Hello Again

This blog has been neglected while I have kept up with other things in life. It can be hard to keep your priorities in order while you’re running a business! For Memorial Day weekend I was able to go on a vacation with my parents to Branson, Mo. We spent two of those days at Silver Dollar City. I have come to dislike most amusement parks but Silver Dollar City is not your usual amusement park! (The other park I love is Sea World in Orlando, FL.) The Glass shop, Basket shop, and Woodworking shop were my favorites to visit. There was some beautiful Fenton glass sitting on the shelf at the glass shop. Just a few days before an elderly lady was telling me the story of the Fenton glass company. She has a large collection of it in her home. It’s absolutely beautiful!
While we were at Silver Dollar City it was 91 degrees with Missouri’s high humidity. This was the first time we had gone to Branson in the summer. Usually we wait till fall. Our vote was unanimous to stick to the fall season despite the Bluegrass and Barbecue Festival that was going on. Walking on black pavement it gets beyond hot! I spent an hour in a line for a water ride. I knew at the end of the line was a 3 minute water ride that could get me soaked so I stayed in line. I'm still trying to decide if it was worth it or not!
I went in Marvel Cave at Silver Dollar City. It’s an hour long walking tour with over 600 steps. It’s amazing in that cave. The best part was the temperature. Nice and cool. :-) I loved the waterfall you walk past. At one point the guide turned out all the lights so we could see what a dark cave is like. It’s beyond normal black. He then asked everyone who had cell phones to pull them out and turn them on. About half of us had our cell phones and they lit up that room like a bunch of candles. Later in the tour he had us in a room explaining some history of the cave when all of a sudden a phone began ringing. There were 60 of us on the tour and we were all looking around at each other wondering where that phone was! I think we all had the same idea. A man next to me voiced it. “Okay, whose cell phone is ringing because I want to switch to your phone carrier!” We all had a good laugh at that one. It turned out the phone was sitting in a box hidden on a ledge of the cave. It is a line phone for the tour guide that connects to the office above.
My Mom and I went to some shops at the outlet malls in Branson. Neither one of us care for lengthy shopping. The Amish store, Kitchen store, and Christian bookstore were our stops for the weekend.
The Titanic Museum had opened recently in Branson so we stopped there too. I thought it was pretty neat how they had it set up as if you were walking through different parts of the ship. You could walk up the replicated grand staircase, see a large exact wood model of the ship, see first, second, and third class rooms as they have been made, and more. Since there are very few artifacts from the actual ship still around there are a number of photos in the museum. It was definitely worth a one time ticket of $16.50!
Since then I have been catching up with work that needed to be done with New Little Blessing and all the things around home. I’m have a list that needs to be made for the organizing I want accomplished for NLB. I know there are ways to streamline and be more efficient. I love “to do” list! It’s a great feeling to cross things off the list one by one. :-)
I have worked on this month’s e-newsletter for New Little Blessing. I stopped to help my sister because she was having quite the day. Her 2 year old son Mosiah decided to get into everything today. He took a stick of soft butter and I turned at a squishing noise to see him smearing butter onto the counter and dish washer. He is being potty trained and decided to use other places in the house besides his potty chair. During nap time (it was still quiet in his room while this was accomplished) he dumped all toys on the floor, opened drawers and placed contents on the floor…it was a long day for Caroline! Baby Israel at 8 months old is deciding it’s time to crawl and explore. Oh the adventures of young motherhood! On the plus side it's already apparent her sons are going to love playing together. Mosiah is very anxious to play with Israel and feels like a big boy when he says "baby no!" as Israel reaches for something he shouldn't. Usually it's a book. Israel loves to chew and drool over books. It's never good but it's an especially bad habit when it happens to be a library book. (Oh, you didn't know about that one Caroline?)I’ll let you read Caroline’s blog and read of her Memorial weekend camping adventure.