When It Rains, It Pours...

We did the Florida homeschool conference this weekend. It was a BIG adventure! The boys were with Grandma and Grandpa and we took Miss Priss with us - camping. We found this great little city park in Orlando and got a RV camp site for $15. Sure beats Mickey Mouse prices! The park seemed absolutely beautiful: on a lake, well-shaded, pool, fishing, children's farm. It was really incredible. It seemed like our weekend was going to be a breeze - that is, until we read the weather report the day we headed up: storms - lots of them, all the time. Our best bet 80% chance of rain - and as we were on the highway heading up the iPhone was saying 100%! Yikes.

Our friends who were camping with us abandoned us. They called us on our cell. Wimps! We weren't backing down. We told them this even after passing through a really horrible patch of the storm that wanted to pick the truck up and toss it. The noise of the rain on the windows was deafening. "No thanks. We'll be fine. No, don't try to find us a room, too."

We set up camp Thursday night and actually did not have to deal with rain at all that night. The park was everything we had been hoping it would be and the staff was friendly - bonus! The facilities were OK (Our state parks sort of spoil us: they are very clean and most of them have relatively new facilities. These had been well-used, but they were clean.) Katey acted as the friendly neighborhood alarm clock at about 6:30 - chatting away with the dawn.

We made it through our sessions Friday, went to dinner and got back to camp minutes before the light shower started. I had to use the bathroom, but I just said I'd wait for it to blow over. It didn't. It POURED!! It poured and poured and poured. Jim was so great. He carefully watched the tent and monitored any possible leaks. We had one, but we couldn't quite figure out if it was coming up from below or if it was being blown in sideways under the rain fly. After about 15 minutes of rain, I was fast asleep. I just love the sound of a good rain and it put me right out. Katey, too. Jim didn't sleep so well, but I woke up well-rested. I think that's the first time in our history that I was able to sleep better than him!! It had stopped raining by morning and I bumped into a few other homeschoolers in the bathroom. Some of them had already packed up to head out and home that night. We had paid for that night just so we could take our time breaking camp. We would come back that evening and pack up to go home.

It poured while we were at the conference - just thundered away! By the time we were done, it had once again stopped. We went back to camp, threw our soaking wet tent in a big, black bag and took off toward home. We'd have to put it up to dry out at home.

All in all, we had the best possible scenario. We didn't have to set up or break down in the rain. WOO HOO!! We didn't have any leaks that soaked our stuff or caused damage. WOO HOO!! I got a great night's sleep. WOO HOO!! We saved at least $100. WOO HOO!! We found a great park that is a must-do-over for our whole family someday. WOO HOO!! Jim feels tough and I feel outdoor mom-ish. WOO HOO!!

Here's a link to information on the park:
http://www.theotherorlando.com/contents/chapters/16/turkey.html