2nd annual trip to the lake of the Ozarks 2021

Every year my family tries to get together. We like to gather in a place where nobody has to worry about work or other worries during our time together. Last year, we randomly picked the Ozarks as it seemed like the perfect middle spot for the Wisconsinites, Texans, and Indianians (not sure if that one is a thing or not, but it goes). We had such a great time last year, we decided to go back to the Ozarks again this year, this time with 2 additions, Branko and Bennett! My sister, Karen, brought her camera and tripod to capture some family photos. Our house was in a very hilly area with all of this beautiful stone, my dad and sisters spent a few days taking walks to find the best spot. This spot just happened to be outside our front door.

Group pic!

Grandma, Grandpa, and all 9 of their grandkids! (Note Branko playing, I mean pulling, Nora's hair)

Benetti OG's

Stay tuned to the end of this blog post as there are added pictures from before our trip to the Ozarks. Maybe if I get into a better routine of updating the blog, I won't have this issue of trying to upload a bunch of photos in one post, some day... and probably wishful thinking.

But, these cute photos are all worth the interruption! Popsicles on a hot summer day, we had a pretty hot June this year, I loved it!

Just getting comfy watching the girls play

My mom, Jodi, Ava, Nora, Emery, and Evie Lou all went to pick strawberries. Branko missed out, but was there physically! We made really good strawberry margaritas with the strawberries he picked!

Sometimes, Branko likes to go into Dad's office and watch him work!

Strawberries and chicken! Those rosy cheeks! He cracked his first teeth shortly after this photo.

Someones been working on standing, the tub is the perfect height! Branko gets super excited to get into the bath and starts bending his knees and moving his hand out of pure joy.

Back to the Ozark content, here is our guy on his first road trip. We tried to get him out of bed early in hopes he would sleep in the car for the first stretch, that didn't happen. But he did do really well in the car. We stopped about every 2 or so hours, diaper change/eat, and off we went again. He was at the perfect age for this car ride because he just started army crawling, but was still very content sitting still.

I sat in back and we brought a bin of toys for him to play with.

Curtis did so well playing with Branko and Branko sure loved playing with him!

Branko and Bennett spam

The Bucks made it to the playoffs. This was the basement of the house, not really shown are theater seating with a huge TV and surround sound. The boys made Ava watch the game with them as she was their good luck charm. The boys got to watch a few games while we were there. Ava sure was a good luck charm as the Bucks ended up winning the Championship (months after this photo)!

Auntie Steph! The house was made for a huge group of people. I don't have any photos, but it was all open, each family had their own bathrooms, the kids got to stay in one room full of bunk beds. The kitchen had two dishwashers and two refrigerators with two massive dining tables. I hope we come back!

The site also had an indoor pool as well as an outdoor pool down the road within walking distance. We pretty much had the pool to ourselves here.

The water was a tad chilly, both inside/outside. I enjoyed my time in the sun.

We celebrated Fathers Day while we were there, my dad wanted to check out a few wineries while we were there. Here is our first stop! He bought everyone a bottle and wanted everyone to share what they liked best about the wine. One of my dads favorite things is to relax and have good conversation, so that's what we did!

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

This was a view from the second winery we went to, I really enjoy this place. Beautiful view, although this picture doesn't show it, and great company. 

There were absolutely gorgeous sunsets! Each night a group of people went for a walk around the property, I went a few times and was never disappointed. 

Sometimes I like to hang with the kids and see what all of the cool kids do these days.

Branko tends to wake up at 6ish every morning, so Pat and I took turns on morning duty. One morning I got up and Branko had this crown on! He kept it on for most of the morning!

Here's a better view of the movie area.

One day as the guys were biking and mostly everyone else went outdoor sledding, we stayed back and went to the outdoor pool. It was kind of busy and chilly, so we didn't stay long, but Branko got to take a little swim again. 

One night we went to the Branson Landing. We walked around a little bit and enjoyed the water fountain show. We also played at an arcade, Patrick and I used most of our tickets on basketball. The kids stayed later and got to do a mirror maze which looked really fun! 

On the way to the Ozarks there is a tourist shop called "Uranus." Curtis' birthday was a few days after our trip and Auntie Jodi and Uncle Scott got this shirt for Curtis.

Another day, we rented 2 boats to enjoy the lake. The kids got to water tube and we got to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. Branko had a rough time when we were going fast, but once we slowed down and got to eat, he was good! This was his first boat ride!

My dad also enjoyed collecting rocks each of the night walks, here he is finding the right one!

We had an awesome trip (thanks mom and dad!) I can't wait for our next trip. Always such a good time getting everyone together and seeing our new family dynamic. I feel like I don't have pictures of all of the event as my hands were a little more tied up this time around. But I wanted to mention that each night each family took responsibility for making dinner/cleaning up. This worked out great! It was nice that the same people weren't cooking/cleaning making it easier for everyone to spend time with each other. We made chicken gyros and wore our Greek gear to get into the spirit, Patrick even added some authentic Greek music to the playlist. Another thing I don't have photos of is the nailed it challenge! The kids got into 3 groups where there had to make cookies like a professional baker. Auntie Steph's friend is a baker and made cookies for the kids to replicate. They had to make the dough, bake it, and decorate it. Branko got to be one of the judges along with Grandpa, Uncle Jeff, and Auntie Mary. He ate them all, so I'd say he loved them equally! However, team SNORA won! Yay Sydney and Nora! Now to end this long blog post with Branko eating one of his favorite foods, cottage cheese.