...what we got...

So.... Tony performed on The Voice again last night.  His song was Britney Spears' first single, "...Baby One More Time."  And while I found this to be absolutely hilarious....I think it may also have been quite genius.  It also allowed me to learn a line of the song that I've never known.  I never knew what Britney said at one point in the song... I always thought it sounded something like "why because" or "what because".  At any rate, I never thought she made any sense.  Ha ha!  So last night, I learned (because Tony can sing clearly and separates his words), the line is actually "what we got."  Huh.  Who knew?

Here is the performance...

He made it past the instant elimination last night....and I'm on the edge of my seat already for tonight's eliminations.  My fingers are crossed....are yours??

Branson Trip, Day Three... April 19, 2012

Day Three of the trip was very much like Day Two.  :)  Shopping...shopping...eating... shopping... eating... Oaks.  ha ha.  Before we got too involved in all of that, however, we spent a little bit of time in the morning, viewing some of the tornado damage along Highway 76.

The tornado happened on Leap Day, Feb 29th, 2012.  I was actually aware of it as it was going on.  I had gone to bed that night, leaving my television on.  I knew that bad weather was on the way, and I wanted to be sure to be on top of things throughout the night.  Any time I would wake up or roll over, I'd glance at the tv and see where the storms were at.  I woke up at one point, and they were broadcasting that there was a tornado ripping through the main area of Branson.  I want to say it was a little after 1AM, but I'm not positive.  This is the same system that woke me up a few hours later when my county was put under a tornado warning...and shortly after that a tornado ripped through Harrisburg (which has been fighting tooth and nail to get money from FEMA for all their millions of dollars of damage).

Anyway...this is just a small portion of what we saw...some places had already managed to patch things up.  But some, as you will see, were too far beyond the "patching up" status.

In driving around, we found Mater!  So naturally, I had to stop and snap some pictures for Dakota.  :)

Then we saw the Oaks again that night....



Richard Sterban



William Lee Golden (finally without the hat to cover his eyes!)



Joe Bonsall

During intermission, Joe and I "tweeted" with each other.  I found it pretty amusing that I was sitting on the front row tweeting him...and he was backstage tweeting back.  ha ha ha...  

Duane Allen



Joe and Richard being silly  :)



Branson Trip, Day Two... April 18, 2012

So...it's after 1AM, technically on Day Three of this trip....and I am super sleepy.  I think this blog will be a blog of pictures to tell the stories of the day.  :)



I woke up...and this is the view from our room.

We went shopping at Branson Landing all day...this is the view from the river.

These ducks were just hanging out in the fountain at Branson Landing.



I love Pansy flowers...and they were everywhere at Branson Landing. 



The other view from the Landings... note the houses on the other side of the river.  Damage from the tornado that ripped through Branson on Feb. 29th.



Ate lunch here, and ironically enough ran into Duane, which was fun.  Oh, and the food was delicious, too. :)



I made them do this.  :)  I am thankful that they humored me.  ha ha

 

Ate ice cream before going back to the hotel.  This was mine... cheesecake ice cream with white chocolate chips and raspberries mixed in.



Oaks night #2...before the curtain goes up.



Joe, Duane and William Lee



Joe and Rex



Duane Allen



Richard Sterban



William Lee Golden



Joe Bonsall



Oak Ridge Boys

That about sums it all up, I'd say.  :)

Oh...there is no picture for this, but it's a funny story.  Mom was in a store today and her phone just started blaring Tony Lucca.  Mind you, she does not have the one and only song of his that's on her phone, set as a ringtone of any kind.  Nothing she did made him stop singing.  The clerk in the store asked her, "Hey wait, is that the guy from 'The Voice'?"  hee hee...  Too funny.  :)



Branson Trip, Day One... April 17, 2012

So...this is the first "real" vacation that I've had since moving back home to Illinois.  I don't quite know what to do with myself.  I usually just take a day here and a day there...or a half-day here and a half-day there.  So this is a definite treat!

We loaded up the car this morning...



Wow...just a little bit of stuff in there!

 After we were all loaded up...we put three people across the back seat of the Jeep... Nancy, Sarah and Judy.  Mom rode in the passenger seat...and I drove.  Off we went...headed to Branson. 

We had a couple of stops along the way, of course...



Nancy, Judy, Sarah and Mom....Haven't you ever wondered what your retired elementary teachers do in their spare time? 

 We stopped for gas after heading south from I-44, and found the cheapest gas of the day.

We got to Branson and checked into our hotel...then grabbed dinner at Panera...then headed to the Oaks' Theatre.  This is the first time I've been to their theatre.  They've had their name on it for a few years, but I haven't been to Branson since 2007. 



Yay Boys!  :)

The show was awesome...of course.  ha ha.  Seriously, though.  After seeing these guys for 30 years, I have never once left a show without a smile on my face.  They are just simply THAT good.  They are one of those artists that you have to see perform live...to really get the full effect of what they are all about.  The silliness, the seriousness, the talent.  It's all there.  Wrapped up in four guys who have managed to continuously please audiences night after night.  All from different...yet similar backgrounds, who happened to end up together.  They listened to their calling...and it worked out just fine.  :)



William Lee Golden



Richard Sterban



Joe Bonsall



Duane Allen

And here is an example of some of the silliness I mentioned above...  :)  Thanks Duane, for being you!  hee hee...  I absolutely LOVE the following two pictures. 

That concludes Day One.  Stay tuned for the next blog...  :)





Easter 2012

I'm almost a week behind on this...but here are some pictures from Easter last weekend.  On Saturday afternoon, we all took Dakota to the Easter Egg hunt at my church.  There was a HUGE turn-out from the community...and everyone had a good time.  Nobody went home empty-handed.  The age group was actually PreK through 5th grade...and even though Dakota is only a 1 1/2 year old...we went anyway.  :)  We put him in the preschool group for the hunt... and he is the only kid that broke the line and went in before the horn blew.  HA HA.  The adults around us were chuckling and telling their kids that he was "just practicing."  He did very well...was very good about picking up an egg and putting in his basket.  Smart kid.  Of course once his basket was full...he just wanted to dump it out on the grass and sit down and play with the eggs.  He would pick them up and throw them over his head and behind him.  Silly boy!  After the hunt, Traci took Dakota to the prize table to claim his punch balloon that he'd gotten an egg for.  Traci blew it up for him...and then he proceeded to run all over the church soccer field, kicking and throwing the balloon around.  He especially enjoyed the soccer goal net.  After a few minutes, the balloon popped right as the Pastor walked by.  hee hee... 

Here are the Egg hunt pics...



Going to the hunting area...





Walking with Mommy



Dakota's prize!



Pastor Mark picked up the popped balloon...



Dakota spent the night with us that night...and then went to Sunday School with me the next morning.  The times I've taken him in the past, he's either been the only one in his class...or one of two kids.  Easter Sunday, there were 4 kids in his class!  But before taking him to his own class, he hung out in my classroom for a bit.



Dakota and his Sunday School class, Easter Sunday 2012

After church, Dakota and I came back to the house and held a photo shoot while he was still dressed up in his Easter outfit.  :)  Dad/Pop/Papa helped by playing peek-a-boo with Dakota while I was taking the pics. 



Peek-a-Boo!  :)



Peek-a-Boo 2!