Early this summer, we bought a tent. It was on sale, we wanted to camp, and it is big enough for our expanding family, even taking a pack n' play into account. Once the tent was bought, we set a date to camp. It was really the only weekend that would work for us, so we set it in stone. Our friends invited us over that night, but we turned them down. The weekend was set aside for camping. Period.
We also figured going by ourselves once would be a good warm up for the upcoming ward camping trip. This way we could always come home if it got to be two or three in the morning and no one was sleeping. We picked a spot not too far from home, planned our meals, packed our car and were ready to go.
Upon arrival we found that camping in Wisconsin is not quite camping in Utah and Arizona. Some of the spots felt more like a nicely groomed park than a campground.
And they looked out over fields, which isn't exactly rustic or wild.
Still, it was much more wilderness-ish than Madison. And we weren't going to complain about the playground equipment that was a quick favorite of the youngest member of our family.
So, we found the most wooded spot we could and set up our tent. Scout loved the tent. We mostly wanted her to build good associations with "camping", so the trip was going well.
We built a fire and threw in our tinfoil dinners.
It was then that the problem came. Truthfully, the problem wasn't really unexpected. I had looked at the weather forecast Thursday and noticed that Friday night called for thunderstorms. Seventy percent chance. The rest of the week was completely clear, but of course Friday it was supposed to storm. We'd kept an eye on things all day Friday, with no hope in sight. Still, we decided to risk it.
Just as James really got the fire going, it started pouring. The other two families at the campsite packed up and left. Scout and I hung out in the tent (good thing she loved the tent so much, eh?).
When the rain let up, we decided to seize the day and roast marshmallows for s'mores while the dinner was cooking. It seemed prudent to make dessert between downpours, make hay while the sun shines, if you will.
James makes wonderful s'mores. He melts the chocolate on the grill just a bit and roasts the marshmallows to perfection. Scout was a little unsure at first, but in the end she liked them.
James was extremely enthusiastic about what he labeled possibly the best s'more of his life.
Virginia was really more interested in playing in her camping chair.
And drinking the punch, most of which ended up spilled down the front of her clothes.
As we were finishing our (delicious) dinner, it started raining again. And we started to worry. After all, it's not a great idea to hang out in the tallest trees around during a thunderstorm, particularly if they're sitting on top of the tallest hill around and you live in tornado territory. So, we called it a good try, packed everything up and headed home before the sun set.
At least Virginia had fun and thinks "camping" is great. Someday we'll see how she does with sleeping in a tent. But apparently it won't be this year. James ended up at a conference in Germany the weekend of the ward campout, and I just wasn't feeling brave enough to do it alone. So, camping will have to wait until next year. We've decided that it just wasn't meant to be this time. Why else would we have been scared off the hill (can't really be called a mountain) by a thunderstorm only to return home? And, of course, as we drove back to Madison, the clouds parted and it didn't rain another drop all night.
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