Weekend

It seems like this weekend has been a whirlwind of activities but not in an exhausting, running-all-over-the-place, trying-to-get-everything-done-way.  There was time for a nap, some reading, and even hanging out with friends.

On Thursday we kicked off our activities with helping out as judges for the local high school scholars' bowl meet.  Arthur caught a mistake with a math questions a few minutes before the meet began-- that got the adrenalin pumping through the blood.  He also had to overrule the moderator during the first round-- scholar's bowl judging is not for the faint of heart.  Both of us were highly competitive in scholars' bowl in high school and were excited to be a part of the sport again.

It has been brought to my attention that sometimes our blog can be depressing because we are newly weds and have too much fun hanging out together.  I am relating the following tale as an example that we are past the mushy newly wed stage.  We had planned to attend the high school musical that evening since we are trying to become good patrons of the arts.  I forgot to factor in that there was a K-State football game that night as well.  I decided that I cared more about the play and Arthur preferred the ballgame.  So we went separate ways and did what we each wanted to do, and we still had a wonderful time.

Friday evening we had a wild and crazy night staying up till midnight proofreading scholars' bowl questions.  During college I took up writing scholars' bowl questions for one or two meets a year to make some extra money.  Now that I am fully employed it isn't very cost effective for me to put in as much time as it takes to write hundreds of questions.  I wasn't going to do it again this year until one of my former scholars' bowl coaches asked me to write questions for a meet they were hosting in 3 weeks, giving me a week and a half to write the questions.  This meant we had to burn the midnight oil and as the hours passed Arthur's accuracy decreased and some of his answers got to be a little loopy.  He is quite entertaining when his wife keeps him up so late.

Saturday after lunch we pulled out our hiking day pack for one final expedition for the year.  All fall I have been trying to plan a hike at Kanopolis State Park but it has never quite worked.  This weekend we had an open Saturday and the weather looked like it might be halfway good for hiking.  It was overcast all day but the temperature was between 55-60F which was just right.  We basically had the state park to ourselves except for a troop of boy scouts.  The trails meandered through sandstone canyons and we got to explore some caves and rock formations.  Our hike turned into a little more adventure than we bargained for when two of the creek crossings were too wide for us to navigate leading to some trailblazing of our own.  Turns out some local beavers had dammed up the river, holding up enough water to cover otherwise accessible trail crossings.  We discussed how we have really had some fun hikes this year.  Probably the least enjoyable was the hike in triple digits when minor dehydration occurred.  Once again we were also impressed by the beauty Kansas has to offer.  On our way out of the park we counted about 20 deer hanging out.  They didn't seem to worried about hunting season, especially the one standing 5 feet from the "No hunting inside park boundaries" sign. 

Our next "adventure" for the evening was babysitting our 2 year old niece.  Arthur comes to provide the entertainment and I tag along to fill in the gaps on his knowledge of toddler care.  We ate dinner, tickled Uncle Arthur's toes, counted, colored, read several books, and chased each other around in circles.  We completed the bedtime routine fairly successfully with scattered directions from my niece and returned her in pretty good shape when her parents got home a few hours later.  Borrowed children are best because you give them back in a few hours, about when exhaustion hits.

Sunday involved packing Operation Christmas Child  shoe boxes, which is my favorite Christmas activity-- the best part of the Christmas season is over and it really hasn't even begun.  A nice nap and some reading was including in the afternoon activities-- what a wonderful Sunday.  That evening our Bible study group and other random other young adults from the area got together for Thanksgiving.  My cousin made the trip from Manhattan to come as our guest and we had a great time.  We packed more Christmas shoe boxes.  As the party was winding down Arthur and I realize we are some of the last people there.  This never happens to a couple of introverts.  Usually once an acceptable amount of time has past we are out the door to return to our quiet existence void of small talk. It was so surprising to stay for an entire party and enjoy the evening without huddling in the corner trying to avoid looking like a wallflower.  (This tends to be my own personal experience and I will not speak for Arthur on this.)

It was a good weekend- some culture and some sports, some time with kids who are near to our hearts and fellow adults who bring out the social butterflies in us, some time alone hiking outdoors and some time inside counting our blessings.  When we shared what we were thankful for before dinner we happened to be the couple that didn't say friends and family; our answers were state parks and granola for breakfast--oh well.  Omnia Vincit Amor.