Earth, Wind (!), Fire and Rain

I'm not exactly sure when or how I got talked into camping in the middle of September but that's exactly what we did this past weekend. Marion called it our 'send off summer, welcome fall- camp out, get together/reunion'. How's that for family gathering? A couple of the siblings weren't able to make it so we ended up camping with 8 adults and 8 kids. Not being outnumbered by little people was a nice touch.

When we got there around 5 on Friday night it was around 90^ with some humidity. I had been worried about things being too cold, especially for the baby but the way the weekend was staring out didn't seem too bad. In fact, I had packed mostly warm clothing and when the kids went to bed that night they were too sweaty to fall asleep due to my over dressing them!

Saturday morning was perfect camping weather. Overcast, cool, cloud cover. The forecast did say 40% chance of rain and we talked about it but the sun would creep out every now and then so it didn't seem like there was too much to worry about. We were soooo wrong!!

It started sprinkling when Marion was just about finished cooking dinner and by the time we were eating, all of us were sitting oh so close under the canopy. I wish the rain would have been the worst part. Oh no, it wasn't the rain, it was the wind! Huge gusts of wind. All evening. Nathan said a prayer to stop the rain. When he told me it didn't work, I told him to say another prayer. The rain stopped long enough for him to feel his prayers worked. He smiled huge and went to sleep. I love that he had that moment and learned about prayer. It started in again and then rained and blew all. night. long. I was so scared, I know this sounds wimpy (cause it is) but I even got teary eyed and cried a little bit! I was afraid of 3 things, 1-the tent falling in on us, 2-a huge tree landing on us, crushing us to death and 3- even though there was none, lightening stricking our tent and spreading fire. I definitely know how dramatic that sounds but it was an awful storm to be in, sleeping outside!! I'm not very comfortable outside in the outdoors anyways and this just about pushed me over the edge!

See for yourself that it was still going on as we broke down camp faster than we ever have before. This was a mild blowing episode and mostly blows at the end when the tent balloons up at the top. Just imagine this all night long (ignore the zoom in zoom out, ha)!

One more to prove I'm not lying (back me up family)

Shaila threw out the idea to cancel hair and makeup this camping trip. I seconded that motion quickly and said Milo could get us hats. Marion gave each of us a purple John Deere hat and they never came off. It was great!

This was actually after a couple hand washings if you can believe it. Right after they got washed it was like it never happened! The kids love being dirty and dirty goes hand in hand with camping, does it not?!

Reed and Milo bonded on this trip. Milo ate it up since Reed is usually lunging for me. That bright green hat was his favorite thing to grab. He was really good on his first camping trip. The first night he got to eat in the middle of the night more times that usual and while I didn't love being woke up, I loved him going right back to sleep.

I played around with my camera Saturday morning. I tried taking some photos that I might be able to use for Take Out Photo's Monthly Special for September. Now I just need to take the time to do that.

Kat was happy taking walks, digging dirt, making friends with kids camping near us, making up games, flying a kite, fishing, roasting smores, climbing on the play toy, pushing Reed in the stroller, never brushing her hair (the side braid lasted from Friday!) and reading a book she had bought at the Book Fair. She was a great helper.

Nathan had an agenda this camping trip and his list had one thing, to fish all day long. Milo kept his word and they were out there most of the day. With one break for lunch that in Nate's eyes was 30 minutes too long. He was so happy on the rocks or the dock. He never caught a fish but was happy just the same.

Dane had a good time too. When he wasn't tired that is. Man this kid can be happy one second and a tired bear the next. And with him it literally changes in a second. He fished with Milo and Nathan, rode his bike, played, wrestled and fought like a 5 yr old with the other kids, walked around camp barefoot most of the time no matter what we said, survived on candy, cookies and small amounts of actual food and crashed before we were less than 5 miles from the campsite.

Camping for me is equally fun and not fun. There is just so much work involved with camping, especially with little kids. The shopping, the packing before hand, making sure you have enough to entertain them, feed them, clothe them, the list goes on and on. The cooking in the open that thankfully I just help with cause I don't know how to do it, cleaning while you are there and the huge, huge amounts of cleaning once you get home. Not to mention the tiredness, a whole new topic! We got home yesterday around noon and with blankets, clothes and filthy shoes there was 8 loads of laundry. It was finished today and it feels good to not have campfire smell on everything. Now that it's over, I'd do it again. But I'm really glad it will be a long while!

This was waiting in a box for me when we got home I couldn't resist. I had to try it on Reed. I'm ruining his Halloween debut but...

...isn't this the cutest spider you have ever seen? Sure I'm biased, but still!