An Arkansas Adventure
Saturday, March 25th, 2006
The first day of our adventure to Arkansas! We were aiming to leave at 7 a.m., but, like it happens so often, didn't acutally leave until about 7:45 a.m. Well, that's okay, it's pretty good for us Lofgrens!
Our destination was Little Rock, Arkansas, to go to a surprise birthday-graduation celebration for my oldest brother, Luke. We made good time all morning and early afternoon, only stopping for essentials such as food and gas. Around the middle of the afternoon however, we got stuck in stop and go traffic for more than an hour! It turned out that two semi trucks had turned over, and while we were going so slow, I suppose they were cleaning up the mess. By the time we passed the accident site all looked fine, but we learned what had happened through Miriam, who had driven through with Maria, James, and Sara a few hours earlier.
Well, so far, so good. We had planned extra time, which was a good thing! We got to our hotel in Arkansas around 5:30 p.m., and after moving our stuff in, left for the party, which was being held at Luke and Michele's church. Evidentally, the city had grown more than expected, and we kinda got lost. Mom's short way turned out a little longer than we'd wanted, but after a little help from a member of Luke's church over the phone, we managed to get to the church. We were just a minute or two later than 6:30 p.m. A church member saw us, and tried to get us to the room in time, but we saw Luke coming and had to hide. Finally, we were told to go to the choir room where everyone was, but we were about 10 seconds too late to see the "look of utter shock" on Luke's face.
Luke was totally surprised! We thought that he may have figured it out, he being the calculating kind of guy, but he hadn't! Later he thought through all the times he could have suspected something, and was shocked that he hadn't pieced it together. He said that God must have wanted Michele to be able to pull it off, for usually all the weird happenings would have set his mind a whirling!
The party was beautiful! Michele and her friends had decorated everything very nicely, with tables representing the different stages of Luke's life. There was a word of encouragement from one of the church's pastors, and a time of sharing about Luke. Then, there was a time of fellowship. The food was really good too! There were even cute little chocolates, shaped like computers! Yes, Luke, like Elijah, is into computers quite a bit!
It was so nice to see Luke and his family, and Maria and her children! All the children had, of course, grown! They were so sweet as well! I also got to deliver the clothes I had made, and everything looked as though it would fit, although Maria would have to hem Sara's dress up a little.
We got back to the hotel a little late, exhausted from a full day of driving, around 10 hours on the road! Because the hotel didn't have a roll-away bed for Elijah like they had promised, they gave us a king-size room for the same price! It was so nice to have a huge room, with a king size bed, fold-down double bed, and pull-out double bed! Jubilee however, didn't want to share a bed, preferring the floor!
Sunday, March 26th
After breakfast at our hotel, we attended church with Luke and Michele and family at the Bible Church of Little Rock. Elijah and I attended the High School Sunday school class, which was a nice experience. It was so big though, quite different from our little home church!
When church was over, daddy took everyone out to lunch at Senora Tequila's, a Mexican restaurant. In addition to Luke and Michele and their four children, Michele's sister Jennifer, and her sweet children, Josh and Lily came along. Jennifer had come down for a week, to visit and to help with Luke's party! Danielle, Alex, Zach, and Nate all wore the clothes I had made, and we got a picture together. It was really nice to see them wearing clothes I had sewn!
After dropping by our hotel to change, we spent the afternoon at Luke's house. We had leftover cake (yum!), played with the sweet children, and played a few games, including Dutch Blitz, which I won, I might humbly add! :-) We also went for a walk around the neighborhood, stretching our legs after so much time in the car!
We attended Luke and Michele's small group with them, and then it was time to say goodbye. It was such a lovely visit, and it was sad to go. The children were all so cute... Danielle such a grown-up acting girl, Alex, a growing boy, Zach a sweetie, and Nate a cutie, almost to the walking stage! I know they're all going to change so much before I see them again!
It took some time to get to sleep, what with a bunch of cooing doves on the roof!
Monday, March 27th
Cooing doves woke me up kinda early in the morning, but I laid in bed until the others began getting up. We were a bit more leisurely this morning, since we weren't planning to get to the grandparent's house until sometime after lunch. By about 9:30 a.m. we were on the road again.
We didn't leave Little Rock right away however. We just had to stop at a wonderful bread store, and of course, the best Christian book store, Mardell's! Elijah also bought a little ear phone radio so that he could listen to what he wanted in the car.
We got to Bella Vista around 3 p.m., after quite a while in the car! I read quite a bit in the car, reading Born Again by Chuck Colson, and tried to sleep some, as I was very tired! We also listen a bit to Roy Moore reading his book, So Help Me God on cassette.
It was really nice to see Dad's parents, Grandpa and Grandma. They're doing okay, but Grandpa was a lot weaker than he has been. Grandma also, can't see too well, and is losing some of her hearing and sense of smell. It was a lot of fun to be with them though, and we even played a few games of Sequence with them!
