Camping Adventure

My Aunt Susan came down for a visit last week and asked if we could take her camping because she had never gone camping before. We had camped several times but not in the last few years and we have a lot of camping supplies so we thought why not. The girls would probably love it! It was raining the day that we were suppose to go, but then the weather cleared up and it was a beautiful afternoon. So we decided to head out. It took a little over an hour to get to Brookville Lake in Indiana. We used to go there when we had our boat. Duane, Mallory and I set up camp while my aunt took the older girls to the lake to swim. We joined them later. Then we came back to the tents and started dinner. Half way into preparing dinner, we started to see some gray clouds and heard thunder. But we didn't panic. We hoped for a quick, mild storm. Not the case! Within 15 minutes all hell broke loose! Picture this...a torrential down pour with severe thunder and lighting, two crying children completely in a panic, one of which (Madison) was repeatedly praying at the top of her lungs, "Please Lord keep us safe from this storm", a small river flowing across our camp site and into our tents, Duane holding up a canopy to prevent it from collapsing on most of our stuff and Mallory refusing to stay in the tent. I thought back to when I taught bible camp several weeks ago when our priest said you will be blessed by God for the time and love that you are giving these children. So I said, "God, can I cash in on that extra blessing now":) Apparently he couldn't hear me over the thunder. I told Duane that if we had to go through such a horrible experience I wouldn't want it to be with anyone other than him. I also affirmed that I knew that it wasn't his fault and apologized in advance for making him feel like it was because he was the closest person to take it out on:) We had to laugh to keep from crying. The only thing left to do was go to sleep. However, our sleeping bags and pillows were soaking wet from the river that flowed through our tents, our air mattress was practically floating, a raccoon decided to raid our trash in the middle of the night and our tent leaked the entire night. I just kept telling myself, if you just go to sleep, this will all go away. Finally I fell asleep and woke up and fell asleep and woke up. I acknowledge the fact that I am some what of a high maintenance woman (I can hear you all laughing:). But I am evolving with age and wisdom. I left my make-up and hair dryer at home. I didn't even bring shampoo! But this was well out of my realm! I'll take a hotel room over a tent any day after this one! Luckily, we woke up to a gorgeous day. After breakfast we packed up and headed to the marina. We rented a pontoon for the day and had a fantastic time. Duane is always thrilled to be on a lake and was all the more thrilled that Mallory loved the lake as well. It was pretty amazing how comfortable she was. Madison and Molly had a blast jumping off the boat and hanging out in the water. The camping trip however will go down as the worst in history. But we all made it through together. I don't think my aunt will ever ask to go camping again:) There is a lot to be said about the comforts of home! I felt complete euphoria after a shower and snuggling up in my bed!