Nelson Family Blog: Fishing at the Missouri River

These past couple weeks have been really busy and crazy. Last week, Emma and Elliott had VBS and swimming lessons. We coordinated with the Tomczaks, so the kids spent a lot of time at their house last week. John dropped the kids off at VBS around 8:30 am. Emma was a helper this year, and Elliott just enjoyed going. At around 10:45, the kids went to the Tomczaks house, got their bikes, and then biked to Kuehn Pool for their swimming lessons. Then, they biked back, had lunch, and hung out at the Tomczaks' house until one of us was off work. Some days, the kids would go back to the pool and swim in the afternoon. Other days, they would just play, read, and hang out.

The kids did this all week. They had a blast, but they were wore out in the evenings. Emma still had softball games on Monday night, and practice on Wednesday. Run, run, run. Emma is doing really well in her swimming lessons, one lifeguard even asked her if she was on a swim team. Elliott is also doing well, and really liking the swimming lessons.

This past weekend, we made the journey to Platte, and camped with Jeff and Samantha at their permanent camping spot. We got to their camper on Friday evening at around 7:30pm. We enjoyed hanging out on their deck, visiting, and having a few drinks.

We all slept in the camper. The kids and I took the bunk room, and John slept on the pull out couch. It was a little crowded, but worked out pretty well. On Saturday morning, it was rainy and cool. We waited for the weather to pass, and then we headed out on the Pontoon to fish. The Missouri River was beautiful, and we had a chilly, but really nice boat ride. We took a 30 minute ride out to the bridge, and then did some fishing. The fishing was a little slow, but we caught some Walleye that were keepers. Jeff and Samantha caught all the keepers, but we were all having fun. Emma really enjoyed netting all the fish, and Elliott had fun and asked a lot of questions.

We ate lunch on the boat, enjoyed some sunshine, and then headed back in at 3:30pm. We took a golf cart tour and toured the campground and saw where all Jeff and Samantha's friends stay. We also saw the Platte Creek Store. We made Fajitas for supper. And then we played some Wii Mario Cart on their deck. The kids really enjoyed the games, fishing, and of course playing with Vinny. We put some really tired kids to bed around 11;00pm, and then the adults went to the bar for some drinks and to see the band. It was a fun night.

On Sunday, we ate breakfast, and then headed out to fish again around 9:00 am. Samantha and Emma stayed behind and had a nice breakfast date and Samantha let Emma drive the golf cart around all morning. The rest of us went fishing. We had pretty good luck. I caught a nice bass and a Walleye that was a keeper. Elliott caught two keepers, and Jeff caught 2 keepers. John caught fish, but they were all too small to keep.

After a couple of hours of beautiful sunshine and fishing, we called it a day. We headed back to the camper, packed up, and started our journey home. We made it home by 4:00pm, unpacked, did laundry, and ate some delicious fish tacos for supper. It was a fun, busy weekend.

This past week has flown by pretty quickly. The kids had another week of swimming lessons. They spent some time at the Tomczaks again. Emma had to swim a 500 meter swim (which is 10 times down and back) and she was the first one done. She officially passed her swimming lessons a day early!

On Wednesday, Emma had a softball doubleheader. The strikers won the first game, and lost the second. But, they were good games, and there was actually quite a bit of action to watch. After the games. the kids went home with Jim and Barb. The grandparents wanted to spend some time with Emma for her birthday, and with Elliott as well. So, they took the kids to swimming lessons today, and then went shopping and to Dairy Queen. The kids had a great day.

It was a catch up day around here today. I mowed lawn while John had a council meeting. We also did some packing for this weekend, cleaning, and laundry. It was nice to catch up, but I feel like I can never get ahead.

This weekend is another doozy. We are going to Mom and Dad's house tomorrow (even though they are in NYC right now) to grill out with Ryan and Emily and have a bonfire. Then, on Saturday,(Emma's Birthday!) John and Elliott are getting fitted for the wedding, and then we are going to a Twins Game. After the Twin's Game, we are planning to eat supper somewhere for Emma's birthday, and then back to the farm for the night.

Sunday, we drop Emma off at Bible camp in New London. She stays there until Saturday morning. I am going to miss her. I am so excited for her, but also nervous for her. I hope she has the time of her life. Elliott will spend most of next week at Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house. He will have a blast as well.