Missouri – Postcards From TLC

July 14, 2018July 14, 2018

Staycation at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri

For the Independence Day holiday, we managed a staycation to our condo at The Lake of the Ozarks. We headed down on Tuesday evening, with two of the kids, hubby’s mother, Grandma Marge, and our friend Captain Bill. Since we knew we would be staying through the weekend, we even brought the kittens. (Don’t let their angelic faces fool you!)

Tuesday night was pretty low key with H Que BBQ take-out for dinner and swimming at the pool. After dinner, we all gathered on the pool deck to watch the fireworks that were being shot from Beaver’s at the Dam. It was a nice show that they put on.

The next morning, we all headed back to the pool since it was really too hot to do much else. Midday, hubby, Capt. Bill, and the kids headed down to the wave runners to test out the new tube we had brought down. After some vigorous attempts, they decided to call the tubing excursion a “learning experience” and wrapped it up. We then headed up to the Bagnell Dam strip for a little shopping, ice cream, and sight-seeing.

The day on the strip would not have been complete without a little fun at the Dogpatch Arcade and the kids trying their hands at Skee-ball. Needless to say, they didn’t win a pile of tickets for their efforts. Maybe next time.

That evening’s fireworks display was put on by Point Randall Resort. Hubby grilled kabobs for dinner and we were able to watch the show right from our deck.

The next day, we took the wave runners out and headed out for some lake sight-seeing. It turned out to be so hot, that we found a spot in a quiet cove and jumped off the wave runners for some swimming time. The water was still cool enough to be refreshing, so it was a good swim.

That evening we headed over to Dog Days for dinner. They almost always have live music, there are two swimming pools (one has a swim up bar which is reminiscent of an All Inclusive resort), and the food is really good. I had a Korean Beef bowl that was really tasty and not something I find on a lot of menus.

The following day was the day that the kids and hubby’s mom were headed home. That evening we ran over to Shady Gator’s to see one of my favorite bands, Dr. Zhivegas, perform. He’s considered to be one of the top St. Louis cover bands, but I consider him to be a funky master of multiple decades of rock and pop. He did not disappoint. It did not take long before we were dancing until we were sweating!

This was our last full day at the Lake of the Ozarks. We hopped on the wave runners and headed up to one of our new favorites, The Boathouse. They are a lakeside and poolside restaurant that is known for their pizzas, but have a lot of other options on the menu as well. We gave the pizza a try and it was incredible! Now if we could just figure out how to carry-out on the wave runner.

Above all else, we had a fun vacay experience just an hour away from home. There is so much to do at the Lake and we have just gotten started experiencing it all. Looks like we even exhausted Kiki during our few days there!

March 28, 2018

LOTO Weekend Getaway

Spring is upon us and we’re headed back to our condominum at the Lake of the Ozarks. We still have a few cosmetic things to accomplish in the coming days and still have our goal within reach of having everything complete and ready for funning and sunning visitors by April. We hope to have it ready to go on the VRBO rental market towards the end of summer as well.

Hubby’s going to finish painting the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. No, your eyes don’t deceive, some of them are currently white and some of them are off-white. Who does that? We also get to install a new faucet this weekend, which is really needed! After that, it’ll be time to find some curtains and a few more red accents. And SOMEDAY, not any day real soon, we’ll be able to upgrade the appliances, which I hope will really make the kitchen pop.

The bedrooms are mostly done. Aside from a few minor decorating touches in the master bedroom, like some more pillows on the bed and having the dresser painted, they are pretty much ready for sleeping in. We actually adore the master because the bed is much larger and way more comfy than the bed we have at home!

Master BR

Sunset BR

Beach BR

The ultimate task, which may or may not get completed this weekend will be the kitchen table. Even though it’s character was one of the selling points of the condo, the poor thing is so beat up I haven’t had the heart to take any pictures of it. Right now it’s a sage green color with green and tan checkered seats. We are planning to paint all but the wooden top and re-upholster the chairs in colors that will flow better with the rest of the condo.

Our goal is to make enough progress on the condo that we (or I) have time to go to my favorite place Saturday–Coral Reef Seafood! They have been having cooking demos on Saturdays–2 weeks ago was Mussel Mania–and Chef Ryan has been doing it justice.

