ShawWright, as if ...

Hooray for camping! We (the Shaws and Wrights) took our 7 children (all under 7 years old) and had a grand time of it ... until it rained. As a general rule, Seattleite Washingtonians do just about everything in the rain -- if we don't do it in the rain ... we just don't do it! But we were no match for the mud. It was too enticing and we didn't bring enough changes of clothes to keep the mud out of our tents, short of stripping them down and locking them inside!
Friday for the Shaws began with a field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo - with Elyssa's Preschool class. I forgot to bring my camera along - big bummer! It was a good time had by all and when we got home it was quiet time/naps for the kids and scramble to pack for mom! I managed to get everything ready to be loaded into the trailer before Andy came home from work. While he packed I made a last minute run to the grocery store and Costco. The original plan was to meet up with the Wrights in Lake Stevens, have Alfy's pizza and then caravan to our campsite. True to form, we were behind schedule and decided to grab food on the way and make our own way to Cascade Park (the LDS Church property). We arrived about an hour behind the Wrights and just before sundown. We had just enough time to set up camp before it got too dark. We celebrated our arrival and anticipated fabulous weekend with S'mores! We all slept well and woke up with the sun.
Saturday was filled with sand, swings, buried 'treasure' (in the form of Bandit Abi's dog), throwing rocks in the river, taking a ride on the 'mule', Granite Falls, reading, relaxing, and fun! We celebrated a sucessful day with s'more S'mores and early bed for all sleepy kids. The grown ups didn't last too much longer than the kids and we were all in our bags by about 11:00.
We were awaked Sunday morning with the pitter patter sound of rain on the tent. We scrambled to get the things that needed protection from the rain covered and climbed back in the tent to catch a few more winks. Everybody was awake by about 8:00 and it was time to make the decision to stick it out or pack it in ...
We said, 'Let's stick it out!' We rigged up a makeshift shelter and made breakfast amidst the drizzle. French toast and bacon, yum! The rain picked up and backed off several times and the kids played in the mud ... There was no hiding from it. Trav made the comment that 'if we stick it out we will grow closer as family and friends because we will have gone through adversity together' ... hee hee.
It wasn't meant to be, we were ill-equipped and not up to the challenge. We packed it in and stripped our children and headed back to shelter, showers and civilization. Since we had all the makings of Sunday dinner we gathered at the Wrights after hosing ourselves off and having a bit of a nap and ate yummy chicken and BBQ corn on the cob with strawberry shortcake dessert! The kids were occupied with "The Wild" and we played Spades.
All in all it was a GREAT time had by all and we decided that 1) this will be tradition - ShawWright Memorial Day Weekend Campout, 2) we will head east of the mountains next year(!) and 3) we will be camping it up quite a bit this summer!

PS. Monday turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day and we wished we had been better prepared for the weather! Oh well ... there's always next time.