege like Moses, or Silver Dollar City, or Branson Landing. Yup, it was baaaaaaad. Thankfully they got it together after that!
We loved walking over to Branson Landing for walking, shopping, eating and watching the Fire and Lights show every night.
They have the coolest shops there like the spice one, flavored olive oil store and an old fashioned candy shop my kids think is the bomb.com. We also took the Trolley downtown to shop the 5 & 10 store and walk around. Tuesday was Farmers Market day, and just a short walk, so that was perfect for meal planning!
I wish you would could SMELL these photos! WOW. Quality ingredients make way better food.
It was beautifully cool and crisp, just like fall should be.
In fact one day when it rained it got realllly cool and we had to bust out the coats. But then right after Papa and Grammy left to head back home to Florida, 91*!!! WHAT?!
One day was pants and short sleeve. The next big coats. The next shorts and tanks! What in the world? The midwest is so confusing!
Dale wanted to sleep with the windows open but his ears were cold. This was his solution:
Ladies, ladies. Back off, he is mine. ALLLL Mine! hahaha! :)
I actually welcomed the cool. Fall is one of my FAVORITE times of year! The smells, the tastes. Sweaters and boots! Heavenly!
If you are looking for yummy fall smells without any of the chemicals, consider a diffuser and some pure doTERRA essential oils! This one is called Cinnamon Bun: 2 drops each pure Cassia, Caradmom and Citrus Bliss essential oils. I add it to the water in my diffuser and it runs 8 hours and makes our home smell AMAZING! Mmm, I am hungry for Cinnamon rolls and Chili now!
New wreath from Branson Landing home store...eek! Love how warm and inviting it is!
Dinner on the river
We parted ways with Papa and Grammy after a yummy soup supper and game night in their RV.....they were cold and ready for some Florida sunshine again!
Bye Papa and Grammy! Thanks so much for joining us in MO on your way home!
We had a few more days to relax before we needed to head to Rolla and St Louis for classes. We made SURE to go to Silver Dollar City during their Thursday bargain pricing days. More to come..... Hugs, T
It was a LONG haul from California to Texas, but we pushed HARD and used 2 LONG days to do it in time for our first class.
We saw some cool sites, beautiful sunsets, ate some good grub on Route 66, and had fun along the way..... That's the best part of RV life, the joy is in the JOURNEY, not just the destination!
They take their oranges VERY seriously here in California!
Snack attack! New favorite: Veggie sticks with fiesta ranch dip. Found in the ranch dressing packet section, try it! Mmmm!
Rainbow Sunset
Get your Pie Fix on Route 66!
Hello, beautiful chocolate peanut butter.....
On long days we work hard to get the kids moving while Dale fills up with fuel. Stretching, doing jumping jacks and Rock Relays are always a favorite!
We arrived safe and sound, and right on time.
Our team members, and friends, are always the best hosts. We had a ball with Mr. Mark and Miss Vera!!! We parked in their BIG backyard and hung out in the evenings when we didn't have classes. This was our Mexican Fiesta night. Mr. Mark is a MASTER Corn roaster, and check out his buttering method... FULLY emerged in butter! YES PLEASE!
Our days were filled with easy lunches and school work. Nights, were full of classes and trainings!
Chicken Club lettuce wraps:
A little study sheet for my VISUAL learners! We are learning portions of Romans this year. Can you figure out which verses these are?
We have a favorite RV park we stay at a lot while we are in the Houston area, its just beautiful! It's called Fallbrook RV Resort. Check it out, nice digs, right?!
The kids ADORE the game room and free popcorn all day. And Ice, who knew ICE was such a treat until you didn't have it anymore!? ;)
While we were there, we had to get the windshield on the RV replaced due to a GIANT grapefruit sized splat mark a rock left us on our way to Utah.
Guess what that means for a fulltimer? We were HOMELESS for the day! Good thing we had the RV park game room and the pool at our disposal. We ordered pizza, ate some popcorn and played some games to kill time until we could swim swim swim the rest of the day away. AAAAANNNNNDDDD, had a little fun with our sassy pants teenager, Destiny Joy ;) Girlie, I warned you! from Tonya Ferguson on Vimeo.
Well, that's it from Texas, that and about 12 classes I don't have photos of. Haha! We love to educate people about Natural Solutions to their health care and teach them to have healthy happy homes using essential oils. If we are ever in YOUR area, we'd love to come teach YOU! You fill your kitchen table or living room, we bring the rest!
