A Good Weekend, Not According to Plan

We have had a great weekend.  Lots of time with family and friends.  And only part of it was according to plan.

For about 6 weeks we’ve been planning to go camping this weekend.  We really don’t get our tent out often enough and we were looking forward to it.  But several factors kept us from going.  First of all, it has rained here practically every day for the past week.  The ground is just soggy and there’s mud all over the place.  And the rivers are reaching flood stage.  The campground we were going to stay at is right along the Platte River.  And to top it all off, a major thunderstorm was being forecasted for the area overnight.  When you hear the words “hail and damaging winds” it kinda makes you rethink your plans.  Jason was all for the challenge.  Me—not so much.

So instead of packing up and heading to the campsite on Friday afternoon, Jason took the older three fishing at a city lake.  (I stayed home with a napping Noah.)  It sounds like they had fun and caught so many fish they lost count.  Even Abby, who would have much rather stayed home and read a book, enjoyed it.

Friday night we enjoyed the comfort of our own (dry) beds, then headed out bright and early for our scheduled day in Nebraska City.  We spent the morning at the Arbor Day Farm Tree Adventure.  We hiked the trails…

and built hammocks in the explorers center.

Noah did a lot of this

He was intrigued by these guys

And these guys

We had a yummy dinner at the Arbor Day Lodge

 then explored the Farm more in the afternoon before picking up our free trees and heading home.  It was a great day.

This morning at church, we were invited to a cook-out this evening with friends who were members of our life group for many years.  We share some special bonds with these great people—we were together for many years, welcoming new babies, and seeing each other through some difficult times.  They’re the kind of friends you can just pick back up with no matter how long it’s been.  I love these people.  We had a great evening together and the kids had a blast. The new trampoline was a big hit (if not the source of some contention).  Noah was content to spend a large amount of his evening with this piece of equipment:

I think it’s safe to say this kid is obsessed with tractors.  (Sorry about the low quality cell phone pics.)

It was a great weekend, even if it didn’t exactly go as planned.  And in case you’re interested, here’s a few more pictures.