Father's Day Weekend

I went out to Moss Park the Monday before to reserve a campsite.  We decided on site 2.  It is a family site which allows up to 18 people for the cost of $54 per night.  Being Stephen and Michael are no longer Orange County residents it was cheaper for them to share this cost then pay for their own sites.  Not only that, Michael had a good point in that if we were playing games at one campsite, he nor Stephen would be able to see their tents if their kids were sleeping.  Good point.  The grassy area up front is where we played Corn Hole.  The grassy area off in the distance is where we set up out tents and dining area.  Nice and shady for the hot weather forecast for the weekend. If the forecast rain comes, it will be a different story.



Stephen and Amber bought a new tent that had plenty of room, but Stephen being my sentimental one still wanted Levi's first camp out experience to be in the Canvas tent. I highly suggested putting the rain fly on it because light rain was forecast Friday night, and a bad thunderstorm bringing in a front for Saturday.



Valerie had brought Chloe in on Thursday because Michael had to work and would be arriving late Friday night.  It is a good thing she did so, because Chloe was fast asleep in Amber's tent by the time Michael arrived at 10:15.

At dusk, a family of deer were across the field.  How fitting that we saw the entire family, buck, doe, and 3 fawns!



Levi is sound asleep.  He slept through the entire first night!  He must have been tired because not even the bright morning sun woke him up!



Saturday was a beautiful sunny morning.  I was greeted with the question, "so where's the rain Mom?"  I let them know when I got up at 2 to go to the bathroom, it was misting outside.  I had no clue what time the front was due to arrive.

In any event, the park was having a "revised" triathlon.  Being the lake was closed due to high bacteria count, they couldn't swim...only run and ride bikes.  While we ate breakfast, streams of runners trotted by.  Many commented they would love to come back and eat because it smelled so good.  Even the sandhill cranes tried to loiter for something.  It didn't work.

 

One even came right into our cooking area.  Sorry, kitchen closed.

                                 

Clif and the boys decided to go to the front of the park to check it out, while Amber and I stayed at camp with the kids.  It was already HOT by 9:30.  We filled the pool and the kids played in it for 2 and a 1/2 hours!!! Amber and I sat in the chair each having a fan blowing on us.



After lunch they both napped while we played Corn Hole.  We had a lot of fun.  Stephen and I made a really good team.  We beat Michael and Amber 2 games to 0.

                             

                            

                             

                             

                             

Clif then joined Michael.  They gave us such a run for our money.  They won 3-1, but boy was it close!

       

                                           

                                           

It was good that the game finished in a timely fashion because as soon as we were done, we could see purple off in the distance.  Those who live in Florida knows it means a wicked thunderstorm is on its way.  We hurried off to secure camp before the torrential rains fell, then into the cars we went.  I was glad Amber had thought to bring DVDs.  That amused Levi and Chloe.  After an hour and a half this is what Clif and my tent looked like.





The canvas tent collapsed as well as the dining fly.  After 2 hours, the lightning finally subsided to where the guys could go out and raise the dining fly and tent back up.  But there was so much water everywhere, it wasn't safe to stay there with the little ones.  We decided to get a few last pictures before breaking camp and heading home.

Stephen really had wanted a picture of Levi standing in front of the tent holding the pole, but not realizing how bad the rain was going to be, that picture didn't happen, so he did the next best thing.  Amber brought Levi to him so they could pose together in a wet tent.







The only tent that was on high enough ground was the other tent Stephen and Amber brought.  Everyone else was in a pond.  The good news though is that the inside of the tents were dry, so they didn't have to pack rain soaked bedding into the vehicles.  The cabin tent was laid to rest in the dumpster at the park.  The wind gusts were just too much for the old fabric, and tore the floor from the side walls at each stake seam. :(

Now, here's the irony in this.  Our very first camping trip back in 1995 was quite soggy due to rain.  It didn't storm like this year, but it was VERY wet nonetheless.  Notice the boys are wearing their rubber boots as to not ruin their shoes!  When I brought this to Clif's attention he says, "come to think if it, we have had numerous wet camping trips at Moss Park."  Boy was he right, the memories came flooding back, no pun intended. :)




We did resume our Father's Day celebration though at the house on Sunday.  Stephen and Amber came back over for our "Saturday night dinner".  It was then I was able to get some other nice shots.
Three generations of Rando... Clif, Stephen, and Levi.



And lastly, the Rando boys.  Stephen, Clif, and Michael.



Happy Father's Day!