Mussels with Andouille Sausage in a tomato sauce

Not only does he demonstrate how to make the recipe, we then get to sample it. He demoed three mussels recipes which were all incredible!

Really, I can’t say enough about Coral Reef. If you like seafood, you must stop by. Even if you aren’t interested in the cooking demonstrations, they have some of the freshest seafood available. Justin’s Stuffed Roughy and the Large Wild Gulf Shrimp are the usuals we buy to take back home for dinner later in the week.

Besides that, they have a Bake N Serve Seafood Lasagna that I have my eye on for a future dinner. I’ve also heard they will be having crab legs on sale this weekend which may have to be dinner Saturday night.

And dare I mention that their non-seafood items are great too? I believe they have the best andouille sausage I’ve ever had, and they also have a selection of steaks, side dishes, marinades and spices.

Apparently, I have a lot to look forward to this weekend. I can’t wait, c’mon Friday!

February 8, 2018

Jumping For the Sky

My bonus daughter, Carlie (she’s 10), suggested I publish a post based on our “trip” to SkyZone. Here it is.
We decided to check out Sky Zone one week night before dinner. Carlie, Rylan (who’s soon turning 13), Rylan’s friend and myself went. If you don’t know about SkyZone, it’s a franchised, indoor trampoline park. Our town recently had one open, and while we’d been there before, tonight was the night I was going to get to jump too!
Upon arriving, you must sign a waiver that basically says if you get hurt, you can’t sue them. You then are assigned a jump group based on how long you are jumping and what time you plan to start. (Thank goodness, we only went for an hour.) You are also issued these stylish SkySocks to wear while you are jumping. They are orange and have rubber grips on the bottoms so you don’t slip off certain pieces of equipment.

SkyZone has lots of options to try, most of which involve a trampoline. There’s the Freestyle Jump Zone which is a large room of wall-to-wall trampolines. You can jump pretty much however you want, even into the walls, as long as you aren’t doing multiple flips. This was where I spent most of my time–it was pretty easy to just jump up and down.

You can opt to play Ultimate Dodgeball (I did not) on the trampoline dodgeball court or you can Skyslam, which allows you to attempt dunking into a basketball hoop from a trampoline. The hoops are different heights, so all jumpers have a chance to make a dunk–even me–on the short hoop.
We all had fun with SkyJoust. Up to 4 can joust at a time, using cushy jousts while each contestant stands on a bosu ball on top of a pedestal. It’s hard enough to keep your balance while up there, but then the goal is to knock your opponents off their pedestal. Hard work!

The Skyladder was pretty hard too, and I’ve determined it’s impossible for anyone to get to the top of it. Especially since no one can seem to get past the first rung…

My favorite was the Warrior Course, which allowed you to go through a series of obstacles to test your speed, strength, and agility. You could race the person on the course next to you or simply go for your own personal best. I was doing pretty well on one of them, before my arms decided enough was enough. It was a great challenge requiring a lot of upper body strength. But we had a great time on the obstacle course.

Cozumel Sunset, Cozumel, MX

All in all, it was a really fun evening. It was a great family activity that could be done in a small window of time (I don’t recommend anyone my age going for more than 1 hour unless you are looking for a MAJOR workout) while getting some exercise as well.

February 1, 2018

Our Day at the St. Louis Fox Theatre

We started off our day last weekend at Sweetie Pie’s Upper Crust. You order your food cafeteria style and then they carry it to your table. If you haven’t been, you might want to try it. It’s some good soul food. I did have the pork steak in gravy and let me tell you, I didn’t even need a knife to cut it, it just fell apart using my fork. It was so tender and the flavor of the gravy just added to it. The macaroni and cheese was pretty tasty, and even the green beans were good. They had chunks of potatoes in them as well, which was an added bonus! Some of the fam had the fried chicken which looked very good, but I didn’t try it. Oh, and don’t let me forget the cornbread which was served warm and just sweet enough.After lunch, we headed over to the theatre. We had a great time at the Fox Theatre, seeing School of Rock. If you have kids or teens you’d like to take there, it’s a show they would really enjoy. The most impressive part was when the young actors were “performing” in the band onstage. We could see the orchestra put their instruments aside and applaud each performance. These youngsters were actually playing their own instruments in the play and doing an incredible job! They got a standing ovation at the end.After all this fun, we headed back for home in Columbia, MO and dropped the kids off at their various activities for the evening. Once that was done, we had time to drop into one of my favorite sushi places, Sake Japanese Bistro and Bar, and have some dinner. They were running a special for Restaurant Week, and it was a hit with us.All in all, it was a busy day, but we crammed in a lot of activity. I’m looking forward to next weekend, when we only have to spend an hour on the road to get to the Lake condo! It should be a little more relaxing.

