SATURDAY
There were so many great areas in this house and on this property that lent themselves to great conversation spots.
Auntie Jodi was Graydon’s stylist for the week. She came up with some pretty cool do’s.
Party in the hot tub every night!
Bella got to feel some kicks from Baby Donovan!
SUNDAY
Each day began slowly - perfect for vacation.
At one point, several of the guys went on a bike ride. During that time, we had a mini baby shower for Lori and Pat (and Baby D).
Auntie Jodi at work again!
Five braids this time.
The property we stayed on had something like 400 acres. It had some hiking trails that led to a creek, so we decided to explore.
Graydon decided to take a dip to beat the heat.
When initially leaving for the hike, I almost got left behind because I decided to change out of my flip flops and into tennis shoes at the last minute. Assuming that everyone was already out and ahead of me, I ran to catch up to everyone. Little did I know that we accidentally left Curtis behind. Lori, Pat, and my mom stayed back, so he wasn’t left alone. The hike turned out being more rugged, steep, and long than we originally anticipated. And a bunch of us came back with ticks on us! So, Curtis actually didn’t fare too badly in this circumstance. And you’re not officially a Benetti until you’ve gotten left behind somewhere. He is now officially initiated. Instead of the hike, he did a Coke/Pepsi taste test with Auntie Lori and Uncle Pat.
More hot tub parties.
Grandma joined in later on.
MONDAY
Our big activity of the day was zip lining and tubing.
This was our zip lining group. The rest either went tubing and Lori and Pat went golfing. (A lot of these activities don’t work well for pregnant women). We took this buggy up into the high woods.
It was kind of a bumpy ride.
Off we go!
Graydon offered to go first on every line!
The two in front were the guides who helped us through the seven lines.
My yoga pose. Kind of dorky.
Mission complete!
That evening, the cousins put on a skit. Bella actually planned the script ahead of time. There are seven original Benetti children: 5 girls and 2 boys. There are currently seven grandchildren: 5 girls and 2 boys. Bella had planned for each cousin to play the part of one of the Benetti kids. One kink in her plan came when Rose decided to stay home with her mom, who was sick. Bella just had to do a few little rewrites. And it actually worked out since Rose was going to play the part of Kristen, who also could not make it. They had us rolling in laughter.
TUESDAY
Boating day! We rented two pontoon boats and spent some time on the Ozarks.
We all shared photos through Google and it was fun to see some of these shots from multiple perspectives. This was the photo I got of Bella and Sydney jumping into the lake.
And then I saw this one in our Google album.
There’s something about spending an afternoon on a boat that really gets you into the vacation mode.
The kids had a lot of fun tubing.
Each night, someone made dinner. There were two full kitchens in this house, which really came in handy.
Andy made a couple campfires. It’s kind of his thing now.
WEDNESDAY
Another slow, relaxing morning.
Several of us went to a winery while my parents stayed back with the kids. I didn’t get any photos from that time, but we were seated on a large balcony overlooking hills and trees. It was so beautiful. And the time sitting together, sampling various beers and wines, and talking was really enjoyable. Afterward, we met my parents and the kids at the zip lining/tubing place again because there were a few of us who went zip lining the first day who wanted to go tubing this day. This is my only photo from that. Looks like most of our footage from that event was video.
That evening, we took a quick group shot.
Then the water guns and water balloons came out!
“Hey kids! Post for a photo!”
And. . . Blast!
THURSDAY
We needed to be out of the house by 10am, but most were packed up and out the door around 8am. We took a little longer than the rest since there were more of us and we were pretty spread out throughout the house. We ended up being the last left with my parents. Watching everyone leave was tough. And going back into the house to finish up after they all left was worse. I never like that feeling. Saying goodbye to something wonderful is always hard. But I think we’ve found our new vacation spot. We all loved it here and the drive wasn’t too bad for anyone. I’m already looking forward to more Missouri memories!