I love my job that doesn't feel like one! God is so good! NEXT STOP, MISSOURI! And some fun surprises await my 4 little Fergusons... See you soon! Hugs, T The Sequoia National Park was INCREDIBLE! There are no words for how massively giant these trees are, standing next to tiny counterparts in the forest, and as hard as I tried, I doubt I can show you just how majestic they really are. But I am going to try? Can you see the magic? It's so enchanting and fairytale like. The Sequoia national park is a lot of driving, but you can park and walk the different sections too. They gave us a HUGE map to follow! Check out the squiggles, yup, we drove it. Everyone looked straight ahead, and some doTERRA Digestzen oil and Peppermint kept the nausea at bay! Wait, this doesn't do it justice....HERE you go. Let's zoom in a bit. Right about where the Reconstruction red sign is......THAT is where things got crazy! You like double back on yourself as you drive the curves. INCREDIBLE! Totally worth it. We first stopped at Hospital rock and had a picnic and did some climbing. The women here used to use these holes in the rock to grind the giant acorns all around this area for their meals. We drove and drove, just taking it all in. Dale spotted a giant tree, and we used a pull off spot to hop out and go see it in person. It wasn't the largest tree in the Park, Sherman, but it was BIG. Really really BIG! Even the drive to our next stop was breathtaking..... We headed to Colonel William Young tree next. This tree was named for the first African American superintendent of a national park. Colonel Young was responsible for the crew that made it even possible for people to bring wagons in to view these beautiful giants. Read more about him here: https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/historyculture/young.htm We also were able to drive through tunnel log on our way to the hiking trail. Thanks to Drea for snagging a photo! :) The hiking trail was set to lead us up to a cool cabin a man made out of a fallen and fire ravished Sequoia. They call it Tharp's Log. Drea got a great photo of the inside with her flash. You can see it in the slideshow below along with a beautiful meadow they call Crescent Meadow. We saw some deer grazing even! Oh, and a BIG scary "bear" in a green shirt came barreling out of the trees and scared us nearly to pieces on the hiking trail.... ORNEREY! After our hike, we decide to check out Morro Rock. This it the highest point of the park. See it? Yep, up THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 400 steps to the top didn't sound so bad. And if there are steps, it must be cut wide and safe, sturdy with high walls and guard rails, right?! WRONG. Don't misunderstand. It was amazing, but at some spots the wall was SO low, and people were pushing past each other going up and down because it was so so narrow. I am telling you right now, my knees were JELLO and I shook like a leaf the whole time, and even well after. Drea agreed!!!! Dale thought it was funny to mess with us, of COURSE! The view from the top was spectacular and totally worth it all. Time to head back down....there is more park to see! Our last stop of the day, was to see the King of all Sequoia trees: Big Sherman! A little perspective on size....I am still far far away and using my max zoom. The General Sherman Tree is the world's largest tree, measured by volume. It stands 275 feet tall, and is over 36 feet in diameter at the base. Sequoia trunks remain wide high up. Sixty feet above the base, the Sherman Tree is 17.5 feet in diameter, at 180 feet up, it's 13.7. Its largest branch is 6.8 feet in diameter. The photo below gives you visual with the people drawn to scale beside it. Dale and Drea were kind enough to run back up the hiking trail for the cars and meet me, dad and the kids down at the entrance since we were right there anyhow. We were EXHAUSTED at this point and our feet were aching! We were ready to call it a night and go grab some supper on the way home. Little did we know, that on our way out, the park would just be waking UP! Everyone had to stop and take photos! We saw 4 bear eating their supper at different turns on the way out. AAAAND, grossest of all gross..... We kept seeing these GIANT things darting out across the road....... Oh what? You can't quite see what it is? Here, let me pull over and get a closer zoomed in shot for you................... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! What the heck?! These spiders were HUGE. Like a man's hand! Running across the road! WHY do people tent camp here? WHYYYYYY? {Shudder} I can't have this post end with a photo of THAT.......let me see what else we have. Ah, that's better. A beautiful ending to a beautiful day!
After this we packed up we slept hard, packed up, and headed for Texas. We have 12 classes scheduled here, and another 10 or so in Missouri, before we head to Kansas. Lots of work and classes to teach, so good thing we got to play in Cali, it might be a while until we have a break again. See you next time! Hugs, T |
Tonya Ferguson
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