travel diaries | mom's 60th birthday bash in Broken Bow

Brace yourselves. 

I spent 4 days here over Christmas break:

...between my sister and myself, we took TONS of photos. I'm sharing just a 'few' of my favorites...

Back in July, my sister and I came up with a plan to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday. She isn't big on surprise parties but we still wanted to do something grand. Instead, we got my dad involved and rented a cabin in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. After Mark and I went last year, we knew it would be a fun getaway for the entire family (because my mom loves nothing more than spending time with us!)

We went up to Broken Bow on Sunday the 27th. Mark and I left around noon and got to the cabin around 3:30 after a rainy but safe drive. My parents left around 2 and my sister's family left shortly after that. They encountered the same amount of rain but since it was later in the day, the creek levels in the area had risen. My parents ended up crossing two high water areas (white knuckles and all) and my sister and her family ended up having to turn around just 1/2 mile from our cabin because they couldn't cross a rushing creek to get to us. Sadly, they had to stay in another cabin on the first night but the water went down the next morning and they joined us on the 28th, my mom's actual birthday. Mark and I (and Beau) were thankfully able to entertain the old folks until they got there. 

The day was mostly spent around the house. The cabin had two decks (unfortunately it was rainy the whole time we were there so we couldn't spend much time there) and included some playground equipment and a hot tub. Much of the day was spent keeping up with the kids, and occasionally breaking for food. :)

We sat by the fire and watched our fair share of college football, too. It was a great day! 

We ended up eating at a tex-mex place for dinner that was surprisingly good (our standards weren't high in Broken Bow, population 4,000) and opened presents back at the cabin, followed by playtime with Beau, games, and cupcakes before bed.

We played more games the next day, took some family photos, and went on a hike. The kids and their parents only did about 1/2 a mile but Mark, my parents, Beau, and I went on to hike 2 miles before we had to turn around and go back because of high water (see a theme here?)

outside

inside

'mom face' (except for Mark and Beau - bad sports)

We ended the weekend with a sad Tech bowl game and a safe drive home, complete with lunch at Chicken Express with the whole crew. We had a great time and welcomed my mom's next decade in with a bang!