Camp. (Devil's Lake. Badger Trail something or other.... Scouts EVERYWHERE!)

It started out optimistic. "All the rain is going south of that area," Bampa said. "You'll be dry, nothing's coming for the rest of the weekend," he said. We were all smiles and party songs as we left HC. That lasted about 30 minutes. Then the roads were closed, the rains rolled in, and we just kept singing as we tried to find our way onto the freeway just to get out of town.

The rain did not stop for THREE WHOLE DAYS. But we didn't let that slow us down on our way to adventure. The kids singing at the top of their lungs to every song that came on the radio, sharing stories with each other and enjoying the scenery along the way made me smile to myself as we drove into the sunset.

Three girls, a boy and a mom arrived at the campsites at 9:30 on Friday night. We were the first there, the rain was coming down hard as we sat in the van peering into the night thinking about what to do next. The Boy Scouts were an hour behind us and we decided to get started on our own. We picked our spot, dragged the tarp and tent out, and got to work. E was in charge of lighting the site while the ladies sorted out all the tent pieces. And tried not to get covered in mud. Amberlyn and Annika had never camped before, never set up a tent before, and both were wearing their good school shoes. We slogged along.

By the time the Boys showed up we were just about done with setup, and when they came along to ask if we wanted help, we shooed them away with cries of "Girl Power!" We ended up needing a little help with getting everything secured before we loaded all our gear into it, but we were pretty proud of our accomplishment for the night. We all finally crawled into our sleeping bags sometime well after midnight, everyone in good spirits despite the rain and mud.

Next Day - The Hike

It was drizzling a little but not too cold. Scouts, parents, cousins, siblings, all lead by the fearless Senior Patrol Leader headed out into the woods. This is where the rain was a blessing. There were almost no mosquitoes. Oh, but the mud. The Mud.

Archer and I waited until 3/4 of our way into the hike before the mud fight broke out between us. I can't remember now if it was before or after I fell down and was covered up to my knees with it, but it was pretty much inevitable. And it was ok - fun even. I'm not afraid of a little (or a lot) of mud, it was all good CLEAN fun!

Later, The Dance. Where I proceeded to probably severely embarrass the children and we all had a seriously fantastic evening. We were about five songs in before Archer actually started dancing, but the Cousins, Sister and E didn't waste any time.

Speed round to finish this waaaayyy too long recap -

The food was great all weekend long (thanks Boy Scouts!)
There were NO injuries!!!
One scout shared his conquests from the dance when we all came back to the fire that night (there was KISSING!)
We bailed early Sunday morning to make it home in time for ballet and we have been trying to catch up on laundry ever since

Maybe we'll get to have a repeat performance again next year, maybe it'll be a little drier???