Young Christians’ Weekend

Well, I’m pretty sure everyone thought I was crazy for going to Young Christians’ Weekend this year, but we ended up having a great time! We were a little worried about the weather- it was predicted for highs around 60, with scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. It was a little chilly to get started, but ended up being really nice.

This year we went a little different route and rented condos for the nights, instead of hotel rooms. It really was a great way to do it, because we had lots of room to spread out, and we just picked one of the condos to hang out in as a whole group, and still had room! Definitely the way to go!

Friday night we got there late, after 11:00, so we mostly just checked in, unloaded, and headed to bed!

Saturday morning it was up early and off to the park! True to Missouri weather in late March, we all had to dress for at least 3 seasons! Which meant stopping in and getting some mittens for Miss Laney, because I forgot to bring her’s. Ended up being great, though, because they had the REALLY CUTE hat that Grandma Looten bought LAST winter, and Laney threw out of the cart in walmart, so we bought it again! She still looks adorable in it…

And, in case anyone wondered, Laney is already a SDC FAN! She talked about it all the way down Friday night, and even was talking in her sleep (she and I got to share a pull out couch in our condo) about riding the “caterpillars and froggies” early Saturday morning. However, she seems to have gotten the name a little mixed up…

Yeah, we never got tired of hearing her say that! We must have asked her where we were a thousand times, and it was funny EVERY time! :)

Anyway, once in the park, the kids pretty much scattered to ride rides and eat and go to concerts and workshops, and all of the other fun stuff that is at SDC during Young Christians’ Weekend. Mom & I went for the kid-friendly activities, and headed for Geyser Gulch! Though it has a lot of water as part of it during the summer, this part also has some stuff Laney can do. Namely, it has a ball room! Not so much a ball pit, but a room where there are just balls all over, and if you go up some stairs you can shoot balls from these cannon things (thus the balls everywhere) and it has vacuum tubes to suck the balls up in… just about everything. We spent HOURS there, or at least it felt like it! But she loved it!

How many balls can she carry at once? (PS: isn’t the hat adorable?!)

Shooting balls out of the cannons with Grandma…

They also have some of those springy animal things to ride…
Talk about pure abandon:

Other than Geyser Gulch, they also have the caterpillars, butterflies, and froggies in the Worlds Fair part that are good for kids Laney’s size. So, we had to ride each of those!

Yes, I jammed my pregnant self into the caterpillar… it was a tight squeeze!

The froggies are a little bouncier, so I let Grandma take care of that ride!

We did have a couple of mental breakdowns, because there is also a ladybug ride, but adults can’t ride it, so the kids have to be 36 inches tall to ride… Laney is 35 inches! Try explaining THAT to a two year old- it wasn’t pretty. But maybe next time!

After riding a couple of rides, it was time for lunch, then check-in with all of the kids. While we were waiting for the kids, I took the opportunity to try to get Laney to take a nap. She was throwing a fit, so we just laid the stroller back, put up the shade, and dropped her green blankie over her face. It took a lot of laps around gazebo area, but she eventually went down, and slept for over an hour!

Doesn’t she look sweet sleeping? Her pony, Hannah, spent most of the day on the tray of her stroller, no matter what else we were doing!

Once Laney woke up, we headed for the train, because she said she wanted to ride the train with her daddy. She seemed to love it!

Cheese! :)

Of course, one of the coolest things about Young Christians’ Weekend is the rally at the end of the day. There are usually several bands, a speaker, and it’s just lots of fun to be in an amphitheater with that many Christians all at once! We got lined up early, so we got pretty good seats with our whole group together! Which meant it was picture time…

Laney (in Daddy’s hat) and her friend Clara, who had a great time hanging out together, and sharing snacks! Whatever the other one had, that’s what they wanted!

Half of our kids…

Another group… with a few carryovers! :)

And the last of the kids… plus Corey!

Unfortunately, the “chance of thunder storms” that had been forecasted for Saturday decided to show up right in time for our rally. They said it would be about a 20 minute rain, but not a bad storm, so they delayed the concert and said we were welcome to sit tight, but that they wouldn’t start anything until the rain had passed. We’re tough, so we decided to wait it out!

Lucky for Elena, Clara’s daddy, Matt, didn’t might sharing his lap and his umbrella with BOTH girls!

Speaking of sharing… these two had a bright idea- jam two people under the poncho, and look out the arm holes!

Not so happy… it was kind of a colder rain.

The sun was out during a good part of the rain, so we ended up seeing this spectacular double rainbow… pretty cool!!

The weather service was right, and the storm was over in 20 minutes or so, and they started the concert. We got to see a couple of cool bands, but about the time the actual talk and the real concert was starting, Mom, Laney and I headed back to the condos to get dinner ready for the crew. Instead of our normal deli sandwiches, since we had the kitchen, we brought all of the stuff for spaghetti! It was really easy to make still, and I think the hot dinner was much appreciated by everyone when they got back from the rally- once the sun went down it got pretty cool, and a lot of them were wet!

Anyway, we hung out and ate dinner together in the condo, and then we all headed off to bed because it was late! Sunday morning we packed up and went to the Sunday morning service (after some Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast, of course). It was pretty neat, Joe White spoke on salvation, which is always a neat thing to see. And the rain held off (though it was a little chilly) all morning, so at least we weren’t cold AND wet! :)

When the service was over, we headed back to the bus & van, loaded up, and headed for home! As we were going through the lake, I looked up and saw something wrong with the bus:

Nice, right? We knew that the exhaust system/muffler was having some trouble because there was a piece hanging down in the front, too, and because the bus was VERY LOUD! But all of a sudden the tail pipe just came disconnected. Nice! We had to pull over to see if we could get it the rest of the way off, so it didn’t go through someone’s windshield (like, you know, MINE!).

Kicking it did not do the trick…

So we found our resident Boy Scout, who always has his pocket knife, and he cut it off! So we drove the rest of the way without a tailpipe. Classy… always classy!

Well, despite the bus problems, we made it home in pretty good time. We were (are) all EXHAUSTED, but it is such a fun trip! I sure am glad I’m on Spring Break this week, though… sleeping in (as much as Laney will let me) and naptimes, here I come! :) It wasn’t really too bad being so pregnant and wandering around the city. Mom and I just took it easy… I did have some major cankles Saturday night, though, and my feet were KILLING me! But, really, such a good trip… weather mostly cooperated, had a good group of kids, and everyone had a really good time! Can’t wait ‘til next year… there will be two little Looten girls running around!