I had this idea fly into my head. Why don’t we go to this state park we have never been to and go camping for a few nights. So we packed everything up and were off later than I wanted to on Thursday night. We stopping to get some food on our way and arrived at camp around 6:30. Not long after we arrived and found a camp site we liked the thunder started on the north and south of us. We had a strip of blue sky right over top of us. Should we set up and risk getting rained on and being in a tent in a thunder storm or should we drive back home with some very disappointed kids. We decided to stay and set up. So we set up our tent and then our little easy up canopy and tied some tarps off of it so if it rained we would have a cover. The whole time we saw and heard thunder on both sides.
We got a little sprinkle but we were able to start a fire and have some hot dogs and marshmallows. Here is a picture of our view.
God was really good to us. The rain did not come onto us until the kids were all asleep. Something that I didn’t plan for was all the bug bites. They ate all of us really badly and I had no anti itch cream or I usually use Lavender oil to help with bites. I had none of that oil. SO the first night all of the kids were tossing and turning and I am pretty sure I almost lost my mind when W says to me mommy I need to go potty at 4 Am. I said ok go behind the tent in the trees he said I have to go poop. So I stumbled up to the bathroom and stumbled back. ugh. Who’s crazy idea was it to go camping anyway?
The mosquito had a feast on us but we were also extremely hot. In PA you make sure to bring long pants and sweat shirts along with lots of blankets because the evenings get so cold. Not here in KS. It was hot the whole night. I think I just used a sheet and all my kids were sweaty in their sleeping bags. We all tossed and turned until dawn when all the kids were up. Thankfully A got up and made a fire with the kids and I stayed in bed for a little bit longer.
That day we spent riding bikes, exploring the camp ground, cooking food and going swimming. By the end of the night everyone was eaten alive and we had no anti itch cream and we thought if we didn’t get some kind of cream we may not get through the next night with any more sleep. So Adam went to the town 40 minutes away and I watched the kids play in the water. It was so nice watching the sun set as my kids ran in and out of the water playing with each other. Even J ran in and out on her own. It made my heart happy to see that. We got through the night with more sleep and first thing in the morning a young couple pulled in and set up camp next to ours. We didn’t know if we were going to stay another night but when we saw 5 other vehicles pull in and two other tents being set up with what looked like college age kids or a little older we knew it was going to be a party all night and probably keep us up so we decided we would pick up camp and go home that day.
God must have given us prompting because we came hope to two very bad situations. The first thing we saw was my new glass patio table shattered into piece. It was definitely not the thing we wanted to see when we had a car filled with things to unpack and laundry to do. But Adam went right to work sweeping the glass from the deck and had it cleaned up rather quickly. I unpacked the car and then entered the house. When I opened the door I heard whining coming from J’s bedroom. I opened the door to find our dog, shep locked inside. In the rush of our packing he snuck in the house and ended up in her room and someone closed the door on him. I also saw the door frame trim clawed so bad it had broken off and there were splinters everywhere. That poor dog 🙁 I then let him outside and went back in to assess the damage and how many messes we would have to clean up. He left no mess. He held his pee and poop for 2 days! He is such a great dog. Wow I couldn’t believe it.
We figured there was a big wind storm that took our umbrella and sent it flying, hitting the glass on the table and shattering it. I am very sad about this since I just bought it in June. I am more amazed that I didn’t have a mess to clean up from the dog. He’s a keeper. Sorry I didn’t get any pictures because my phone was captive in my bag in the car for most of this HEHEHE.
The next morning we woke up to a very wet outside and again thanked God he prompted us to go home Saturday so we didn’t have to pack up camp in the rain.
We loved this spot so much we are now making plans to go camping with some of our friends before winter hits 🙂 But two things we must have is a tent bug sapper and a battery operated fan 🙂
Signing off from one crazy to another.
Jenny Wren