Not that I’m a big partier, but waking up this morning was like waking up after a very late and very wild party.  We walked around looking at the damage and trying to assess the best method of recovery.  Someone up there must have a great sense of humor, because I thought the constant spitting rain was bad.  Apparently, I wasn’t thinking straight.  Things got a whole lot worse.

While the kids were playing in the van, Scott cleaned up our homemade pizza dinner, and I quickly tried to clear out everything in the tent. Why clean it up right before bed? Scott noticed that the rain was pooling and forming a river right under and through our tent site.  The heavens opened and the spitting rain became a deluge.  Our campsite became a new fishing spot (all the fish we catch are imaginary anyway).

The puddle next to the picnic table was where our tent was

I thought this picture was worth posting.  It illustrates how ridiculously large the rain drops were.

These are the “after” pictures.  The sun was greatly appreciated.  Almost everything dried.

Many moons ago, on my first vacation with the Bouchards, Scott and I stayed in a hotel room with a “gel tub”.  The Holiday Inn in Grand Cayman had suffered a massive hurricane the year before we stayed there and was doomed to be demolished not long after we stayed there.  Somehow water was under the tub and it was quite entertaining as long as you didn’t close your eyes while showering.

The sidetrack memory is what I was reminded of as I stepped into our “water bed-tent”. I walked ever so gently in an effort to keep the water from seeping into the tent.  After everything was out of the tent Scott and I moved the tent onto the playground ten feet away and set everything back up all over again.  He had questioned the site a few nights ago when we first rolled into town, but we couldn’t pass up the free Brooke playground entertainment right next to us.

Last night can go on record as one of the worst nights of sleep we have had.  Everyone except Cody that is.  Cody slept from 10 – 8:10.  Yippee!!!  Our lack of sleep had nothing to do with the lack of dry space.  A lovely gentleman pulled his motor home in last night and ran the generator all night.  It was worse than all the nights we have had next to freight trains.  The “freight train” never shut off.  To add to the fun Brooke’s eczema flared up. She would frequently fling both her legs and arms out of her sleeping bag jarring either Scott or I in an attempt to rip her skin off.  I put some lotion on her and it would help for a while, but she needed more steroid cream which was buried in the bowels of the van.  Note to self – unbury the steroid cream for tonight…  Her eczema had been doing so well…

The campground we were staying at is a public city campground.  We have stayed at city campgrounds before and they just break my heart.  There are people who live at city campgrounds until they close for the season, and then they are officially homeless again.  It is hard enough to watch adults who are thrown involuntarily into that position, but watching families with small kids… There were kids with no shoes on and not enough clothing to keep them warm.  It was hard to tell where the dirt ended and the kids began.  It is important to note that while I am feeling sorry for these folks Scott wants me to remember that maybe they want to be in the position they are in.

Thus this brings me to the moment last night when I was not so kindly explaining to Scott that sleeping in a very wet (inside and out) tent was not a responsible decision with children and that we should be sleeping in a hotel at least for one night.  Scott said, “It has been forty-eight days and I’m not about to pay for a hotel now.”

Grr…

I’m over it now and had I the ability to step away from the madness of the seeping in water and the over-tired children last night I would have remembered that I only have to deal with the discomfort briefly compared to our fellow campers who have become residents of the city campgrounds nation-wide.  Thankfully the sun was shining this morning and both the kids are napping in the van.

We are driving down the Turnagin Arm on the Kenai Peninsula toward Homer.  The views are amazing.  This drive was highly recommended by many we have come in contact with.

After we stopped to make lunch Scott and Brooke went and chatted with some “real” fishermen to get some tips on how to catch some “real” fish (Scott’s words :-)

We are so thankful Brooke recovered after her “melt down” today.  We made Mac and Cheese for lunch.  I like to add peas and canned chicken to make it a little more well rounded and to fill our tummies.  We saved some plain Mac and Cheese for Brooke, but then she wanted more.  I gave her some more and explained that it wasn’t plain.  We were eating in the van because it was windy and cold out.  She took one spoonful, decided she didn’t want it, and chucked it at Scott.  Bad move… After our not-so “Love and Logic” moment she stormed away screaming.  She spent about fifteen minutes laying on the concrete screaming and running away and then running back.  Not that I enjoy temper tantrums anywhere, but it is nice when they are a little more private and a little more sheltered as to avoid the strange looks from poor witnesses and to avoid angered Brooke from running into the wilderness filled with hungry animals.

Pictures Brooke took this afternoon:

Scott was giving her pointers.  She’s getting better. :-)