Howdy!

Today is officially the start of vacation. Yessss!

This morning was busy.

We had to load up the cars, run to the UPS store, stop by Goodcents (penny club is the best!) for some grub, and then get a tour of my mom’s garden.

OMG.

Her garden would make Martha Stewart jealous.

queen of the green thumb

Her garden was bursting with zucchini blossoms, potatoes, every herb under the sun, and butternut squash. These bad boys were HUGE and we were taking over the entire garden. 
CSA needs to put her on direct dial.   
anyone for a game of squash? 
the royal garden. 

After we loaded up the car, we hit the road. 
Table Rock Lake here we come!
Since the car ride is four hours long, we made two pit stops.
First stop, Sonic. I hadn’t had a Limeade in forever! It tasted exactly like 7up, but I think the main reason why I love this drink, the ice. Sonic has the best ice on the planet. Am I right? Right. Glad we cleared that up. 
limeade big gulps. 

More driving. 
Jordan (my brother) was in the back seat and started playing word trivia. Okay, here are three of the words:
– mondegreene
– dory
– recalcitrant
Can you guess the definition? 
It’s okay if you don’t know because yours truly here was way off on all of my guesses. Apparently, I need to work on my vocabulary. Dang it. I knew I shouldn’t have fallen asleep in 7th grade English class. Doh. 
the bible.   
Second stop, Joplin. 
As a little girl we would always drive through Joplin on the way to the lake. We would stop sometimes for lunch and my parents would let my brothers and I run around to stretch our legs. There was nothing to look at or really “to-do.” But as we drove up Main Street all of that changed. 
The city that was once an afterthought in my mind was now completely destroyed. Mr. B kept pointing out how wide the F5 tornado must have been. The destruction went on for miles. 
It was completely heart breaking to see Joplin leveled. My thoughts and prayers go out to those families that lost loved ones and their homes. 
view into town.
complete disaster. 
hospital. 

After our tour of Joplin, we were on the road again. 
Only an hour more to go! 
captain myles. 
Even though it felt like we were in the car forever, we finally saw the bridge. 
Yay!!!
shell knob bridge. 

We finally made it. 
First order of business, beer! 
Since we got to the lake later then we would have liked, Mr. B and I got started on dinner. Each night someone different cooks, which makes things run smoother.
the cook. 
We decided to do a burger bar complete with:
– arugula
– tomato
– avocado
– caramelized onions
– lemon aoili
– red onions
Then on the side we did baked beans and grilled corn. Delish! 
burger bar. yummy. 
my plate. 
juicy. 
say hi family! 

Lots to catch up on. 
Cheer’s to vacation!