Wasps + Collossal Storm + Heat + Friends = Camping

Late last Saturday night we got back from our very first camping trip as a family. It was TOTALLY unforgettable.

Seriously.

Even if we tried.

There is no way we could ever forget it.

Here's why:

Thursday, July 9th

After staying up till after 3 am the night before, and frantically packing and going to Walmart where I spent so much money I nearly puked, we were off to the Wilderness Retreat & Development Center in Lawson, MO for a reunion of Jeff's high school friends. They call themselves, "The Liberty Gang".

Yes, we are aware that is a somewhat dorky name.

We were nervous to camp as a family for the first time. Having VERY little camping experience (my Dad would say, why camp when I can get a hotel room?) myself, I was more than a little hesitant to guess what living in the wild with three littles would be like.

First arrivals, before the adventure REALLY began.

After chatting with old friends who'd already arrived, Jeff headed off to find our camp site and set up. We wanted a site near an outlet cause Jeff had the foresight to tell me to buy a fan (one of the many reasons Walmart bled me dry). The gal in charge of the reunion went to help him figure out the outlet situation. Maybe 15 minutes later they came back, laughing with pained looks on their faces. Jeff had been stung TWICE by wasps that came streaming out of an electrical box cover (they got his arm & back), his friend was stung once in the forehead.

We were off to a great start!

Wasp stings bulging, Jeff was a trooper and got camp set up. We all hung out, the littles started making friends and then had we all had dinner all together - pizza & salad. A big bonfire with smores was next, Capri's absolute personal favorite thing to do.

It started to get late, and dark, and this was where I started to get more apprehensive about the whole camping idea. I am a big believer in showering the littles every day, they're kids and frankly they usually stink by the end of a day of playing. So camping aside, we got all our stuff together and braved the showers. They were actually better then I'd expected, save the gazillions of tiny millipedes that were EVERYWHERE we went. I was proud of my littles, they did well with only minimal worries about the bugs. Clean and feeling good we headed to our tent for bed. Scriptures, books, prayers, and everybody was doing well. Sable had trouble falling asleep for maybe 20 minutes but then sacked out.





I left the tent to join Jeff and some friends in the nearby pavilion, where all the gathering and dinners happened, to chat.

Later we headed back to the tent and went to sleep.

Then 3:30am hit, and the we both woke up to pat-pat-patting on the tent. Rain. Our one biggest worry, seeing as we had a borrowed tent and really had no idea how it would do.

The first wave of rain, thunder, lightning. We watched for drips and leaks with our flashlights, were nervous but doing alright.

The second wave of more rain, louder thunder, bigger lightning. The rain started to make it through our tent ceiling and rain fly. A couple millipedes found there way in out of the rain.

The littles stayed asleep which didn't totally shock us - they're greatest talent is sleeping.

We prayed. Mainly for safety & to be calm, but also that the rain would subside.

It seemed as thought it was stopping. We started to relax, and then. . .

The THIRD wave. This was the one that truly scared me. The tent shook, it was the loudest storm I'd ever heard. The drips were coming in more and more, the edges of the tent were leaking. A truck drove by calling out, "There's a SEVERE storm warning!!" Really? We couldn't have guessed! But what to do? Capri woke up and dove into our bed.
Then suddenly Hailey, the gal who'd been stung by the wasp, came to our tent door. She said hers and many other tents were down and flooded, people were heading to the lodge. I've not met many women in my life braver and with more cheer than Hailey. I've been called tough many times for taking 3 kids all over creation. I'm not tough, Hailey is tough.

We started to gather things together and then another person came to our tent door. Alex Sperry, a very close friend, tall as a tree and soaking wet - he was there to make sure we were alright and getting out. He's got a family of his own, five kids - one a baby, but he still came to check on his friends. I'll never forget him for that. He said, "leave everything behind". I said "Really?" Alex said, "YES". We grabbed the kids, I grabbed a backpack with some clothes in it, and we were gone.

We drove up to the pavilion to help make sure everyone was out and safe then headed to the lodge. Laughing, worried, tired, we all crowded in and tried to get dry. Jeff and others were soaking wet. I had some blankets and towels that were in the van, some crackers and cookies were brought out. The kids ran around, parents talked and laughed. We all wondered what our campsite would look like when the storm ended.

Which it did, and we drove back through the mud.

Our tent was completely unharmed, still standing, not even one stake out or line ripped. Inside there was water all around the edges, but only drips that I could easily mop up. Our sheets were damp, but that was it. Others weren't so lucky, older tents or those on lower ground were flattened, caved in and flooded.

Amazingly enough, and this truly impressed me, people started clearing out their tents with smiles on their faces and setting up camp again. I watched a Mom, there alone with 3 little kids, WRING out their pillows.

Everyone managed to get re-settled, the bathroom dryer was run non-stop, and the clothes lines hung low from so many wet towels and sheets.

We had a group reservation at the lake, so everybody suited up and skedaddled.

Languishing in the heat.

Sable snoozed while I languished, apparently I smile whilst languishing. I let Jeff and the littles go to the lake first and then anxiously awaited our set time for him to come back and pick us up after Sable had a little while to sleep. Remember, nobody got hardly any sleep cause of the storm. Kids got maybe 4-5 hours while most adults were running on 0-2. Sable awoke a minute before Jeff came to get us, and we skedaddled too.

There was a big pontoon to jump and fly off of, kayaks, paddle boats, sun, sand, millipedes in the equipment shed of course, and fun had by all.

















When we got back we spent time doing play-doh, hanging out, the littles would just scamper and wander about. Rome loved the tether ball and the hose. Capri loved being surrounded by little girls to play and make things out of nature with. We had a group dinner again, chicken burritos and watermelon. Capri was desperate to "roast smores" again so we tried and tried and tried to get a fire going. No luck, the wood was way to wet from the storm. So it was unroasted smores, solid chocolate and graham crackers - still good. Later that night, Alex Sperry apparently got a fire going - with propane fuel.








As night drew nearer I was oh so tempted to cut and run. The thought of another storm (which was predicted) was just too much to handle. The campground was less than an hour away from our house so I figured the littles and I could just sleep at home and come back the next day.

But I found some extra camping toughness, and decided to stay.

Luckily, LUCKILY, the night was gorgeous, and everybody fell fast asleep EXTRA fast.

Our last day we spent on the lake again (Jeff won a kayak race between the guys), more playdoh (which turned out to be quite a popular activity for all), more scampering about, sidewalk chalk, and of course a "dance" at the end after group dinner (hot dogs, chips, cherries, apples, cookies). Alex Sperry has the BEST music collection known to man and we were all blasted back to our more youthful days of church dances.


One of Sable's FAVORITE camping activity was to move chairs about.










I got too busy bustin' a move to take any better pictures of the dance. It was quite a sight.



I brought 4 colors of playdoh and a BUNCH of cutting tools, etc. By this point the kids had decided this bench was a better spot for sculpting, and the playdoh had turned into one single shade of purple. There were kids who seriously stayed at this activity for HOURS while music blared and their parents danced about like fools.

It started to get late and we were heading home that night. Before we left the music, friends and fun to take down camp we managed to get an entire group shot and the "Liberty Gang" showed their true colors in picture form.





And then we took down camp in the dark.

We did it, we had fun, it WAS an adventure.