Labor Day Weekend

On Friday our long-time friends, the Wheeler's, came down to our place to spend part of the weekend with us. We were really excited because we haven't seen them in over 5 years. Gwynn and Chuck were our first "couple" friends to make after we were newly married and in Cookeville. We are so thankful that we have been able to keep in touch with them and now that we live a little closer, we are hoping to see them more often.

Much has changed since we left Cookeville 7 years ago... they have three kids now and we have a dog and a baby on the way. 

Originally we had planned to go camping but due to the fact that it has been HOT and I am pregnant and finding a place to camp on Labor Day was proving difficult, we decided to invite them to our place to have some fun.

Friday night they arrived late and put the kids straight to bed. In the meanwhile, we adults stayed up way past our bedtime {1:30-ish} visiting.

The next morning, after breakfast, we loaded the kids and canoe up and went to Goosepond for some paddling on the Tennessee River. Daniel and Chuck took all three kids out for a short spin. Then Abi {age two} came back to shore to hang out with Gwynn and I while we visited. The older kids and guys took a longer spin. 

Finally when they came back, Abi decided she wanted to go again. Zoe {age 6?} stayed on shore to swim while Eli {age 7?} went for another ride. The guys made it out past the dock when all of a sudden the canoe flipped over! Gwynn and I were watching and ran out on the dock to collect kids so that Daniel and Chuck could bring the canoe in. Amazingly neither kid panicked and the life jackets kept them afloat. 

The rest of the day, we hung out, grilled burgers and enjoyed each others company.

Sunday we slept in and visited some more, followed by a quick devo, then Daniel and Chuck took the kids out one at a time on our four wheeler. I think the kids {and Chuck} were in heaven :) After riding around the yard, we decided to go into town to grab lunch and then to the Scottsboro Splash Pad for the kids to play.

On the way to Scottsboro it started raining but the kids still wanted to go to the Splash Pad, so we figured it didn't matter since they would be getting wet anyways. The adults hung out in the pavilion while the kids played.

We had a fun, very kid friendly weekend. It is good for us to see that our future can definitely be one of us introducing kids to activities that we love.