Sunday-Time to go home!

It's Sunday! I finally get to go home and see my kiddos again, but first James had a few more places to stop before we left. We slept in a little this morning and after showers we packed up to get ready for check out time. After checking out about 10:00 in the morning, we headed of to Dixie Outfitters. All Dukes of Hazzard stuff and a lot come from the original Cooter's Museum in Tennessee. James LOVED it!

At Dixie Outfitters, James got a new shirt, some magnets, a bumper sticker, and some pictures with the "General Lee." If he had his way he would have bought one of everything, but he was happy with what he got, especially the chance to take pictures with and sit in the General Lee.

After Dixie Outfitters, we decided to do a little more shopping and play a little mini golf and skee ball before we headed home. As I am not a good golfer, this was definently a funny sight, but what I would have to say was funnier, was when James got it all handed to him. He made so many comments about how he has actually played golf before and how it helps to have experience. Well I couldn't have laughed any harder than when on a par 2 hole, it took him eight putts to get the ball in and it only took me four shots :) He didn't live it down the rest of the game and I no longer had to hear him talking himself up.


After the exhausting round of golf, we grabbed a quick lunch at Qizznos. I had never eaten there before and it was really good! I can't wait to get another sub soon. After that, we got in the car for the trip back home. We arrived home around six and picked the kids up around 7 ish after dropping off all the presents and getting them organized. I was so happy to see them and they were shockingly happy to see me as well. Nex up is Johnson's Shut-ins on the 28th!

Comedy Jamboree-Saturday

After we grabbed us a bite to eat at the '57 Grill, then headed on over to our 2:00 pm show at the Grand Country Music Hall. We went to see the Comedy Jamboree, which was also part of our package, so we didn't know what to expect for seats, but we had the best seats you could ask for. Front row, middle section, on the aisle. James didn't think these seats were as good as I did, seeing as how he was brought up on stage twice :) Once to win a hundred dollars and once to be shrunk. To win a hundred dollars, he was asked to eat six saltine crackers in one minute with no liquid to wash it down. He failed, but he won us two tickets to a show of our choice and some souvenirs at a $63 value. He went up on stage and was shrunk down to a miniture puppet man the second time. His arms was playing the feet and the other guy was the hands, but it looked like James tried to grab the assistants boob and it was halarious watching both her and his reactions.


This was probably my favorite of all the shows we seen on our trip. It was halarious and they had great singers. The comedians had great skits and incorporated the audience in every chance they got. Beware: If you go to this, pick seats that are further back unless you like the stage, because you will be chosen.

Because of the tickets James won, there was no rest for the wicked. After the show we went to Golden Coral (majorly packed) of which I was not to impressed. I have been to Golden Coral before, but this one did not match up in my opinion. After dinner we headed back tot he hotel for a quick change out of our sweaty clothes and then we were back on the road for the Grand Jubilee. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so ther are no pictures :(

This show had the America's Got Talent final 10 contestant Jason Prittchet. I voted for him so many times when he was on the show and I was excited to get to see him in person (he's hot :)). He was good, but unfortuneatly, I was not impressed with this show. They had some good acts, but for the most part it was a flop for me. James liked it, but his opinion don't matter :) Just kidding! I did get to meet Jason Prittchet during intermition and that was cool! He was so nice and I told James I was leaving him for Jason, my new man :) James said, "He won't want you, a girl that can eat to big tubs of cotton candy is to expensive for any man." I was so mad, because I forgot that I had the cotton candy in my hand that I had bought for the kids and I just realized that I did look like a pig, but it's all good. I stick with my hubby :)

After the show we were off to the hotel for bed. A hot activity filled day that lasts all day equals exhaustion at the end of the day. I did manage to convince James to give me a foot rub though :) Tomorrow we go home!

Ripley's Believe it or Not

After the Titanic we went over to tour the Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum. I was kinda iffy on this, because I thought it would be a lot of stupid stuff, but it was awesome. As many of you know, the outside of the building looks as if an earthquake had struck it, well so does the inside. It looks like the building has been busted in half all throughout the museum.

