But I'm getting ahead of myself. But I also have a picture of the handy-dandy camping watch I bought at the WalMarts, and I don't know where else in the post to put it, so here you go. I only point this out because I haven't worn a watch in a couple of years - with a cell phone you just don't need to. Plus, I don't like wearing one while I'm on the computer, and I'm on the computer a lot. So I guess what I'm saying is, I bought a watch, which is a sign that I was all in for this campout!
Lance had to work, so it was just the kids and I who drove down. It was an auspicious beginning - we hit a MAJOR storm on the way. I almost pulled over, it was raining so hard. In fact, a branch hit the Ream's car during the storm. But it was over and done with in less than 10 minutes. No biggie, right?
We got to camp and set up. This year we both had canopies in addition to our tents, which was really nice - no more being stuck in the tents during the rain!
By the time we were done it wasn't time for dinner yet, but there wasn't enough time to go down to the lake either. (And I don't think any of the adults wanted to deal with all of the hullaballoo of that, either!) So I took the kids down to the playground. The "Slide of Death" (as it's known) attracted Cole like a moth to a flame. It's super high and super steep, but fortunately, due to the humidity it's not super fast!
I probably pushed Tess for a good 30 minutes.
These boys played some sort of pirate game. Logan and Spencer kept trying to speak with a British and/or Australian accent (it changed by the minute) and it was HIGH-LARIOUS. I love those boys so much!
Spencer sentencing Josh (Sir Johnathan Wiggins) to the jail. I have no idea what Spencer's pretend name was. I have no idea where josh got his name. And I have no idea why he was being sent to jail. Some questions just can't be answered, people.
Meanwhile, back on the death slide, Cole kept monkeying around on it and making me nervous. I had visions of broken arms and legs...
We eventually made our way back to camp and Craig got the fire going with a little help from the air mattress blower. (All the wood was a bit damp and needed some prodding.) Lance arrived and it was a happy day! We roasted hot dogs for dinner and of course - OF COURSE - had s'mores for dessert. My first s'mores of the season!
It was delish. There's something magical about s'mores cooked over a campfire that can't be duplicated.
It must be mentioned (because I just remembered) that right before Lance arrived, and just after I had told Spencer to slow down, Spencer biffed it big time on his scooter. He came back to the campsite wailing at the top of his lungs, without his scooter or his glasses. I was, of course, concerned for him, but seeing as how there were no obvious life-threatening wounds I sent Josh to go find Spencer's missing things. (Hey, glasses are expensive!)
He had a couple of pretty good gashes on his hand and some good road rash. He was also covered in mud. But he wasn't going to die. He wasn't even bleeding that badly. But boy, did he howl. Seriously, it was almost embarrassing the way he carried on. But we got him bandaged up and calmed down, and I fought the urge to directly tell him "I told you so."
Here we are, back at dinner. The cheese puffs were a big hit!
Josh "Marshmallow Mouth" Madsen. (a.k.a. Sir Jonathan Wiggins of Marshmallow Mouth estate)
Tess was particularly cute. She was SO EXCITED to be camping!
Bergen and Logan roasting marshmallows. Poor Bergen kept losing food in the fire.
After dinner Cole got really upset about something. I can't remember what. It could've been anything: that it was a Thursday, that he didn't get his way about something, that I wouldn't let him play with knives... who knows? That boy is always mad about something. So I distracted him by letting him read "Would you rather" questions to us. This was fun - it was fun to hear other people's answers. (For example: Would you rather live at the beach or on top of a mountain? Would you rather be in a pool of marshmallows or M&Ms?)
We had fun answering, but this made Cole mad. He did NOT want to listen to us talk - he just wanted to read all the questions at once. Oy.
It was getting late and Tess was getting slap-happy. She kept putting on a "light show" with her flashlights and humming songs - loudly.
It was pretty funny.
By bedtime it had started to rain. No biggie. We all brushed our teeth, put on our pajamas, and snuggled in for the night, figuring the rain would stop eventually.
How wrong we were.
It rained. And rained. AND RAINED. It rained NON-STOP the entire night. And not just drizzled, but steady, sometimes very heavy, rained. How do I know? I was up just about every hour and could use my handy-dandy camping watch to check the time. It was LOUD. And incessant. Lance described it best: it was like being in a popcorn popper all night long. At one point Lance jumped up and told me we had to move around because water was falling on him - in the tent.
