Birthday Camp-Out

The night before Ben's birthday he really wanted to have a "camp-out" down in the field in the neighborhood nature park. It was a windy-stormy night (more on the weather later) and of course this added to the adventurous feel of the evening. The boys were having such a great time jumping in and out of tent, cooking their "dogs" and eating camp-food (COOKIES and POP)that had been purchased at the grocery store.

Dinner was tasty and we told a few stories in the tent together. Connor and I would not be staying the night in the tent and so after saying our goodnights-- we left.

NOW BACK TO THE WEATHER--- as I had mentioned before it was a windy/stormy night. Cool, but comfortable enough to have the windows open at home. Around 6:00 AM I woke up to several very loud thunders accompanied by a very swift down pour!!! Then my cell phone rang with Ben on the other line...

"Honey... are you awake?" He asked

"I am now (the thunder was VERY loud) are you getting wet?"

"Yes... are you coming down for breakfast?"

.... slight pause....

"ummm-- probably not. But I love you"

Well-- it rained, and it rained hard. The nature park apparantly becomes a wash/river when it fills with enough water. Needless to say Cael and Brecon both had a wonderful time running around and exploring the fields. Lucky for them/us the tent had been strategically placed on high enough ground so they had not been washed away :)

Ben and I both talk about how it is always the times when things don't go smoothly that make memories we always remember. Ben remembers a time they were up sledding and luckily stopped before going over a sheer 40 foot drop. I remember a camping trip when on horseback behind my dad we had a "rodeo" right before me made it into camp. These both could have been very different stories, but because we made it out alive we remember them as one of the "cool" trips we took. This little adventure will be one of the stories our family is going to share again and again, not because it was the most beautiful camping nights we have ever had- but because it rained hard, everyone and everything got completely wet, but we can also laugh about it because no one got hurt.