Well, we tried going camping again this past 4th of July. We enjoyed it last year and it seemed like a great idea. We definitely made some memories–of being rained out and wet. {smile} The Cowboy didn’t even have to fall in the creek this time to end up soaking wet.

We got there about 9:30 am and Mr. Fix-It set us up with a “kitchen” this time. Car camping is so much easier than backpacking! You can bring all the little conveniences with you because you don’t have to carry them. And thank goodness for that tarp kitchen, otherwise we would have given up even sooner!

Then the kiddos and the dogs played in the little creek for a couple hours.

Mr. Fix-It called a cousin to help him get the tractor unstuck (since my rescue mission earlier in the week had been absolutely no help at all!). Things went much more smoothly this time (you can see the videos on FB–sorry they’re so dark!) and then the kiddos also got to play in the mud holes that were left.

About 2 pm it started raining. And pretty much just didn’t stop. We still cooked hot dogs and baked beans over the fire for dinner and s’mores for dessert. We just stayed all huddle up in our little tarp kitchen the rest of the time. It didn’t start POURING until after dark. Thunder and lightening and the whole nine yards.

The dogs were particularly unhappy. The whole afternoon they galloped around with the crew or walked with me picking wild raspberries, nary a leash in sight. But when the rain started in earnest they got tied up to the truck so they wouldn’t be making a mess trying to get in the tents or soaking everyone in our little tarp sanctuary. Coal was reasonable, and went quietly under the truck to lay down and stay dry. Penny was not so easily convinced and sat square in the downpour, staring at us with a mix of resentment and pitiful longing.

We still managed to have breakfast over the campfire as well. Having to hunt dry wood in the soaking wet grass was a good lesson for the kiddos in outdoor hardship.

The crew cooked “cowhorn” biscuits (which didn’t turn out like cow horns at all, as they told me repeatedly) by wrapping two refrigerator biscuits around a stick and roasting it until cooked through. Mr. Fix-It cooked a campfire hash. We started with chopped bacon and some chopped leftover chicken sausage, then added hash brown potatoes and onions, then a scrambled egg mixture, and finally topped with cheese.

At least the tents stayed dry. We got the sleeping bags and packs in them early, and closed up our little kitchen box with a poncho thrown over it. We have an awesome cooler (this one, but with a split lid) that we invested in for transporting meat back and forth from the processor, so everything stayed cold and dry inside.

Honestly, everything seemed to survive just find, except for our socks and our attitudes. (I admit, I find it very hard to be either relaxed or chipper when my clothes are wet and everything smells like mud and wet dog.)

Then we went home and spend the rest of the weekend doing some much needed farm maintenance. It rained every. single. day. of the holiday weekend. Every evening. Big rain, with wind blowing, thunder booming…We managed to fit a lot of work in, but most of it was with soggy socks.

How did your holiday weekend go? By the way, I found this old 4th of July post from 2010–look how adorable and little my boys were!!