Church Campout

Well, we did go camping in spite of the rain.

Friday night when I last posted, we were deciding whether or not to go. Right about the same time we were hoping to leave, it started pouring. I knew the forecast for the weekend was extremely rainy with chances for storms. But I thought that if we could just get there and set up before the rain began, we'd be okay. Once it started raining though, my desire to camp plummeted and I began to experience an intense craving for a popcorn and movie night. And who wants to set up a tent in pouring rain and huge puddles?!

Kendall was right there with me in not being too excited about camping in a torrential downpour. But then he had an idea! Didn't Marvin and Melva have a camper that maybe we could use? He called them and before too long was back at the house with this little guy (photo taken today when it is no longer raining):

So we threw our stuff in and off we went!

The first night was horrible- almost to the point of being funny. The camper kept the rain off of us, but it was damp, sticky, hot (I'm not exactly complaining about that one), and the mosquitoes made themselves at home in our living quarters. We all made it inside and then had a mosquito-killing party. Then we made floor beds for the boys and turned off our flashlights. After a very small amount of squabbling, the boys were out. Then I lay there listening to Kendall swat. Pretty soon we could hear an orchestra of mosquitoes buzzing in harmony. We turned on the flashlights again and somehow the bugs had resurrected and multiplied in the few minutes since we had killed them all. So we killed them again and sprayed our sweaty sleeping children with more DEET. Yummy. After that the mosquitoes were mostly quiet and my long night began. Oh well, I knew that the more tired I was the next day, the better I would sleep the that night.

I did finally sleep and it was true that the second night went much better.

This was how we spent the majority of the day Saturday:
Well, that's where the adults spent most of the day. The kids were happy to play and ride bike and whatever else it is that kids do while camping. At one point, as I watched Eli play, I got confused and forgot if I was in my past or in my present. It just brought back memories of the cousins' camping trips which were always the highlights of summers. The kids were all in their little heavens. One of the benefits of it being such a horribly rainy weekend was that the campground was nearly deserted. All sane people stayed home. So the kids were fairly free to roam.

Here they are playing a water game. Eli is blindfolded and trying to squirt his buddies. I guess, why not play a water game? They're wet already!


Overall, it was a good weekend. It was fun to just sit and chat with people. The group was pretty small Friday and Saturday, so it was very relaxed and laid back.

Sunday we were almost the last ones to pull out around 3:00. On our way out of the campground, we stopped by Jeff & Wendy's campsite and sat down for coffee with them under their tarp. We ended up sitting there for 3 1/2 hours while the kids played and watched a movie in their camper. It was a very good way to end the weekend.

We got home and decided to leave most of the clean-up for this morning. So by nighttime I was clean, warm and dry and I was sitting with Kendall watching a movie and eating popcorn. Yea! Just what I had been waiting for!