Carmen and Tina came up for a birthday celebration. We were actually celebrating both of their birthdays. We went out to lunch and out to dinner with a whole lot of shopping in between.




Tina has a new job as a designer in a home decor boutique in Tucson and wanted to check out a few boutiques up here. Here's where we went:

Domestic Bliss
Found
On the Veranda
Paris Envy
Melrose Vintage
Relics
Bungalow
The Willows
Embellish Home
One Posh Place
Favor Fine
Frances
The French Bee
and we had to stop at Hobby Lobby. We were very inspired by the end of the day!

Hello there! This little guy, well I'm pretending it was him, greeted us all three nights that we walked the new Iowa/Nebraska Pedestrian Bridge crossing over the Missouri River. Our final destination was Council Bluffs, IA where I grew up and where my sister and several family members live. This was on my sister's list of activities for the kids. We loved it and enjoyed seeing the river. We were amazed at how many people were there.







I never go home without visiting the Old Market in Omaha. It's been my favorite spot in Omaha since I was in high school. I remember my parents taking me there and talking about how it was a produce market when they were young. They said the window boxes on top of the buildings were always filled with flowers. I remember wearing heels going to a few pubs in college and slipping on the icy cobblestone streets. Lots of memories there.


I was able to squeeze in about one hour to myself this entire trip. My dear friend, Teresa, and I met at Second Chance Antiques. I loved it. The selection and prices were amazing. I brought home a few treasures. Teresa brought me the sweetest lavendar-scented gift. I love her and she now sits on my dresser.






Taylor and I stopped in for a quick visit to my favorite florist. She had a jar of Buckeyes on display. I remember finding those as a child. They weren't for sale though.

I love this building. I worked there one summer during college.


We were on the lookout for the "O" statues. This was the only one left. Apparently the rest have been sold. Dang! We were hoping for some good photo ops.


My sister has quite the green thumb. Her fall mums are always magnificant.

She recently received this candy corn vine as a gift. I want one!


She has several bunnies that have found their home under her gazebo. Taylor thought they were so cute. My sister, not so much. They eat her plants and make a mess.

I'm crazy about my Uncle Dick and Aunt Carol. They invited us to dinner. They live in a rural area. We spotted these wild turkeys on our way.

This is the view from their kitchen window. It makes me homesick just looking at these photos.

As you get to the edge of their property, you see this view.

We left Kansas City and hit the road to Branson. Three and one half hours to go. Not bad, but I was doing all the driving myself and feeling very brave and accomplished to take my kiddos on a trip by myself. Half way there, I spotted what looked like an Amish man on a horse waiting to cross the highway. Then I noticed this sign. I looked for cute signs like this when we were in Pennsylvania this summer, but I couldn't find any. Sorry it's blurry, we were driving. It was an incredibly beautiful drive. We passed so many farms and red barns. I have a thing for red barns.

We arrived at our resort around 6 pm. We checked in, unloaded our luggage and drove back into town to have a nice dinner. Then I spotted Steak N Shake. Cole flies off to Ohio once a year for his drumline to compete in the world championships. Steak N Shake is always on their itinerary. I scored big points with Cole for nixing our plans for a "nice" dinner and dining at Steak N Shake instead. You know what they say, the way to a man's heart! After all, he did have to put up with a lot of girly stops during this trip. After dinner, we took advantage of the resort's recreation center playing pool, foosball, air hockey and sliding/flying down the water slide. The indoor pool was warm, but it was a cold walk back to our room.

The next morning we enjoyed a long-distance treat from Daddy, room service! He insisted. We love being spoiled. Daddy had lots of talks with Cole about being "the man" while on our trip and taking care of the girls. We then went and met the incredibly sweet and gracious Ruthann from Warm Pie Happy Home and Sugar Pie Farmhouse.

She brought me one of her precious books! I am so thankful that we were able to meet.

Our next stop was Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a quaint little Victorian town. One of my life's goals is to visit all of our fifty states.


I'm now officially at 41 states. 9 more to go!




We had ice cream at this darling little establishment.


We had to turn around and drive back to Branson. We had 4 pm tickets on the Branson Belle to see the show Todd Oliver and His Talking Dogs. The show was hilarious. Todd has been featured on both Leno and Letterman. We loved Table Rock Lake and had a thirty-minute break between dinner and the show to go out on deck and enjoy the view.

We are on Fall Break! Yah hoo, I can't tell you how excited we are. We are on a year-round school schedule. It's hard to start school at the end of July, but it pays off when we have a 2 1/2 week fall, Christmas and spring break. I took the kids to see my sister in Iowa. She is very ill and I knew that my teenagers would be bored within a heartbeat so I decided to add an excursion on to our trip. My son has drumline camp this week, so I made our reservations for last weekend. I was trying to work out so many details and I overlooked an important competition date for him. He was so disappointed. We talked about it as a family and decided to work around his competition. I lost our three one-way tickets into Missouri and had to rework everything, but it all worked out in the end. We flew into Kansas City. I had a few spots on my list. Curious Sofa, Nell Hills and Urban Arts and Crafts.
Curious Sofa's Halloween decor was amazing!




We have been wanted to change our sofas in both the living room and family room and I wished I could fit a few of these in my suitcases.


Somehow, I don't think my husband would think this one is as cute as I do!

I have a thing for tin ceilings. I remember my sweet Mama pointing one out to me over twenty years ago before they were in. She loved them too.

Taylor found a few things for her bedroom. We are revamping it for her birthday. It will be black and white damask, chandeliers and hot pink.
Nell Hill's was amazing. Last time we were here, three years ago, we visited the original store in Atchison, Kansas. Loved this new store too.
I think my husband would approve of this sofa. Unfortunately, it wouldn't fit in my suitcase either!

I "Love" this pillow and had to bring it home with me.
We also stopped in at Urban Arts and Crafts. I found a few little trinkets. As we were leaving Nell Hill's and driving over to Urban Arts and Crafts I noticed this beautiful home. I mentioned it to the employee and she said it is the home of the owner of the shopping center and suggested that we drive through Briarcliff to see the beautiful homes. By this time, my son had about had it. Both the kids were exceptionally good on our little get away.