Branson, Las Vegas of the Ozarks

Last week Seth and I flew down to Branson, Missouri for a Landstrom family reunion. These gatherings involve Dad's three siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins (he has 28), my second cousins, and their kids, and usually some extended family from Sweden. Held in a different part of the country every three years, the reunions are big productions with generally around 100-130 in attendance. This was Seth's first reunion, but he had at least met all of my aunts and uncles and most of my cousins at Andrew's wedding, so it wasn't terribly overwhelming for him (I don't think it was anyways...).

Though we rarely get to see the cousins (we now all live in opposite ends of the country), we grew up fairly close, getting together a couple times a year; there are 11 of us, our ages distributed evenly within 10 years. Needless to say, there is always lots of anticipation and excitement over seeing everyone.

The city of Branson seemed to have been developed solely for the purpose of tourism, but just outside the city was very rural and far more interesting. Giant modern churches, confederate flags, farm communities, Amish buggies, and lots of Ozark goodness. We even saw two armadillos (Jennifer spotted the first one), though they were both dead on the side of the road. I had no idea armadillos live in Missouri, and I had never seen one in the wild (if these count), so that was really amazing. Seth and I also spotted a black rat snake and lots and lots of red-headed woodpeckers.

Breakfast

The Maynard Landstroms. We are all here, except for Christina :o(

Trying to get organized for the big group picture. With a 105 of us, it was very much like herding cats.

Old Town Branson

A neat fudge shop

Is this what Missouri thinks is fun?

Seth socialising at a daily happy hour

Boarding the Scenic Railway for a ride. In truth, it was incredibly non-scenic.

Carter and the ticket guy giving a 'Thumbs Up'

Me with Eileen and Darlene and Cinnamon Roll

A ride on a pontoon we hired for the morning

Eileen and I getting ready to be dragged in a scary inner-tube behind the boat

Ducks watch as Dad and Uncle Dennis get ready to have a go. If you couldn't tell by the look on Dad's face, it was pretty hard to climb aboard.

Getting rid of Dad, Uncle Dennis shows up everyone (it was the funniest thing I had seen in ages)

We take cards very seriously

Root beer float break

Patrick and Seth

Something here doesn't belong. Keep to the left, indeed.

Out for a hike in Ruth and Paul Henning State Forest

Q and A session with our great-aunt and great-uncles

The kids out for Tex-Mex!!!

Downtown Branson = Cheese-fest USA

By night, Branson resembles Las Vegas's silly little brother

My nephew, Carter, is too cute

This is not a funny camera angle, I really am that much shorter than my cousins. The next shortest, Emily, is the youngest (17 years old) but still 3-4 inches taller than me. Nathan (also 17), on the far left, is a foot taller than me at 6'4". I am a member of a family of giants. At least the Donnelly kids, not in the picture, are normal height.

My first time grilling

Jennifer has a ride behind Uncle Kevin's speed boat (zooming at 40mph)

Picnic with the Donnellys in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Eureka Springs, Arkansas. A bustling hippie town with lots of hills and cute, clustered Victorian cottages.

Cowboy supper and show. It was hard to tell how serious to take it.

Eileen, Emily, and me with the stars of the show

Uncle Mark and one of the Swedes won free tickets for us to ride go-karts. We thought about riding earlier in the week but decided it wasn't worth $10 for 5min.

Morning run by the lake

The resort

More wedding pictures

Here are a few more shots from this weekend

Vacation Bible School

This week I have been helping the church out with their Vacation Bible School. I didn't think I'd ever see myself doing this, but at least it is pretty relaxed and low-pressure--there are about 35 kids, 1st through 6th grade, and thankfully lots and lots of youth helpers and adults. Tuesday and Wednesday I helped watch the kids during lunch, choir, and the hired dance/drumming performances and in the afternoon took them to the park. I mostly just made sure no one ran into the road or went wandering off, and walked one little boy back to the church to go to the bathroom. He tripped and hurt his knees on the way back to the park.

This morning, and again tomorrow, I co-lead some science experiments, which was a bit chaotic but fun. It was especially neat to hear the kids telling each other how much they love science :o) Tomorrow will be less organized than today, so hopefully it won't be a total disaster!

Wedding, Chicago style

This weekend Seth and I flew over to Chicago for his cousin, Elida's, much anticipated wedding. Unlike his father's large family, Seth's mother only has one sister and his one cousin, so it was great to go out west to meet and visit with the other side of his family.

