Camping Catastrophe

Julius was only 5 months old.  We packed the car and the truck preparing for our first camping experience in a tent.  Aurora was so excited that as she jumped up and down her curls bounced right along with her.  That contagious smile of hers was just what we needed as the last of the items were loaded.

The 45 minute drive went quickly and before we knew it, we were there.  Mark and I had the tent up in no time.  Then came the air mattresses, the play pen, and all the sheets for us to tuck into later.

We were all ready for fun and fun we had.  Of course in between changing diapers, feeding, and getting our fussy son to nap we enjoyed a campfire, roasting marshmallows for s’mores, and telling stories.

When it was time for bed we were all exhausted from our day and fell fast asleep.

It was then that the catastrophe came.  When the clock struck midnight (ok, probably not literally…but you get the point.) the rain came.  Then the thunder and lightening.  I’m not talking about your distant thunderstorm.  It was right over the campground.  Right over our tent.  We were all immediately awakened. Julius was so scared he just screamed.  He screamed wanting to make sure that we heard him. Aurora was a little more brave, being almost four years old.  She didn’t scream, but she looked terrified and she cried.  Mark yelled too me, only so I could hear what to do because the rain was pouring into our tent like a waterfall. We were all getting wet and that just made it worse.

Not knowing how long the storm would last Mark and I just started grabbing everything and packing it.  We took the children and put them in the car out of the rain.  It was minutes and we had everything else put into a vehicle.  That tent didn’t get folded, it got grabbed and thrown in the bed of the truck.  The rain continued in torrents the whole way home and the lightning lit up the road that I almost didn’t need headlights on.

I was never more glad to get our family home safely and into dry clothes.

On that night over 10 years ago we had decided we weren’t going to tent camp ever again,  until now.  I’ll let you know how it goes…

In the mean time, do you have any catastrophic camping memories? Do tell…..