[2016-upper-mi-and-black-hills-sd]
Scott went for a mountain bike ride while we got in some extra snuggle and glow stick dance party time. After a breakfast of pancakes we headed back to the beach.
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[2016-upper-mi-and-black-hills-sd]
The forecast had promised sunny, humid, and eighties. When the rain started coming down hard at 3am and didn’t stop, I knew our plans to whitewater raft on the Wolf were going to have to be delayed. We woke to mid-sixties and fog. Between the wind blowing the rain off the leaves and a few sprinkles we decided a quick breakfast of cereal would be beneficial. Scott and I went for a quick brainstorming walk while the kids played on their tablets in the car.
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[2016-upper-mi-and-black-hills-sd]
We officially left on our 2016 Summer Trip at 2:15. The trip starting mileage in our new-to-us van was 119,517 miles.
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[2016-upper-mi-and-black-hills-sd]
The kids have no idea who the Three Stooges are, but sleeping in between the two rollers and trying to dodge their random super swift limb extensions made me feel like I was reenacting the Three Stooges. Being wide awake turned out to be a blessing because the heat lightning started looking more like a fourth of July fireworks finale and the wind began to pick up. Then the wind sounded suspiciously like approaching rain. Cody karate kicked Scott and I took the opportunity to ask him if he heard the rain. No sooner had Scott sleepily finished saying it was just wind then drops began to fall into the tent. I have put the fly on in the dark quite a few times and Scott many more times than I, but it has been a while and we fumbled in our sleepy state trying to find the right direction. Last night I asked before I retreated from the mosquito swarm into the tent if we needed the fly. Scott said not worry as the forecast showed only a 5am sprinkle. The 5am sprinkle not only came early, but down poured into four and a half hours. The storm meant water was going to seep into the tent, but on the upside the sticky humidity was replaced with a cool cleansing summer storm. Listening to summer storms in the tent is one of my favorite parts about camping.
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[2013-western-us]
Scott patiently waited for us all to wake up, but announced at 8:30 that he couldn’t sit any longer. So we had a quick snuggling session and wrapped everything up for the last time on this trip.
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[2013-western-us]
A river run-eth through it! There was quite a storm last night from 2 to about 4. When we put up the tent it was quite windy, so the fly and the tarp under the tent weren’t quite where they needed to be when the deluge began. Brooke woke up with quite a puddle under her. The thunder jolted me awake and then I enjoyed the show. I drifted back to sleep sometime close to 4, but rain was sneaking in through the side of the tent where our heads were. Consequently I enjoyed a fresh drip – drip – dripping on my head for awhile. Apparently I was too tired to think of putting my feet in place of my head. The kids didn’t show any signs of losing sleep over the storm and were running through the puddles as soon as they confirmed we would let them. Scott did not get a good night’s sleep and he really needed one since he does most of the driving. Thankfully Scott suggested we bring our pack towls (yes it is supposed to be spelled without the e). I wasn’t able to dry the entire tent, but it helped soak up some of the mess. Thankfully this is the first time we have taken on a lot of water. In Alaska and Canada three years ago this was a regular occurrence without many sunny days to help dry things out.
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[2010 Alaska]
I woke up shortly before seven Central time to what I thought were a lot of planes flying over. After I thought about the multitude of planes in my semi-conscious state I realized that there must be something else making noise since towns in the middle of nowhere don’t usually have a plane rumbling through every minute or so.
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[2010 Alaska]
We stopped at The Great River Road Visitors & Learning Center at Freedom Park in Prescott, WI around 4:30 yesterday. It was raining so we were having trouble deciding how to go about dinner and setting up camp. I am so glad we stopped here. We met an amazing volunteer named Janet. She spent a lot of time helping us. There were a lot of hands-on exhibits. Cody was able to stand and crawl around and Brooke read her first word on her own. Brooke and I were on our way to the bathroom to get some paper towels to clean up some water she spilled. While in the bathroom she asked why a sign above the stairs said Exit. The sign actually said Not an Exit, but I was so excited that she read a word. It was completely random, and caught me by surprise. She “reads” me stories all the time, but I can’t wait until she can actually read to me.
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[2010 Alaska]
It is difficult to choose between my two favorite titles for today. “Are you kidding me?” or “Holy Tantrum Batman!” More to come later. Let’s just say we didn’t make too many friends at the campground and our first campground showers were interesting! :-) I hope you are having an “interesting” day too!
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[2010 Alaska]
The day began at six, which isn’t too bad, unless you consider the plethora of times Cody and I were up last night. It is good we were up because we had our first “Call Me Button” phone call from John around 6:15. Yes, the button worked. :-) I haven’t tried to call myself, but apparently you just click on the button on the right, put in your phone number, Google Voice calls you, and it calls us. Pretty neat!
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