We stayed in a nice hotel about 20miles outside Chicago. This hotel is actually a part of McDonald's Hamburger University, where they of course perfect the art of burger-building, which gave the place a certain quirky flare.

Funky black squirrel on campus

Friday night was a great big rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's, followed by the wedding on Saturday. The reception (drinks, dinner and dancing) was held at the hotel, which was fantastic because it let us take full advantage of the open bar :o)

Rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's

Pre-wedding brunch at Denny's

Wedding

And reception

Chocolate fountain :o)

At 11pm the DJ played Jimmy Buffett's Cheeseburger in Paradise and the waitstaff came out in hamberger hats and served McDonald's cheeseburgers on platters. I ate my first McDonald'd hamberger in many years, and oh my god, it tasted so good (I still think about it).

Lots of people left on Sunday, but we stayed another day and went downtown with Seth's parents, Tory, and Melissa. Seth and I spent all afternoon at the Art Institute, which was absolutely impressive. For the past few months we have been flipping through the pages of my gigantic Oxford History of Western Art book, which we leave on the dining table to read during dinner, and had made up a mental list of works listed in the book that are located in the Art Institute. It was nice to see these pieces in person!

Hotel hangout

Chicago

On Monday morning the rest of Seth's family drove back to NY, and we spent a few hours relaxing around the hotel before taking the taxi back to O'Hare Airport. One of the things we did was check out the little McDonalds museum at Hamburger University. I was surprised at how long I spent there, sifting through that hamburger memorabilia. Though it was interesting and nostalgic, ironically, just before we left, I had started reading Fat Land (by Greg Critser). Hmmm...

McMuseum at Hamburger University

McArt hanging all throughout the hotel (see the golden arches behind that cow paddock?).

Anyways, the wedding weekend was very classy and seemed to go extremely well. It was apparent Elida had put a lot of time and effort into it, and every detail and decoration was perfect. Very nicely done.

Garfield, a commentary on life

CNN lately posted links to funny websites. If you are a child of the 80s, Laser portraits brings back fond memories. However, as a big Garfield fan, I really love Garfield Minus Garfield--'Garfield' reveals the secrets of the average depressed, lonely American. It's too good.

July 4th Weekend

This weekend brought the first sunny days in a long time, which was kinda nice because it just wouldn't feel like the 4th without some really intense sun, heat, mosquitoes, and humidity (actually it was relatively cool and bug-free, so it wasn't quite like what I'm used to...).

The weekend began with a project to re-pot Seth's 15-year-old spider plant, Fido. It hadn't been looking quite as bushy and green as it did in its hey-day, and since it was probably on a downward spiral I did the only thing I could think of--I chopped back the monstrous roots and gave it fresh soil. Not yet sure if it worked.

So freaky

The new Fido

Friday marked the one-year anniversary of returning to the US, which was a bit of a downer because I still haven't found real work yet. In fact, on Friday I sent out an application for my most hopeful job yet (a short-term field assistant position in South Africa), and on Saturday I was notified the position was already filled. Kinda annoying the posting was not removed from the internet after it was filled.

Saturday, however, turned out to be fun. I joined Seth's sister, Chrissy, and Jens and Erik to Prospect Hill Park for some family fun: jumping castles, pony rides, and a wildlife demonstration, led by a Steve Irwin type guy with a job to be jealous of.

In the afternoon Seth and I went to Brookline for a BBQ and in the evening I whipped up some veggie bean burgers and we met Chrissy and Co. in Newton to watch the local fireworks. It would have been great to go to downtown Boston to see the big one, but that would have required much more time and planning. Newton was nice and cute, however--they did that thing where they shoot off just one or two at a time, followed by a last-minute flurry.

Cindy showing off her flag cake

Post flag cake

The Newton fireworks

Seth 'amazing' the Meyers with his bean burger

Yesterday I went into Cambridge and met up with Bo, Natalie, and a friend from high school who was visiting for the weekend. I hadn't seen her in three years so that was also a nice outing.

Oh, and on Sunday I baked my first blueberry pie. I originally wanted to try making one with a pretty lattice crust, but I figure the graham cracker crust was more practical, although it burned and looks ugly... and the blueberries dried up in the oven. I will need more practice.

July 1st?

It has rained every day (or night) for the past 3 weeks now, and even though it is the first day of July, the high temperatures are still in the 60s. Is this possible?