As we first walked in there was some artifacts from other country's. Stuff like odd attire commonly worn or unusual machinery they use, but as you go further through you come to a magic room. You had to guess how many squares were in a picture, try to roll your toungue in a mirror (which turns out to be a two way mirror), try to grab a gem, and guess answers to riddles. This was cool, but I was no good at it. Finally something James could beat me at :)

Then you walk into a room with a Limo and in the trunk of this car was a heart shaped jacuzzi. Also in this room was the laws of gravity bowl and the sign says, drop a coin in this bowl and see what happens. What happens? It falls, straight down the hole and into the underneath. Oops, lost a penny :)
After that came the cool stuff (to me). The had sculptures made of match sticks, camel bone, shredded money, and anything else you could imagine. There was a life size Volkswagon Beetle carved completly out of wood and a ship made out of thousands of matchsticks. It is cool to see, but it makes you wonder how much time people actually have on their hands :)

Of course they had the biggest ball of yarn, but they also had things like insect paintings (real insects that were painted), clothes that were made to fit fleas (believe it or not), and a two headed cow (fake, but based of a real one). I would have to say, it turned out to be pretty cool :)

Branson Trip- Saturday

Saturday was a busy day for us. We woke up early (around 8 am), made some coffee, took showers and got the day started. We already had tickets for Ripleys Believe it or Not, the Titanic, and the Comedy Jamboree that we new we were going to do, but that was not going to fill up the whole day, so we started off at the Hollywood Wax Museum.

When you first walk in there is a big giant King Kong and a camera. They take two pictures of you, one with you standing there smiling and the other with you screaming for your life. Each picture cost ten dollars and after seeing them, James and I opted not to get them. I looked more like I was laughing rather than screaming and we already had a pretty picture from the night before, so we carried on with our tour.

It was a self guided tour and you were allowed to step in the sets with the characters and take pictures. I would have to say it was cooler than I thought it would be and most of the characters actually looked real!

Next up came the Titanic and I had been waiting out whole trip for this! This was also a self guided tour, so we opted to get the audio players. It was really cool, but you were not allowed to take pictures inside, but we did get the ones they take for you, even though I did not like how I looked. I also snaped a few of the outside.

There are a lot of artifacts, many from the Titanics sister ships, but it's basically the same and they let you know when this is the case. As you walk in they give you a name of a passenger. I was Salena Cook and James had Wallace Hartley. I was a 22 year old second class school teacher who was married and about to surprise my husband with the news of our first child. James was a 33 year old band leader whose band played on the ship. He went down with the ship and you heard music till the last possible second from him and his band members. I survived, but my husband did not leaving me with a child that he never new about.

As you go through, there is information about you as a passenger and then towards the end you get to find out if you lived or died. I lived but sadly James went down with the ship. There is also an iceburg as you first walk in that you can touch as well as a bowl of water that is the temperature of the water the night the ship sank with a timer to see how long you could hold your hand in. James and I both lasted 3 seconds (it was COLD!). My favorite part was James and my friendly competition on who could get up the furthest on the steepest plank. They had these three planks, one was the normal ship, the second was the ship a little after it started to sink, and the third and final plank was the ship right before it finally sank. Almost upright! Of course, I won, but he did better than I had originally thought.

Legends In Concert-Friday

Friday night we went to see the Legends in Concert show, featuring The Blues Brothers, Marilyn Monroe, The Temptations, Gretchen Wilson, and a young Elvis. I wondered about it and hoped to see singers more like Alan Jackson or Shania Twain, but it turned out to be an awesome show.

The First up was Justin Clark and Art Vargas, who played the part of The Blues Brothers. This turned out to be one of my favorites for the night. They were halarious and I couldn't imagine the originals that crazy, but they were. We watched a tribute to them on TV as they sung their songs and these guys were NUTS! During intermition we talked to them for quit some time as well as the other acts and they were all really nice and stayed within character the whole time.

Up next came Stacey Whitton as Marilyn Monroe. I have never been a Marilyn fan myself, but this girl was good. She sang good and she was halarious. She pulled up some older guy and I would have bet this poor guy was going to die of a heart attack before the act was over. When he was picture on the big screen, you could see his poor lip just a trembling away and he was as stiff as a board, but to us watchers, it was halarious! This turned out to be my favorite of all the acts, mainly because of the audience participation.

Next came the Nate Grang Group who played the Temptations. They sang really good and sounded just like them, but in my opinion the act was to short. They only sand a couple of songs and then they were done.

After the Temptations came a short break where we were able to purchase some pictures that were taken before the show. I did purchase them, because I knew there would be few pics of both of us on the trip. It wasn't to badly priced, it was $20.00 for a 5x7 and 4 2x3 photos with a frame that we had autographed by each act.
After the break came Gretchen Wilson played by Stacey Whitton (played Marilyn as well). Even though I don't care much for Gretchen Wilson, I went in with an open mind. Howeve, I still did not like this act. I think she did a better job playing Marilyn Monroe, but James and I had fun making fun of the back up dancers. They were the same dancers throughout the show, but in this act they looked extremly gay and were halarious to watch.

Of course, they saved Elvis for last, which was played by Deaan Z. He was an excellent impersonator! I again am not much of an Elvis fan, but he was GREAT! He was the longest of the six acts and the older ladies in the audience went crazy. He also pulled people up from the audience, but I was unable to get very many good pics due to his constant moving. I snaped a couple though, so enjoy!