Rain, Mud, and Camping

This weekend we went to James River State Park. The weather was supposed to be 60 on Saturday w/ clouds and 81 on Sunday with lots of sun. Perfect camping weather...right? Well, that's what we thought. After a full day of preparing for the trip Friday, we left Saturday morning to a light mist that we were sure would blow away when we arrived. At least the forecast said it would. The weather ended up being a high of 47 on Saturday with rain most of the night (downpours at times) and 55 on Sunday with clouds until the Dows left the park. The low Saturday night was supposed to be 51, but was actually in the low 40s.

To add to the fun, we camped next to a stream that the kids were instantly attracted to. Within minutes, Elise fell in & Sadie soon followed leaving only one extra pair of long pants. Their sneakers were soaked and when I sent them back out with boots, they came back with two inches of water inside their boots & socks soaked. Hmmmm.."Well then, let's put your pj pants on and STAY OUT OF THE WATER! You guys can play in the stream tomorrow...it's supposed to be hot!" Ha ha! Well, we tried to dry everything by the fire, but that quickly ended when the thunderstorms started. By then we were trapped under the canopy....Thank you Danny for bringing that...and played cards. It was actually nice. Danny & I even took turns roasting marshmallows under an umbrella for the girls. It was almost time for bed, so we sang some songs about rain, did some magic card tricks, and headed into our nice new dry tent to tuck the girls in when we discover that one of the girls left the door unzipped and the window open...our bag of clothes was soaked along with the edge of our beds and the floor. Great! We used our only towels to clean it up.

Then the night began... rain, rain, and more rain. The sides of the tent were wet, leaving wet blankets and cold kids. I probably woke up a total of 15 times praying that day ligh would come. I think my words were, "Lord...let there be light!" Well, light came, but only behind clouds. We had a decent morning despite the cloudiness....pancakes for breakfast, fishing, & more exploring. After realizing the sun just wasn't going to cooperate, we packed up, went on one little hike to an overlook and headed home. Just as we stopped at the bathroom to leave, guess what popped out? Hello, Sun! At least it made the drive home pretty :0).