After a yummy meal of spaghetti and salad, Jubilee and I did the dishes. Then, we were going to watch a movie, but the VCR was broken, so we played more Sequence instead.
Then, it was to a hotel for another night, this time in not such a big room, but still very nice. Jubilee actually consented to sharing a bed with me, instead of the floor! Amazingness as Elijah would say! :-)
Tuesday, March 28th
After another yummy breakfast at the hotel (with make-your-own waffles) we went to the grandparent's house to spend the day with them. Jubi and I played a few games of Spit, which didn't involve spitting, don't you worry! Elijah then played a game of Clue, then a game of Risk with us. Jubilee surprised us all and won Risk! Meanwhile, daddy and mother took Grandpa and Grandma to their exercise class.
For lunch we went to a Chinese buffet, where I probably ate more than I should have, but everything was so good! Especially the yummy sugared donut things! :-)
Mom, Elijah, Jubi and I then went back to the hotel for a swim, stopping by Helping Hands, a second-hand store on the way. There, I found a whole big bag of cheap doll stuff for Sara's doll house! The swim at the hotel was very refreshing. It'd been quite a while since I had swam in a pool! They also had a hot tub, which was really nice.
After our swim, we drove back to the grandparent's house, where Grandpa and Grandma soon awakened from their nap. We played around 8 rounds of Chicken Feet, then fixed popcorn for supper, since we were all still pretty full from the buffet! While we ate, we also watched a movie entitled In Love and War, since dad had gotten another VCR for Grandpa and Grandma.
Then, after saying goodbye, it was back to the hotel!
Wednesday, March 29th
We got up a little earlier, since we had a long day's drive ahead of us. After breakfast, we hit the road.
I read quite a bit again, finishing Born Again, and starting a novel about early settlers to the U.S. from Norway. I always enjoy good, Christian, historical fiction!
The trip was quite long, and we stopped a few times, to eat and so on. We also couldn't drive past a certain Walmart that we almost always stop at on trips like these. We can't break tradition now, can we? It was also quite a delicious stop, for we bought some Resse's Klondike bars to enjoy!
We finally got back home at about 8:30 p.m. after 12 hours in the car. It sure is good to be home!
So, there you have it. A close to yet another Lofgren adventure!
The first day of our adventure to Arkansas! We were aiming to leave at 7 a.m., but, like it happens so often, didn't acutally leave until about 7:45 a.m. Well, that's okay, it's pretty good for us Lofgrens!
Our destination was Little Rock, Arkansas, to go to a surprise birthday-graduation celebration for my oldest brother, Luke. We made good time all morning and early afternoon, only stopping for essentials such as food and gas. Around the middle of the afternoon however, we got stuck in stop and go traffic for more than an hour! It turned out that two semi trucks had turned over, and while we were going so slow, I suppose they were cleaning up the mess. By the time we passed the accident site all looked fine, but we learned what had happened through Miriam, who had driven through with Maria, James, and Sara a few hours earlier.
Well, so far, so good. We had planned extra time, which was a good thing! We got to our hotel in Arkansas around 5:30 p.m., and after moving our stuff in, left for the party, which was being held at Luke and Michele's church. Evidentally, the city had grown more than expected, and we kinda got lost. Mom's short way turned out a little longer than we'd wanted, but after a little help from a member of Luke's church over the phone, we managed to get to the church. We were just a minute or two later than 6:30 p.m. A church member saw us, and tried to get us to the room in time, but we saw Luke coming and had to hide. Finally, we were told to go to the choir room where everyone was, but we were about 10 seconds too late to see the "look of utter shock" on Luke's face.
Luke was totally surprised! We thought that he may have figured it out, he being the calculating kind of guy, but he hadn't! Later he thought through all the times he could have suspected something, and was shocked that he hadn't pieced it together. He said that God must have wanted Michele to be able to pull it off, for usually all the weird happenings would have set his mind a whirling!
The party was beautiful! Michele and her friends had decorated everything very nicely, with tables representing the different stages of Luke's life. There was a word of encouragement from one of the church's pastors, and a time of sharing about Luke. Then, there was a time of fellowship. The food was really good too! There were even cute little chocolates, shaped like computers! Yes, Luke, like Elijah, is into computers quite a bit!
It was so nice to see Luke and his family, and Maria and her children! All the children had, of course, grown! They were so sweet as well! I also got to deliver the clothes I had made, and everything looked as though it would fit, although Maria would have to hem Sara's dress up a little.
We got back to the hotel a little late, exhausted from a full day of driving, around 10 hours on the road! Because the hotel didn't have a roll-away bed for Elijah like they had promised, they gave us a king-size room for the same price! It was so nice to have a huge room, with a king size bed, fold-down double bed, and pull-out double bed! Jubilee however, didn't want to share a bed, preferring the floor!
Sunday, March 26th
After breakfast at our hotel, we attended church with Luke and Michele and family at the Bible Church of Little Rock. Elijah and I attended the High School Sunday school class, which was a nice experience. It was so big though, quite different from our little home church!