January 18, 2018

Foxy Weekend

We’re headed into St. Louis, MO this weekend. We’re taking the kids, along with my parents, to see a show at the Fox Theatre. This will only be a day trip, but we plan on packing as much into it as possible.

We’ll hopefully get to St. Louis early enough to visit for a while at my parent’s house. They live about 20 minutes from the Fox and the restaurant we would like to lunch at. My goal is to get on the road in time to enjoy a leisurely lunch at Sweetie Pie’s Upper Crust. You may have heard of the place since they now have a reality show on the OWNnetwork. The show, “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s“, focuses on the loud, loving, musical Montgomery family and their work to expand their collection of the soul food restaurants.

I’ve already researched the menu and am looking forward to ordering the Pork Steak – Smothered in Gravy dinner. It comes with 2 sides, which I already know will be green beans and macaroni and cheese. When it comes to any kind of soul food or diner type food, I always judge the time based on their green beans and mac and cheese. (I know, it’s a real official way to “judge”. I just believe if they can make the green beans taste good and have a good mac and cheese recipe, they can pretty much demand repeat business from me. I know the rest will be good!) You can order their cookbook here:

After lunch, we should be able to walk over to the fabulous Fox Theatre and arrive in plenty of time to look around and take some pics of the décor before our matinee. If you really want a touch of history, you can take a tour of the Fox every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings for $7-$10/per person. We did this a couple of years ago and found the 90-minute tour to be very interesting. The kids particulary enjoyed the presentation of Big Mo, one of two Wurlitzer organs located in the theatre, which takes place on the Saturday tours.

We’re looking forward to seeing School of Rock–the Musical.

Entertainment Weekly calls it “an inspiring jolt of energy, joy and mad skillz!” I just hope it lives up to the expectations of my family.

We may or may not stick around after the show ends. We’ll probably be ready for dinner before heading back up the highway to home, so maybe it can be a kids choice dinner. Regardless, I’m looking forward to our time at the Fox in St. Louis and hoping we all create a fun memory of it.

November 11, 2017

Lake Ozark, MO–Our Little Slice UPDATE

Well, we’ve gone and done it now. We are headed down to Lake of the Ozarks, MO this afternoon to close the sale on a lake condo. Never mind that it’s a 56 degree day in November. We are buying a condo on the lake that will now be our vacation weekend-get-away. Sound like lots of fun once summer comes back around! So this place is turning out to be lots of fun already! We’re headed back down again this weekend and are taking the kids to see it. (They don’t yet know that we’ve bought the condo, but I think they’ll figure it out when they see a family pic hanging on the wall.) We’ve got a few friends coming over to visit and see the place and lots of munchies and adult beverages stashed in the fridge.
In the meantime, while the condo comes in decent shape and semi furnished, we know we have some work to do. We know we will be painting all the walls and possibly replacing the flooring. We haven’t seen the place in 6 months and don’t really remember if the carpet is worth salvaging. It turns out the entire condo is getting a coat of paint and we’ve decided the carpet in the living room, dining room and hallway is getting ripped up and replaced with laminate flooring.
I presume I’ll have to be doing some shopping as well. Even though the seller sent us an inventory list, it’s pretty non-descriptive. So, while it lists a coffee maker, I can’t assume it is a Kuerig single serve like hubby is a fan of. Here’s the actual Kuerig we went with:

It’s adorbs, and my favorite color, and now it looks like I have a reason to accent the kitchen in red. Not to mention, it brews a perfect cup of decaf every time so I can make a tasty Fragile Baby.
The inventory list makes no mention of dishes in the kitchen, bed linens, or bath towels, so I’ve already started shopping around. Turns out the dishes don’t need to be replaced. There are two small sets–one of floral ceramic and one of sailboats on Melamine. These will do just fine for a while and they’ve all been cleaned and are ready for use.

