When it rains, it pours

And that is just what it did while we were camping. We arrived on a Thursday evening and had just enough time to set up camp before night fall. Exhausted from a day of traveling and hard work we crashed on our queen size double-thickness air mattress for a wonderful night of sleep in the cool, mountain air. We were awoken from our perfect sleep by the pitter-patter of rain on the tent at 5am. "Better to have it over with now then in the middle of the day," I thought as the rain started pounding down even harder.

By the time Jack was up and we were ready for breakfast it had slowed back down to a drizzle. Jon and I were anxious to try out our new camping gear. So he set to work making hot coffee while I fed Jack. Everything was soaked - the table, dishes, camping chairs, the clothes we were wearing, etc. It didn't take long to run out of ways to keep Jack entertained. The rain started falling faster and the baby got crankier. "That's it," I said, "We're all taking a nap." Just as we got into the tent for mandatory nap time the heavens opened and the rain poured down. Jon and I were huddled in our damp sleeping bags, listening to the rain drown out Jack's crying. We were both thinking what a huge mistake trying to camp with a 9 month old would be and trying to calculate how long it would take to pack everything up and head home. I fell asleep while repeating to myself, "It can't rain forever, it can't rain forever."
When we woke up it was still raining. The rest of the family was up at this time too so we all took turns keeping a wet baby happy. It rained the entire day. There was no point in taking a shower or putting on dry clothes since there was no way to keep dry. I was soaked through my rain jacket, sweatshirt and t-shirt. We just kept reminding ourselves that all this rain would surely make the waterfalls spectacular!
Finally, around dinner time, the rain tapered off. I just remember thinking how great it felt to put on dry clothes even if there wasn't a dry place to sit down.
Saturday dawned bright and beautiful. It was a perfect day in the mountains, which worked out great since we had a number of friends who came to visit. I began to feel a little better about this whole camping idea. Jack went on his first kayaking adventure. Jon went on a hike with my brothers. And I got caught up on some reading. We ended the day with perfectly roasted marshmallows and s'mores.
And then Sunday morning rolled around and the dark clouds rolled in with it. I woke up to the sound of rain again and suddenly realized that I had left my only pair of sneakers outside the tent. Then I realized that Jon had brought them into the tent when it started raining. When I got up in the morning I found out that I had dreamed that Jon got my shoes, they were really still outside, and completely soaked. So I wore flip-flops the rest of the day, not that it mattered since my feet would have gotten wet anyway. Jon had a test due that evening so he was going into town to get on the computer. I considered going along with him but thought surely it wouldn't rain all day again, I didn't want to miss out on what could potentially be another perfect afternoon in the mountains. Well, I was wrong. Since there was yet again no dry place to place a baby, we cleared a space in my parents second tent to put down a blanket and some toys for Jack to have some playtime. He was chewing on toys and picking up every speck of dirt in the tent while I was reading a book next to him when the skies opened up yet again. This time it poured even worse than on Friday. The tent started leaking and Jack started to fuss. We were trapped in the tent while everyone else was across the campsite at the table. I tried to find a dry spot to cuddle but without success. So I sat in the tent, holding Jack, with rain dripping on my head and foot. At first Jack wasn't happy about being held captive. But after he realized Mom wasn't happy either he calmed down a bit and actually snuggled with me. He hardly even snuggles so I figured this was one good thing to come out of the storm. Thankfully, the heavy rain didn't last too long and we were finally able to emerge from the tent - wet mama, wet baby, wet blankets.
But I am happy to say that that was the last of rainy days whilst camping. And it wasn't all horrible. I was able to capture some "morning drizzle at the campground" pictures. And the mixture of puddles after the storm and two 4 year old twins proved highly entertaining to the whole family, as well as all of our camping neighbors.


And the waterfalls the next day were quite impressive. But you'll have to wait another day to hear about them...