A Weekend with Friends, Take 2

Pastor's Log: Sabbatical Date: 2-2-30 - 20:22

On Friday, we spent the morning packing up for a weekend of camping with our Bluffton friends at Friendship Retreat.  It is a primitive camp property that Friendship Mennonite owns.  Some of our friends attend there and reserve the space for us to use when we gather.  It was also Beth's birthday so we made her breakfast in bed.  We left the house once and got a couple of miles down Road 5 when we realized that we had left some things in the fridge so we came back to get it. 

We got to our campsite around 5pm and got our stuff into the camper that we were using for the weekend.  A family in the church owns it.  They were kind enough to allow us to stay in it for the weekend.  Around 6:30 we got word that a big rainstorm would be there around 7PM.  Some of our friends arrived around that time so after a quick hello, we got to setting up two tents in an effort to beat the rain.  Just as we were finishing the second tent it started to sprinkle.  Some more of our friends arrived later and we set up their tents during a break in the rain before the worst of the storm hit that night.  We had quite a bit of rain along with thunder and lightning.

Saturday morning, we got up and spent time together in the pavilion while more rain went through the area.  Our family was responsible for lunch that day which was taco salad.  I also had the chance to play the game Ticket to Ride.  When were first started getting together as a group of college graduates, we always played a game or two together.  Now that we have kids in the group, game times have been few and far between.  It was fun to do that again.  That evening we had pork chops for dinner and then went fishing.

On Sunday, I got up and went to worship at Lee Heights Community church which was only about a half hour away and is a fellow Ohio Conference church.  When I got back, we had pie iron pizzas for lunch and worked on packing.  When we left, we went to a hotel in Bellville, Splash Harbor.  It is along the way home and has a water park that is age appropriate for our kids.  We spent the night.  We hit the water park and then stayed up too late watching the Olympics.

 

On Monday, we got up early and had breakfast.  Then we went for a couple more hours in the water park before checking out.  Some of our friends who live a little ways away but on that side of the state came to get Maggie and take her home for the week.  We then drove the rest of the way home.  Once there, we unpacked and I did some work in the garden.  Beth got together with one of her friends that evening for some girl time.