Lake of the Ozarks - Part One

Who would have guessed the talk about Lake of the Ozarks during last year's trip to Cedar Creek Lake would actually come to fruition?  Certainly not me!  I figured it was just talk...ya know the kind of talk that happens after adult beverages?? But when it was brought up again, I thought, let's make this work...it will be a blast!  Thankfully we all found a week that would work for everyone.  And a HUGE thanks to Jessica's parents who covered the office so Jess and Jason could both come up for the week.  And of course an even BIGGER thanks to my In-Laws who let us take over their house for a week!!

So, dates planned, house available, now what? How are we going to do this long drive with 5 kids....all three and under? We rent a 15 passenger van, that's what we do!

I can't believe no one took a picture of the outside of our actual van :-(

We had some trouble when we went to pick up the van. We were late picking up the van and they had already given the van to a corporation.  The guy at Enterprise was an arrogant little jerk, and we will never be renting a car from them again.  In fact, I wrote a very nice letter to their corporate office. In the end, we had another van, just 4 hours later.

The McMichael's came to the house, we loaded up and headed to the Davis house in Ft Worth. After a little shut eye, their stuff was loaded in the van, car seats were arranged and we were on the road by 7am!

The road trip really wasn't too bad! The kids kept themselves occupied with tons of books and movies...and of course iPod touches.  It would have been a long long trip with out those!  There were a few melt downs, but we made it!

Once there, we settled nicely into the patio...
Look at this beautiful view!

There was plenty of room for the kids to play and the adults to relax.

 

Sarah and Reagan came up with a new word - "summering" - sitting on the back patio, drink in hand, sunglasses on, chatting with your best friend....

After the long drive, we had a very relaxing night!