family photos. the making of.

As long as I'm posting things that happened long ago, here are some family photos I took when we were in Branson with Ben's family back in April. It's always a little crazy trying to get so many people (children) looking good for a photo.

But I did manage to get a few pretty decent pictures. (Okay, so there was still a lot of photoshopping of heads that had to be done...it turns out adults have a hard time keeping their eyes open.)

The group shot:

The grandchildren shot:

And of course Elsa had to have one of her signature sneezes in the middle of the photo shoot:

 

I actually prefer the "real" shots that really capture the true spirit of the moment. I know endlessly looping animated GIFs can get a little annoying, but here is a small sampling of what transpired:

branson: branson

We thought we would do more exploring in the area but the kids were having so much fun with their cousins that we mostly just hung around the mansion. We did drive down "the strip" on our last night and went out to dinner. The main strip of Branson was pretty underwhelming. Although it was raining and Amelia was sick and moaning in the back seat the whole time so that didn't help. The most interesting (and sad) part was seeing all of the recent tornado damage.

I had the house specialty burger which had a fried egg on it. It was awesome.

The only photo I got in Branson.

branson: easter egg hunt

Elsa was beyond excited about the egg hunt. She still talks about it.

branson: party!

We celebrated Jonah and Anna's birthdays during the reunion. Rachel and Michelle put together a great party with lots of festive touches. They had a really yummy lunch with fun box lunches for the kids, delicious cupcakes, cute party favor bags, and fun games including an Easter egg hunt.

The kids loved playing "duck, duck, goose."

Michelle made these cute potato sacks.

Siblings.

Spouses.

branson: boat ride

We took turns going out on a boat one afternoon. Ben took the girls out and said that Amelia absolutely loved it. She especially loved being in the front and feeling the strong wind. Elsa, on the other hand, was clinging to him in the back and pretty scared. Even though Elsa has a much louder personality, Amelia is definitely our little daredevil.

The view of the mansion from the boat.

Elsa, Anna, Amelia, and Grace