Memorial Day Storms (and a little camping)

The weather for Memorial Day Weekend was supposed to be beautiful.  Highs in the 90s, no rain, perfect for camping and swimming all weekend.  I was SO looking forward to spending the whole weekend outside.  We were going to camp three nights with friends planning to camp with us two of the nights.  Ah, it was going to be so great.  BUT, at the last minute, major storms blew in and it rained and rained and rained and flooded.  We are lucky to have Mom and Dad's house as backup, but it was disappointing to have to change our plans.  We started out "camping" by all sleeping together in the office at Mom and Dad's house and letting the kids play with their new flashlights.

Here is Owen helping Cora put her shoe on.  He can be so sweet and attentive with her.

We went out during a break in the rain to try putting up our tent.  We've slept in the tent in the rain plenty of times over Memorial Day Weekend in the past, but this year the rain didn't stop for long enough for us to get the tent up until Sunday.  And really, it's a good thing we didn't push it.  It rained and rained and rained.  Here are Tom and Owen on one of our outings to check out how wet things were.  Owen watered the grass for us.

On Saturday night, Meredith and I slept on the sleeping porch and listened to the storms.  Sleeping outside in a storm is really great when you're warm and dry and you don't have to worry about trees falling on your head!  It was a really nice compromise.

On Sunday, we finally got to set up camp!  We had our usual cousin and friend potluck gathering Sunday evening and were grateful for the company of loved ones.  We didn't get many pictures, unfortunately.  Owen, Blake, and Lily spent a long time catching bugs, though I only got a picture of Cora wanting to join in the fun.

On Monday, the river was too full to swim so the kids had to settle for the baby pool, which they were totally fine with.  It wasn't super hot and the water in the pool was VERY cold so Tom enjoyed turning up the sprinkler without warning to give the kids a little shock.

We got to celebrate Nana's birthday with yummy cake and presents!

Do you think Cora liked the cake?  Memorial Day, we'll see you next year!