Ozarks Meet The Curtis Family

We packed up the van and headed to the Lake of the Ozarks for our family vacation this summer. Aaron had a work conference so we just tagged along and then extended the trip by a few days.

We had a really good time and I'll give you the highlights. We left on Saturday after Justin's morning nap and after a few stops we made it to our resort, Tan-Tar-A, around 5:00 pm or so. We checked in, had some dinner, checked out the area and then hit the pool. The best decision we made was to get two adjoining rooms...one for the kids and one for us. Therefore, we didn't have to go to bed at the same time the kids did or sit in the dark during nap times!

Aaron was off to golf on Sunday so the kids and I decided to check out the outlet malls...my car registered a cool 116 degrees...so we only hit a few stores, then headed to McDonald's for lunch, and then back to the room so Justin could take a nap. Natalie boycotted her nap that day but enjoyed watching a movie and then having some quiet time in bed. When Aaron got home we got cleaned up and then went to an indoor "cookout" with his work and then it was back to bed for everyone.

Aaron had meetings on Monday and Tuesday mornings so while he was "working" the kids and I hit the pool and it was hot enough that the pool was the place to be! Monday evening we had another dinner with his work and they had some entertainment and on Tuesday evening we headed to Miner Mike's and Busters which was a fun place for the kids. They had a huge maze with ballpits and such for Natalie (and Aaron) and then a smaller area for Justin. They also had some rides, of which Natalie would only try the bumper cars but she went by herself and got the hang of it after awhile. They also had a ton of video games and ride-on machines so the kids had fun and it wore them out which made bedtime easier for everyone!

Wednesday we had Aaron all to ourselves so we saved that day for the indoor water park. We hit that in the morning after Justin's nap and stayed until the kids afternoon naptime and then went back again after dinner. There weren't more then 15 people in the entire park so we had our run of things. The kids really enjoyed the lazy river and some of the water features. Aaron and I took turns watching the kids while the other could go down the big water slides....which we enjoyed. You forget how much fun it is to be a "kid" until you're sliding down that slide going like a hundred miles an hour in the pitch dark and you twist and turn and then take a huge drop just before you hit the water....we each must of hit that slide a dozen times. They also had some smaller water slides that we would take Justin down in our laps which he seemed to enjoy. Natalie wouldn't go down for the longest time...then she would go down with one of us....and by the last hour we were there she went down by herself and then I couldn't get her off them! It was a really fun day.

Thursday morning we got up and headed out after breakfast and stopped at Grant's Farm in St. Louis for a few hours. It was a really neat place and I wish we had planned a little better because our time was cut a little short because of naps and crankiness and such. But Natalie did feed some goats with a bottle and fed a camel and saw some other various animals. I think we'll head back that way the next time we are in the St. Louis area. We made it home Thursday night and we were all happy to be sleeping in our own beds.

Here are some pictures from our trip: