July 13, 2005

Um, how old is MC Hammer??

Newsflash: I am sorry to say that the hairstyle known as the “mullet” is not extinct, as previously hoped. It is alive and well in Branson, MO. In fact, I regret to report that it seems to be reproducing at an alarming rate.

So, I just got back from Branson, MO from my trip with my dad, step-mom, younger sister, and brother. Branson is about 4 hours away from Kansas City and we drove down there in 2 cars - I had my younger sister and brother with me (they are 19 and 17, respectively) while my dad and step-mom drove in their car. The Siblings had fun playing with iPod and I got the BIGGEST kick out of it when they referred to MC Hammer as “old school rap”. Yeah, I felt a little old when they said that, but I still thought it was damn funny. For the most part, my brother slept in the back seat and my sister sat in the front, knitting to her heart’s content. Until recently, I had NO knitters in my life, save for the occasional classmate, so it is fun to have someone to share this passion with now. Also, I had booked a room by myself in the hotel and invited the Siblings to share that as well. Let’s just say that I got more than my fair share of Quality Time with the Siblings this week. My brother, bless his heart, loves that wrestling crep on TV, has stinky feet typical of a teenaged boy, was pretty grumpy about the “lights out” rule at 11:30pm and even more crabby about the “lights on” rule of 8:00am. I am now fairly fluent in the language of teenaged boys everywhere - Grunts n’ Grumbles and am officially scared of what the little Freeloader will be like when HE is a teenaged boy. Yikes. Teenaged Boyness aside, though - overall, it was a nice visit - I usually only see them when the whole family is together and it gave us a chance to really talk about things without the parents overhearing. In fact, I even noticed myself being more vocal in my opinions without the parents overhearing. I think the Siblings were a little shocked at how adamant I am on some of the issues we discussed.

Silver Dollar City itself was just okay - not very exciting and I definitely got the place out of my system for several years at least. Frankly, I miss the days when it used to be just a little hillbilly crafts village - you could walk around see how things were done in the “old days” such as soap making, leather crafts, blacksmithing, gunsmithing, etc. Now, there are very few actual, live crafts going on save for the glass blowing and some very limited candy making. The place is over-run with silly rides, expensive stores and creppy food stalls. Ironically, what I enjoyed the most during the trip was going back to hotel at night and playing pool, air hockey and video games with my dad and the Siblings (my step-mom had to skip the nightly activities to study for her class - she is finishing up her Master’s). My dad is quite competitive and ALL of his children inherited his game playing gene and style of poor sportmanship, to boot - we are equally bad at winning as we are at losing.

Lesson Learned: More precious family memories can be gained over a 75 cent pool game than in an overpriced, tourist destination.

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