The Stuff Tales Are Made Of...

I asked Jeremy to take the three older girls camping Labor Day Weekend.  I figured it would be a good opportunity for him to bond with his girls and for me to get some deep cleaning done around the house without having to worry about what mess Emmy is making in the other room.  They left at about 2pm on Friday and I spent the rest of the day scrubbing, wiping, organizing, and dusting.  It felt so good to be productive again after two months of caring for a newborn.  Kassi was excellent.  She spent some time in the bouncer next to me, cooing and keeping me company.  And she spent time sleeping.  I did put her in the Bjorn for a little while and was still able to accomplish a lot.  When she wanted to eat, I took a break and ate something myself or read.  I didn't have to make dinner.  I didn't have to put kids to bed.  I didn't have messes being made faster than I could clean them.  It was wonderful!  I have to admit, I missed them all when my bedtime came and I hadn't said goodnight to anyone (no cell coverage where they went) or had my four goodnight kisses yet, but I am glad I got the time.  I made plans for more cleaning and errands on Saturday in hopes that they wouldn't be home until early afternoon (I had told them to take their time breaking camp...) and once my parents were safely here for their weekend visit for Kassi's blessing, I went to bed.  Well, at some point in the middle of the night, I was awaken not by a hungry Kassi but by lighting and a downpour outside my window... I hoped the campers weren't getting any of it.

Saturday morning, I slept in a little.  No kids on my arms or yelling at me to get up and Kassi being more than cooperative.  I got up, made only myself breakfast (Mom and Dad were still sleeping), and mentally prepared for some more cleaning and trip to the store.  HOWEVER, at 9:30am, four tired, smelly, ruffled campers came trudging in through the garage door and this was their story:

They had all gone to the store to grab a few more necessities before heading up into the mountains.  They all decided that bacon and orange juice would be perfect with their pancakes in the morning.  They filled the car with their goodies and gas and they were off!  They got to camp, set up, took a little nature walk, and had their dinner and s'mores all as planned.  Then they all climbed into the tent for bed at 8pm (the girls weren't sleeping very well last week and were exhausted).  Then some rain came.  They were all comfortable in their tent, though, and so it rained and they slept.  UNTIL Jeremy woke at 2am to the sound of crashing and rummaging outside.  He wasn't absolutely sure what it was but it sounded like something had knocked over the cooler.  And he didn't get up to look right away because he didn't want to wake the girls and.... it sounded like a bear!!  He finally got up and started to slowly unzip but the animal decided to move on at that time and all Jeremy could see in the dark was rain.  At around 3:30 or 4:00am, the light rain turned into a downpour and the lightning started striking.  Jeremy said the bolts were close enough that he could vividly make them out through the top of the tent.  There were at least 30 bolts in the first hour.  Then a big one hit super close and the girls all woke up screaming from the bright light and extremely loud thunder.  They all frantically clambered into Jeremy's sleeping bag with him.  Finally, at 5:30am, the tent started leaking and it became obvious that the girls had no intention of going back to sleep.  Jeremy told all the girls to make a run for the car and picked up what he could of the camp before getting drenched--including what remained of a bear-attacked cooler that was missing a lot of bacon, hot dogs, chocolate bars and potato salad.  Once safe in the car, they all drove down the canyon and found a Denny's for breakfast.  After breakfast (and when the rain had stopped), they went back to the campsite and finished breaking camp, taking down the soaked tent.  They were home and bathed by 10am and Jeremy was shaking his head at me and the thought of any more camping trips in the future.  (So far this year we have picked one of the coldest nights in May and the wettest night in August for our camping adventures...)  The cooler had in fact been harassed by a BEAR.  It was confirmed when we got a good look at the broken lid of our cooler and the toothmarks on some of the hot dogs.  Jeremy was still morning the loss of his bacon the next day.  ;)  I don't think he or the girls will be forgetting this camping trip for some time!