When church was over, daddy took everyone out to lunch at Senora Tequila's, a Mexican restaurant. In addition to Luke and Michele and their four children, Michele's sister Jennifer, and her sweet children, Josh and Lily came along. Jennifer had come down for a week, to visit and to help with Luke's party! Danielle, Alex, Zach, and Nate all wore the clothes I had made, and we got a picture together. It was really nice to see them wearing clothes I had sewn!
After dropping by our hotel to change, we spent the afternoon at Luke's house. We had leftover cake (yum!), played with the sweet children, and played a few games, including Dutch Blitz, which I won, I might humbly add! :-) We also went for a walk around the neighborhood, stretching our legs after so much time in the car!
We attended Luke and Michele's small group with them, and then it was time to say goodbye. It was such a lovely visit, and it was sad to go. The children were all so cute... Danielle such a grown-up acting girl, Alex, a growing boy, Zach a sweetie, and Nate a cutie, almost to the walking stage! I know they're all going to change so much before I see them again!
It took some time to get to sleep, what with a bunch of cooing doves on the roof!
Monday, March 27th
Cooing doves woke me up kinda early in the morning, but I laid in bed until the others began getting up. We were a bit more leisurely this morning, since we weren't planning to get to the grandparent's house until sometime after lunch. By about 9:30 a.m. we were on the road again.
We didn't leave Little Rock right away however. We just had to stop at a wonderful bread store, and of course, the best Christian book store, Mardell's! Elijah also bought a little ear phone radio so that he could listen to what he wanted in the car.
We got to Bella Vista around 3 p.m., after quite a while in the car! I read quite a bit in the car, reading Born Again by Chuck Colson, and tried to sleep some, as I was very tired! We also listen a bit to Roy Moore reading his book, So Help Me God on cassette.
It was really nice to see Dad's parents, Grandpa and Grandma. They're doing okay, but Grandpa was a lot weaker than he has been. Grandma also, can't see too well, and is losing some of her hearing and sense of smell. It was a lot of fun to be with them though, and we even played a few games of Sequence with them!
After a yummy meal of spaghetti and salad, Jubilee and I did the dishes. Then, we were going to watch a movie, but the VCR was broken, so we played more Sequence instead.
Then, it was to a hotel for another night, this time in not such a big room, but still very nice. Jubilee actually consented to sharing a bed with me, instead of the floor! Amazingness as Elijah would say! :-)
Tuesday, March 28th
After another yummy breakfast at the hotel (with make-your-own waffles) we went to the grandparent's house to spend the day with them. Jubi and I played a few games of Spit, which didn't involve spitting, don't you worry! Elijah then played a game of Clue, then a game of Risk with us. Jubilee surprised us all and won Risk! Meanwhile, daddy and mother took Grandpa and Grandma to their exercise class.
For lunch we went to a Chinese buffet, where I probably ate more than I should have, but everything was so good! Especially the yummy sugared donut things! :-)
Mom, Elijah, Jubi and I then went back to the hotel for a swim, stopping by Helping Hands, a second-hand store on the way. There, I found a whole big bag of cheap doll stuff for Sara's doll house! The swim at the hotel was very refreshing. It'd been quite a while since I had swam in a pool! They also had a hot tub, which was really nice.
After our swim, we drove back to the grandparent's house, where Grandpa and Grandma soon awakened from their nap. We played around 8 rounds of Chicken Feet, then fixed popcorn for supper, since we were all still pretty full from the buffet! While we ate, we also watched a movie entitled In Love and War, since dad had gotten another VCR for Grandpa and Grandma.
Then, after saying goodbye, it was back to the hotel!
Wednesday, March 29th
We got up a little earlier, since we had a long day's drive ahead of us. After breakfast, we hit the road.
I read quite a bit again, finishing Born Again, and starting a novel about early settlers to the U.S. from Norway. I always enjoy good, Christian, historical fiction!
The trip was quite long, and we stopped a few times, to eat and so on. We also couldn't drive past a certain Walmart that we almost always stop at on trips like these. We can't break tradition now, can we? It was also quite a delicious stop, for we bought some Resse's Klondike bars to enjoy!
We finally got back home at about 8:30 p.m. after 12 hours in the car. It sure is good to be home!
So, there you have it. A close to yet another Lofgren adventure!
posted by Anna Naomi @ 5:13 PM
3 Comments:
At 7:11 PM, March 30, 2006,
Elijah said…
Good we have a writer in our family to document stuff. ;)
At 5:25 AM, March 31, 2006,
Anonymous said…
Anna,
Thank you all again for coming! You made Luke's night extra special. The clothes are very beautiful. It so fun to have them match! You did a GREAT job on them! Next time we'll work it out for you to stay longer. :)
Glad you got to go to see Grandma and Grandpa, too. I'm sure they enjoyed seeing you.
Michele
At 12:41 PM, March 31, 2006,
Anonymous said…
Good writing, Anna!
Sounds like you had a good time.
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