We have been in pretty severe weather in this tent and have stayed nice and dry through it all. But our poor tent couldn't handle this. By the time we woke up in the morning Josh's pillow was soaked and a pool was forming in the corner where Lance's head had originally been.
Unfortunately, the Reams did not fare much better. Craig said you could actually see the water dripping down in their tent!
Fortunately, it wasn't cold. I was in shorts and a rain jacket and felt fine. But it was WET. Probably a good 1/2" of water/mud on the ground all over the campsite.
A pond was forming around the fire pit.
We had a solemn, rather soggy breakfast under the canopies. (We were soggy, not the breakfast.) It was still raining.
Cole liked playing in the rain with his new jacket. He was NOT pleased with the idea of leaving early.
Fortunately, Lance is as big a camper as I am (perhaps a bit less - I'm pretty sure he only goes because I force the issue ) and was willing to call it quits.
We like camping. It's fun! But not when it's miserable - and that's what it was. Wet and miserable. And it was bound to only get worse. Not only was it STILL raining, but our kids had gone to bed really late and had not slept well at all. They would have been MONSTERS that afternoon.
So, we waited for a break in the rain and broke camp. It was wet, mucky work. The Reams decided stay and tough it out. They're way more dedicated than we are. (Well, Craig is. Gigi wanted to go, but since it was Father's Day weekend and she's a very loving wife, she agreed to stay as well.)
I felt guilty about abandoning our friends. But I also felt relief at not having to deal with more rain and another awful, wet night in a tent.
As we got into the cars I shot this little video. There were these little holes all over the place, dug out by some squirrels or gofers or something. Anyway, there was water running through these holes, as if a little spring were under the ground! (Ignore my comments in the video... I don't know what I was talking about. I blame a long night in the popcorn popper.)
Here's a shot I took as we were getting ready to pull out. I felt like we were escaping! (Cole was happy again because he had a Hug drink. That boy LOVES sugared drinks.)
As we drove out of the campsite we decided we needed to go take a look at the lake. It was SO full! Look at those picnic tables in the water! The kids were very impressed. (The water had not been that high the afternoon before.)
That's only about half of the beach that is usually there.
As we were pulling out of the park a rather large branch fell right onto our car, hitting the passenger side windshield wiper and popping it right off! I had to get out, in the pouring rain, find the wiper, and then stick it back on. The kids were very impressed that they got to sit there with the hazard lights on. I got back into the car pretty wet (I had thrown my jacket in the back earlier) but happy that our windshield hadn't cracked.
It seemed to be fine, but a couple of miles later it blew off, this time gone for good. I pulled over and mulled the situation. I HAD to have the wipers on; it was raining way to hard to not have them on. But turning them on would probably scratch the windshield. Inspiration hit: I could cover the end of the wiper with a sock! Gigi had asked to borrow some socks the day before but ended up not needing them and had placed them on the console. Bless you, Gigi! I put the sock on and it was perfect! The kids got a kick out of it swishing back and forth all the way home.
The drive home was a pit perilous, with hydroplaning several times on US-231 and a very-much-emergency potty stop in Romney for Miss Tess. (We got into the gas station only to discover that there was an "Out of Order" sign on the restroom door. Tess cried and the employee took pity, told us they only put that sign up when it rains hard because the plumbing usually had problems, and told us we could use it. Phew.)
We finally made it home and started the drudgery that is unpacking and cleaning after a campout. Lance and I hung up the canopy and tent stuff in the garage to dry out. It took quite a while to dry.
Good thing we have a double garage with extra space in back!
I still feel kinda bad that we bailed. But also not sorry, because we woulda been miserable. To make it up to the kids we went to see "Inside Out" the next day. (It was good, but not Pixar's best.) On the way home I snapped this picture of the Wabash River. It's so full it's reaching the leaf branches of all those tall, old trees on its banks. Crazy.
So this campout was a washout. No matter - we'll try again next year! (Or maybe even this fall, if we're crazy enough.) ((Don't hold your breath. If there's anything I hate worse than being wet while camping, it's being cold while camping. Yuck.))
No comments:
Post a Comment