Day 3: Guys' Golf Day and a SHOW!

On Friday morning, the guys took off to play golf at Branson Creek. And Sarah had to drive to pick Sam up at church camp, so that left Mom, Bobbie, Carla, and me with the 6 kids until nap time. We put the little ones in the strollers around 9:30a and ventured on a short walk (though it WAS up a pretty big hill!) to McDonald's. Turns out that everyone on the strip in Branson had the same idea, so it was slightly chaotic. But we managed. And, after leaving Mickey D's, we went to the neighboring Wal-Mart, where Nina surprised each kid with $10 to spend on the toy(s) of their choice. Here's a picture of Olivia and Ivie, very proud of their Disney Princess cell phones.


The guys returned to the hotel during the kids' naps. After dinner at The Pasta House, it was off to a show. Can't go to Branson without going to a show! We chose Presley's Country Jubilee, mostly (okay, entirely) because my dad knows the mayor of Branson, who also happens to be the wife of one of the original Presleys (the drummer) on the show. So she hooked us up with seats in the second row (for 17 people!) and even got our names announced during the "special guests" portion of the show. Big-time!!

The show STARTED at 8p. Nothing wrong with that, right? Other than the fact that both Herman girls are generally IN BED ASLEEP at 8p. And I'm sure that all of you are shocked to learn that neither of Amy Herman's girls are very good with handling sudden changes to their ingrained routines. So I was a bit concerned going in. Also surprising, I know..

True to her while-in-Branson form, Macie fell asleep in the car on the drive to the show (who chose the Yellow Route, anyway?!?). And she slept on the walk inside and through the first 5-10 minutes of the show. Until something really funny happened on the stage, causing my dad, who was sitting 1 seat removed from me, to ERUPT in laughter. I mean loud. And Macie, of course, awoke with a start.

And she wasn't happy. Started screaming her head off. In fact, the guys on stage took a break from their lines, looked over at us, and said, "Don't cry, baby, we're doing the best we can up here!". GREAT. Can't tell you how much I wanted to be a punch line for the jokers on stage in front of several hundred people! Now you see why I was concerned going in?

So Macie and I headed quickly out of the auditorium, and were saved by a Presley's staff member who casually mentioned that they had a cry room. SWEET! So we ended up in there, all by ourselves, in a very dimly lit room that had speakers so I could hear the show but noone could hear Mac. She gave in pretty quickly and went back to sleep, and I laid her on the floor in the cry room (it was dark, so I couldn't tell how dirty the carpet was, but figured if she was sleeping, she didn't care, and neither did I). She ended up sleeping through the first act, intermission, and nearly all of Act 2.

We did, however, end up having to leave the show about 15 minutes before it was over, as Macie woke up and realized that she was NOT in her bed. And the screaming began again. And while Ivie had been really enjoying herself and behaving very well (or so Dale told me via the various texts that we sent each other throughout the show), it turns out that about this same time (10p), she had pretty much reached the end of her rope, so it was good timing for us to leave.

But we made it much longer than I thought we would going in, so I was proud of the girls for venturing out of their routine. That's what vacation's all about, right?