Rain, Tents, Hikes and Mud... Oh, and STUCK!

OK, so remember the last post when I said I love camping, rain or shine? Well, I still feel that way but now I have only one stipulation with that and you will find that at the end of this post. I will tell the story as the pictures go along.

I didn't get any pictures the night we got there so I will just have to paint the picture for you with words.

We were ready to go after Marc got home from work on Thursday night to head up to our favorite spot. We were all very excited even with the prospect of rain on Friday. We planned to stay until Saturday around noon.

Jessie and Joel's family met us up there, I had given them a map to find us. It worked out well because they didn't get lost and they found us just moments after we got there. We were all excited, even though the clouds looked dark and heavy above us we all had high hopes. We started a good fire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. Mmm, s'mores. Anyway, the kids were all having fun. I even brought our little teeter-totter and 3 and B had a lot of fun on that for a bit. Then, it was soon time for bed. As soon as we all retired it began to rain. It rained ALL through the night not stopping to take a breath. It was a light rain, but, I am sure not too fun in the tent for Jessie and Joel. But, it was a warm night, even in our trailer so I was at least assured that they were warm... Well, upon awaking in the morning and seeing them all come out of their tent dawning their winter poofy coats I soon realized they were frozen. My heart sunk and I had to think of something to do...

So we took pictures while they were still smiling so that they could remember the fun they had before the rain. Jman does that well.

See, Mr T had fun! I mean, does this look like he is cold?

Even Jman wanted to get in on the memory making.

We built a campfire to add to the atmosphere and of course to warm Jessie up...

And I made one of the biggest camping breakfasts I have ever made in my trailer. We had, sausage, bacon, eggs and biscuits. Mmm. It was delicious.
But, Jessie and Joel still left us. Doesn't our firepit look lonely? It was beautiful up there though, even with the rain.

Marc had to find a place to scrape off the layers of mud that had attached to his boots.

I thought he was cleaning off his boots to come into the trailer with us but, he just wanted to keep "the chair" clean. What would a camp trip be like if Marc wasn't in this chair sleeping at least once?

We hung out in the trailer because it was so muddy. I really wasn't in the mood to clean all the kids off that morning so we just colored and played games. Oh, boy did we have fun. We even have a radio in our trailer and we were able to tune in an FM station from the local town below. Check out our video to hear the kind of music we found and enjoy our "gettin' down!"


Of course 3 was a having a bit of an issue being cooped up in the trailer for too long. Just thought you would all enjoy seeing how unpleasant she can be sometimes...

The sun began to shine,

and 3's boots were finally dry (ya, the oven worked great--tee hee)

So 3 and I decided to go for a walk. Marc was already out on a long hike and I was getting tired of being cooped up in the trailer too, so we just walked and 3 led the way. As we started to come to the bend in the road we saw two cars approaching--it was Daniel and Tynelle with their kids and their friends in the car behind them. It was only noon and they had come already. We were so excited to see them, and 3 couldn't contain her excitement to have Porter and Hallie there. She loves playing with them when we're camping. I told Daniel and Tynelle how the previous night had been and asked if they still wanted to camp, they and their friends were totally up for it and decided to set up their tents.

So the adventure began...

So here is a picture of Marc showing how happy he is that Tynelle has joined the ranks of bad weather campers.


3 and Porter had a great time on the teeter-totter--so glad I packed that thing.


Just had to take a picture of Marc's boots, I love it when he just slops them on like that, it's cute...
17 was so glad to have Kirsten there with us, but, it looks like Kirsten was happy to be there too.

9 was really enjoying being able to roast his own hotdogs and marshmallows. He really did well, too.

3 and Hallie enjoyed coloring in the trailer. And, of course, 9 was in there coloring many time too.

I don't think 13 stopped chopping wood that entire day. He was in heaven. He did a good job and he didn't chop his hand off or anything so I guess we can say it was all a success.

3 loved the treats. I think that next to being able to run free, eating all the junk food is her favorite part.


Porter, Hallie, and 3 really played well together. I told Kirsten to go take pictures of how cute they are playing together. Then we had a good laugh when we realized they were playing with broken bottles in the firepit and that Porter was being a normal boy and pouring dirt on the girls heads. Tee hee!

Here we are starting out on our traditional hike. Hallie is ready to go.


I guess Kirsten was to lazy to walk so 17 had to carry her... just kidding. She walked MOST of the way by herself.



3 loves to lead the way. We were trying to hurry along because of the dark clouds that were rolling in...

But, hey, I am pregnant, I had to take a break at some point. So we stopped at the springs to enjoy the scenery and take a rest.



Here we are on the last home stretch. At this point 3 was toast and really wanted me to carry here. I tried but, it just doesn't work very well without stomach muscles to keep both of us steady to she finally let Daddy carry her while I held her hand. It was a long way back—because it was uphill and I am out of shape—but we were at the tail end and were able enjoy our time.

Then the rains came down. We tried to brave it. Even when the hail came pounding down we were determined to stay the night. So we all piled into the trailer to play games and eat treats. Were were making the best of it and really actually had fun with the games we played. There were 14 of us in the trailer. And I think all the kids, especially 3 and 9 were getting a bit overwhelmed with the crowded situation. So, I think, because of the screaming, wailing and gnashing of teeth we all just could think of one thing: let's get out of here before the rain gets worse.

That was our first mistake.

The roads were way to muddy to drive out on. Daniel and Tynelle's friends tires were so pack with mud a 1/3 of the way down that the back wheels weren't even spinning. And we were behind them in our 3/4 ton suburban and who-knows-how-heavy trailer pushing us from behind. It got scary. We tried to go past the two cars while the were pulled off the side of the road but the uphill climb was impossible. We were sliding all over, mud was flipping all over, the trailer was pushing and turning us toward the ravines on the side of the road and it just got scary. It was still raining and just seemed to be getting worse. We said a prayer that the rain would stop and that we would be able to get out. Literally 5 minutes after we closed the prayer the rain stopped and the clouds parted to reveal the sunshine. It was beautiful. It didn't rain at all until we left Saturday morning. Ya, we stayed the night in the middle of the road and Daniel and Tynelle and their friends set up their tents and we all braved it another night. But it didn't rain a bit and by morning the roads were dry enough to drive on and leave.

So the stipulation is not to camp in our favorite area when there is chance of rain and if it does rain, don't leave till the rain stops.



Here is Tynelle going to check out the roads to see if there was any possibility of getting out. What a trooper. Her pants and shoes were soaked, but she still trudges on...