Camping Day 4

Day Four Wednesday

This was the day I just couldn't handle anymore camping..

DH and I had went to bed about 12:30am, Since it was such a nice day tuesday we had taken the blue rain tarp off of the tent and had put it away. MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At 4am it started to rain. DH and I went outside in the rain and got the tarp back on the tent got it all tied down and went back to bed.. at 9am i woke up it was still raining nice an heavy just like it was at 4am Everyone was still sleeping so i just went back to bed the kids woke up at 10am and So we all got up. IT WAS STILL RAINING. we got up brushed our teeth changed our cloths and was just waiting in the tent for the Rain to let up but it never did.. by 10:30am DH had had enough rain and said We are going home till the rain stops..
I agreed there wasn't anything we could do in the rain with the baby anyways.. if it was just the older ones a day in the tent might have been trying but still might have been do able but not with an active 13 month old who is walking and would hate to be in the tent all day long. So i packed up dirty cloths and stuff i wasn't using anymore and we climbed into the van and drove home.

Once at home it just kept raining and raining and raining.. around 4pm the sun was out and all looked well so we went back to camp.. we got there and there was a big mud/water puddle right in the middle of our campsite but the tent was dry and the fire ring was dry so DH made a fire while I put Little Man down for a nap. We cooked steaks over the fire, OH THEY WERE GOOD..
Problem was right as we were finishing up eating about 6:30 or 7pm we saw the wind pick up and big big big black clouds rolling in, i mean the likes of which i have never seen before.
My Princess who is deadly afraid of storms(like my friend Ami is) grabbed Sweet Pan and Mr Man and had them run into the laundry room with her.. Little Man was awake at this point eating his dinner so i left him finish eating while DH and I tied everything down and got everything put into the screen tent, main tent and van.

Next thing you know the Ranger is driving up and down the campground telling everyone to tie there stuff down and take shelter because sever storms are going to hit any min with hail, and winds up to 60 miles per hour and that we were also under a tornado warening. At this point I took the camping chairs and Little Man(who was in the stroller) over to the bathroom/laundry room(cement brick building) and was joined there by a ton of other ladies(mostly older 60' and 70' year olds ladies) A few of the kids Princess and Mr Man had met was in there with us but there parents came and told them they were leaving and heading for shelter at the super Wal-Mart 5 minunts from the camp grounds

After getting the kids settled I stepped outside to watch the storm blow in, OH MY GOODNESS it was so cool and scary.. i really really did think a tornado was going to drop right out of sky at any min, which freaked me out but in more of a rush sort of way not a panic way.. and i can hear my friend Ami now telling me i must be out of my mind LOL. I stood outside watching the lightning and the clouds, and the wind that was just blowing everything everywhere.. the kids were right inside the door, Princess was reading them books trying to keep herself from flipping out.. That was until a big crash of thunder and all the power in the campground went out.. at that point i went in with the kids and turned on the flashlights and the lantern, but with in 15 min the power was back on but the big part of the storm was there we all stayed in. The rain was coming so fast you just couldn't see anything though it and it was blowing sideways..
Around 9pm the storm had past and it was just raining heavily.. but DH who had been back at our campsite holding down the fort(crazy man only took shelter in the van because he wanted to be there if anything started to blow away) came over and told us he thought it was safe for us to come back, so we rushed it all back to the tent, i got the kids ready for bed, put in a movie into the portable dvd player for the 3 older ones to watch and I nursed Little Man to sleep..
DH was still outside and in the van watching stuff since it was still raining and raining and raining.. and another storm had blown in this flippingorm #5 for the day, it wasn't nearly as bad as the 1st one.. but by 11pm DH was in the tent telling me to pack what we needed we were leaving and sleeping at home.. the water in our campsite was knee deep in spots and was getting really close to the tent and there was no signs of the rain letting up anytime soon.. and besides that we were still under a tornado warening until 12:30am.

I grabbed pillows and blankets, bathroom stuff and the kids and we drove home though another flippen e storm.. Got everyone into our house in the pouring rain.. just got in the door, when the tornado sirens started to go off here in our town...

I just couldn't win. I took all the kids down the basement stayed down there for 30 minuts came back up was getting the kids to sleep, when they went off again and the cable was interrupted by the police saying there were two sighting of two different funnel clouds headed our way. Little Man was asleep in my arms so I had DH reach into the closet and get me his infant car seat and i placed him in it(this way i could move him and he would stay asleep) and the kids and I went back down the basement for another 30 min. Thankfully there were no touch downs..
and we all were able to sleep well even if we didn't get to bed until 3am.