A Trip of Bravery

The past 10 days I have been on an exciting family vacation! I was visiting my Dad's side of the family at my Aunt Carol and Uncle Kevin's vacation home at Lake Table Rock in Branson, Missouri. We did a ton of things, and many of them required a lot of bravery and an open mind.

Cliff Jumping

This was probably one of the scariest things I have ever done! We were out boating and we passed a cliff that a bunch of kids were jumping off of.  Aunt Carol asked me if I wanted to jump off. At first I totally didn't want to , but then I watched some other kids jumping off and I decided that it wasn't that bad. My dad and my sister came with me on the jet ski and I jumped off and swam to the side and climbed on. I decided to do one of the lower platforms since I was a bit nervous.  Before I jumped off I was definitely scared, but I saw the other kids doing it so I knew nothing was going to happen. I took the jump and landed in the water safe and sound. I felt awesome, like I was on top of the world.   I wasn't scared at all. I felt peaceful in the water and accomplished. But I wasn't quite done yet. I still had one more thing I wanted to do. I felt I needed to face my fears a bit more and jump off the higher part of the rock...the highest part that people went to! The next day my mom took me back to the cliffs on the jet ski, again I climbed up the cliff, and I made my way to the highest platform. I was feeling nervous but proud that I had gotten this far! As I looked down I realized how far up I was but I knew that I could do it. I finally jumped off! My thoughts as I was going down were, this is taking forever, when am I going to hit the water, how will it feel when I do. When I finally hit the water I felt the bravest I had ever felt in my life! I went two more times during the trip. I even went once with my dad. He thought it was fun too. I knew that if I could do that I didn't have to feel scared to do anything like that ever again.

Tubing 

On our last day we went on the boat and this time we brought the tube. It had six handles on it.  My sister took two and I took two. This type of tubing requires a lot of strength because when there are bumps you have to hold on really tight or you'll slide to the side and most likely fall off. I was a little nervous because I didn't want to fall off, but I had a life jacket on so I knew I'd be fine if I did. When we first took off I was fine, but then it started to get bumpy and we were literally flying in to the air.  It was really hard to stay on. I got scared a couple times about falling off but I stayed on for a while. Eventually I had to fall off though and it was definitely scary, but I just swam around to the ladder and got back in to the boat and I was fine. I fell off two other times but it wasn't as scary as the first time because I knew what to do. Tubing was awesome and even though I was scared at first I got through it and I was brave.

Not Brave, but Fun

Branson has a ton of shows and plays. My Aunt loves to go to shows and plays so she bought tickets for us all to see Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede! The Dixie Stampede is a horse show and much more. When we first got there we saw all the horses in there stables. I got one to actually come up to me so I could pet him. They were all adorable and so sweet! After that we got our picture taken and were lead in to a store that took us to the pre-show. We got drinks and popcorn and enjoyed the show. It was a band of brothers: one played the banjo, one played the bass, and one played the guitar. They were super funny and very talented. I loved watching them perform! After that we went in to the arena. Did I mention the show came with a country style dinner? Well it does and it was good. They got us a drink and them came out with the food. It all comes out at different times during the show. They had chicken, soup, corn, dessert, and much more. The show was a battle between the north and the south. I was the north. They had different performances, acts, and competitions, some even including audience members! My favorite was the magic act were a girl was put in barrels, but in the end disappeared and was back in the audience. The north ended up winning but in the end we are all American and we are all united as one. I loved the Dixie Stampede and if you ever find yourself in some need of entertainment in Branson, it would definitely be a good choice.

A Great Family Vacation!

I had a great time in Branson and I loved seeing my dad's side of the family.  I tried a lot of new things and made a lot of great memories.  I learned that there are no alligators in Missouri and it's fun to be brave :)