Baby's first Branson trip!

Thursday afternoon we loaded up the car and headed to Branson for a three day trip. The first night was a little bit rough for all of us. We allowed Korben to go to sleep with no noise in the room which punished us for the rest of the night. For every time we rolled over and the sheets made a noise, Korben would startle and wake up...meaning, we all woke up A LOT. I had even put blankets around the porta-crib so he couldn't look at us. Well, to my surprise, there was one time in the middle of the night when I happened to wake up and I looked over at his crib to see that he had not only moved the barrier blanket, but he was wide-awake, STARING at me. As soon as I made eye contact with him, he gave me the biggest grin ever. I had to laugh out loud. It was really sweet...although, a tad bit creepy. :-) We learned our lesson. On nights two and three, Korben had a loud TV on when he went to sleep and we all slept soundly!

Big news: Korben said "MaMa" for the first time on Friday morning. I have only ever heard him say sounds that start with "B." Like, "Buh' and "Boo." Well, Thursday night, I told Aaron, I think I am hearing an "M" sound...like, "Ma." On Friday morning I was feeding him fruit in the high chair and at least three times he said "MaMa." The first time I thought I was just hearing things, the second time Aaron said "HE JUST SAID MAMA", and I know he did it one more time for good measure. Ha. We haven't heard it since, but stay tuned for an update on Korben's verbiage. Another thing to report...I think I see a glimmer of something white on Korben's lower gum. I may just be imagining things, but sooner or later he will surely get a tooth!

After a fun day of shopping at the Tanger outlets, we met up with Don, Julie, and Dustin for a late dinner at Waxy O' Shea's Irish Pub at the Branson Landing. Fantastic food! Korben slept through the entire meal, and live band, which I have to admit, was a nice little break for mom and dad.

On Saturday, if you had told me it was -30 degrees, I would have believed you. It was absolutely FREEZING. This was the day we had planned to go to Silver Dollar City. We were doing some shopping that morning (assuming we were going to go to silver dollar city in the afternoon) and I opted to buy Korben something even warmer to wear to brave the cold. Check out his pictures in his one-piece, fleece outfit. He even wore his big poofy coat on top of that, so the poor little eskimo didn't have a chance at moving his arms. He looked so helpless in the stroller...but at least he was as warm as we possibly could have gotten him!

So, we headed off to Silver Dollar City, and we were motioned by the parking attendants at the park to keep driving. We pass all over silver dollar city's overflow parking lots, and drive almost five miles until we find a parking lot that isn't packed. We are already thinking at this point that it wouldn't be fun to be at the park if it was that crowded anyway. Well, then we stepped out of the car, and our choice was solidified. It was EVEN colder. Nothing about being in an overly populated theme park or freezing to death (all of this- with a baby) sounded fun to ANYONE, so we loaded back up in the car.

It was totally meant to be because we ended up having a fantastic time at the Branson Landing, and we ate at the most fantastic restarant, "Cantina Laredo." It was gourmet Mexican food, and absolutely amazing!

Saturday night, Julie was kind enough to stay in the hotel with Korben while Don, Dustin, Aaron, and I drove through the light display at Shepherd of the Hills. We pretty much laughed for two hours straight. I could never explain all the crazy jokes that went on in that car, but at the time, everything was funny. For many reasons, we are now in the Christmas spirit!

We had our last wonderful meal on Sunday at lunch at the Outback (not the chain restaurant- this one is even better). Korben attacked an alligator for our protection. He used the "kill with kindness" approach. See pictures below.

To say the least, we made lots of great memories, and had a wonderful"first mini-vacation" with our son!




Our great little traveler. This is my view of him when I would peak behind the seat:
































Our little "blue bear" in his warm new outfit:


































Action shot:























Family pictures at the Landing. The Christmas decorations were beautiful!















































Our little one, taking one for the team, and protecting us from the gator:





























I'm sorry to say that these are the ONLY pictures we took! My camera never left my purse, but thanks to Aaron and his iPhone we got these great shots.