The rain wins AGAIN

     Anybody who reads my posts on Facebook knows how much I have hated the rain this summer. This is the longest summer vacation that I can remember my children ever having . The beach was just not meant to be so my plan was to fit in as much pool time as I possibly could . I can count on ONE hand the number of times we actually got to stay at the pool as long as we wanted. The days it wasn't raining and the pool was open it was a matter of about an hour before a storm would pop up and we would be kicked out . The rain wins.
     Eric worked hours and spent quite a bit of $ planting a garden. I tried, I really did try to keep the garden weeded.We just couldn't stay ahead of the rain. I managed to pull enough tomatoes out to make 4 pints of salsa. There are 30 short ears of corn in the freezer and we had 2 squash that survived. No beans, no watermelon, no cantaloupe and the potatoes are more than likely rotted in the ground. The rain wins.
     Well over a month ago I made reservations to go camping this past weekend. Camping is not my favorite thing in the world but the rest of my crew does does so I suck it up and make the best of it. We do NOT tent camp. Very early in our marriage Eric and I paid $600 for a pop up camper that has been well worth the money we paid for it. It's not huge by any imagination. It sleeps 4 of us comfortably, has a small stovetop, tiny refrigerator, and a some storage compartments. That's it. No bathroom or running water. We loaded up Friday afternoon and headed to Fancy Gap KOA for the weekend.
     By the time the camper was set up , the sky was cloudy. It was cool and I couldn't help thinking how nice it would be if it would just stay that way and not rain how wonderful the weekend would be. Eric and Ben fished while Cara and I headed to the pool. The water was like ice so I was just fine to sit and watch her splash around . After the evening meal, Ben and Eric played some music in the clubhouse with some friends that came up to jam. Cara and I drove back down the mountain to take the dogs out and grab some stuff that we had forgotten.Saturday morning Eric drove home to get the dogs so they could experience camping too. By the time we had them settled in it was raining, not hard at first , just sprinkling. For several hours Eric and the kids fished in the rain while me and dogs watched . Around lunch time the real rain moved in , pouring , soaking everything, forcing the four of us and 2 dogs into the small camper . No fishing, no swimming, no walking around, no campfire, just sitting around in the camper. That makes for good quality family time for sure but none of the fun stuff that camping is supposed to be.
      That batch of rain lasted until after lunch on Sunday. The sky was still clouded and the sun only peeked through a handful of times but there wasn't drops of water actively falling from the sky for about 7 hours. We actually got to eat our hot dogs and hamburgers outside around the picnic table. Smores were made for the first time since we had been there and I was allowed to sit around a roaring campfire for about 45 minutes. The roaring campfire and smores are my favorite part of camping. I had 45 minutes and then the sky opened up again and dropped heavy soaking rain for the rest of the night and was still pouring when we awoke this morning.
     There is nothing fun about waking up at 1 am and having to trudge through puddles that you can't even see in the dark, with an umbrella, to walk to the bathroom because you have to pee. There is nothing fun about not having a totally dry spot to sit. There is nothing fun about being wet for the better part of 2 days. The rain wins ...AGAIN.
     There were moments that warmed my heart despite all the rain. Ben learned how to take his fish off the hook this year. Cara actually enjoyed fishing this time. Even if it was brief, I did get my roaring campfire and smores.