Missouri Part II: The Lake Trip

Now back to the MO trip - sorry for the delay - life gets in the way sometimes.

So I believe we were on Tuesday. My folks headed to KC to pick up our Scottish family members who flew in for the wedding. Meanwhile, Justin and I headed to the Lake of the Ozarks to meet one of my best friends in the world, James (short for Jamie). She lives in a cabin on the water and just recently passed the state boards for cosmetology (CONGRATS!!!). We met for some dinner and opted to hang out at the cabin. And she introduced me to the joy of Jose Cuervo Gold Margarita mix with Grand Marnier. We sat on the dock to relax and catch up and dodge bats which turned out to be birds. Hanging out with James is one of my favorite things in the world to do - we always have something to talk about and everything always seems alright when I talk to her. Justin occupied himself by playing with his new camera - he's like a little kid with a new toy - it's very cute! We stayed up into the wee hours talking and then decided that 3 am was the perfect time to watch Family Guy at which point we all fell asleep. Aside from being a fantastic hairstylist, James is an excellent cook and we enjoyed a delicious breakfast then put on our suits and headed for the dock. James and I spent most of the day on a turtle hunt in the paddleboat - we were unsuccessful but did get a nice little workout. And I learned an important lesson about applying sunblock to the tops of your feet - they were a tad red at the end of the day.
And then I got my haircut!!! After 18 years of looking at my middle part, James had had enough. She gave me a side part and long bang and lots of layer and it looked fabulous! And now it's my job to train my hair to part on the side. I'm trying my hardest. But I have to say that I love the new part and plan on actually doing some more styling with it but I'm starting slowly.
After that, it was time to get back to more family time. We headed back home to meet up with the Scottish folk and eat dinner at my parent's favorite little diner, Oscars (no connection to the pug). It's right down the street from the house and the waitstaff know my parents, well, a little too well. Then the jet-lagged folk had to go to bed and we headed to the hotel. And we stopped at Gerbes, the MO equivalent of WalMart - Justin gets a kick out of saying it - he says Gerbes often. Just for kicks. And we seemed to spend a lot of time there over the course of the visit.
Thursday we headed to Rochepot, Missouri to Les Bourgeous winery - it's set up on the river bluffs and the restaurant is a beautiful timberframe with huge windows. If you're ever near Rocheport Missouri, I highly recommend eating there - and drinking there. Especially the Norton, named for the Norton grape they use. It's an excellent red wine. We stopped at their store on the way back and had a little wine tasting and Justin and I eyed some wine racks. Although I'm still eyeing my parent's beautiful wine rack that one would think they brought home from France, but it's really from J.C Furniture in Jeff City. We relaxed at the house that night - it was our last day before the wedding fun began!! And that will be part three of the post. Enjoy!