I found some non-patterned dishes that will go with all the decor and any colors we choose. They aren’t pricey, so if we were to rent out the place for a weekend and someone broke a plate, I wouldn’t be heartbroken and the plate could easily be replaced.

Sheets? I went with good quality, but again, in nice, neutral colors. I ended up going with a set of ivory color and a set of sand color. The 3rd set of sheets came in the bed in a bag set and looks like this:

I thought I knew what kind of artwork I wanted on the walls–something beachy. But, I think I’ve changed my mind. I think I’ve decided on lighthouses for the living room. We are on Lighthouse Point on the Lake after all. Maybe we’ll go beachy in the bedrooms and bathrooms.

I’m still looking for the right pics to put on the walls and now I’m not going to focus so much on a theme, but I’m going to look for the right vibe in the right colors.
Regardless, the decorating possibilities are endless! I can’t wait to see how this place turns out! Luckily, it’s coming along and will be further along after this weekend. Please comment any suggestions you have to make this condo feel like a vacay.

October 14, 2017

Les Bourgeois Goodbye

I lost one of my best friends recently. Well, I didn’t lose her lose her, but she moved away. We had a wonderful parting evening at Les Bourgeois Vineyards in Rocheport, Mo.
Jim and Krissi move into our cul-de-sac a couple of years ago. It started off kind of rough, their kids and our kids kept playing together. But we didn’t know them that well, so we didn’t let the kids play inside the house unless they asked their parents first. We didn’t want them to think we were kidnappers or anything. Although there is a website to check that out.
As time went on, we got to know Jim and Krissi better. I think the point of no return was the Halloween party we all had in the cul-de-sac. Jim had made a huge batch of jambalaya, hubby was in full costume (he was a hideous clown before clowns got such a bad rap) carrying around his chainless, albeit noisy chainsaw. Other neighbors brought over jack-o-lanterns spewing dip, jello shots and homemade grilled chicken wings. Let’s just say, I think the grown ups had the best time that night! Even the mailman found a leftover bowl of jambalaya in our mailbox two days later (we did not put it there) .
Shortly after that, I had a new found bestie in Krissi. We excercised together, went shopping, visited some local eateries and festivals. We had some fun evenings dining out with the families and even more dining in or just hanging out celebrating birthdays or venting about daily life nuisances.
It was awesome knowing I had someone to pal around with and confide in just across the cul-de-sac. But alas, the day came when Jim got a job transfer and they were relocating to another state. It seemed like just as quick as they moved here, they were moving away! To celebrate their life change and move forward, Krissi and I took a short road trip to Rocheport, Mo.
Rocheport is a sleepy little river town about 20 minutes from here. It isn’t very big, but they have a wonderful little gem in the winery there, Les Bourgeois Vineyards. Krissi had been wanting to go there and this was potentially our last chance to go before she left.
If you ever get the chance, check the place out! We started off at the A-frame, which is located up on a bluff top, amidst the growing grapes, overlooking the Missouri River. Who says you need to be on the beach to catch a good sunset? We got a great one!

After it got dark, we headed over to the Bistro, which is their restaurant located on the next bluff over.
Their food was incredible! We shared a Hummus plate as an appetizer and then for the entrees, Krissi had Cajun Chicken Pasta and I had Seafood Bianco. Obviously, we had to have some of their wines, but I won’t go into detail on how much…
What a wonderful evening. We both resolved NOT to cry, and we dreaded the impending moving day. But we didn’t cry! We had a very fun, memorable evening at a place we are lucky to have so near! And we created a memory we will both cherish forever. Krissi probably won’t even read this post. She’s so busy setting up house in her new town, she won’t get a chance to read my posts for at least a month. Maybe we’ll have some new neighbors who by then. And maybe they’ll read my posts. Ah, no one will be able to replace my friend Krissi! I miss you guys!