It was a Flood of LOVE!

I decided to take Aaron camping for Father's Day... and he was a real champ about it,

because "car camping" is not really his thing.

Which I can appreciate,

but I am not really able to do anything else at this point in life/pregnancy.

And I knew that David was not up for hiking in any distances:

Case in point. We went for a few short walks in the woods...

but he always ended up getting carried by someone!

We all had a GREAT time though, and Aaron did come around and really enjoy the spread.

"It's nice to be able to have the stove and my mandolin"... he said.

David loved getting everything ready; looking for wood and helping get it out, getting the water, setting up the tent, playing in the tent after it was set up... he loved it all!

We have a few great county parks in our area and this one was GREAT!

It's only 20 minutes from our house and a really quick drive into Viroqua once you are there and realize you need more beer. We stayed at the ridgetop campsite because the lower two were all booked for a wedding this weekend, and I knew Aaron would want to be in the woods.

We just had a really good time walking around and pretty much doing nothing but being together. It was pretty sweet. We had a great dinner and played some ball...

And then it was time for David to go to sleep and Papa to go fishing... and that's what happened.

And there I was quietly reading some enlightening poetry by my man Hafiz,

and it started to lightly rain...

And I thought for sure it would pass...

and then Aaron came back from fishing... and more time passed and the rain grew steadier and the clouds grew darker...

Some fireworks went off at the wedding and we held hands and said a prayer for the couple... and we prayed that they would be as lucky as we were on our wedding day when the rains came and went... And then by 10:30 the rain really started to come.

I was excited! I love being in a rainy tent... as long as the rain stays OUT OF THE TENT.

And friends I have to tell you... the rain did NOT stay out of the tent.

It rained HARD for hours... and the thunder and lightening was amazing, really cool...

And then David was awake and screaming, and I was DRENCHED...

and then the rain let up a little bit, and we

FLED THE SCENE.

it was 3:30am.

We drove into Viroqua, had to be turned around and sent around by some police, and then had to dodge and miss many signs of flash flooding on Rte 14, as well as what I now know was a downed power line and the sight of Reed's creek WAY UP...

we finally made it home and to bed by 4:30 am.

Happily we slept until 8:30am - still shocked - and we went back to get our things...

because the rain had finally stopped. On our way we heard that the area had seen 2-5 inches of rain! CRAZY!!!

David had a lot of fun helping clean out the tent...

We still made breakfast at the site which was really nice, and then went down to the main campground to toss our trash and see what had happened.

And man oh man... it was crazy, and I know the campground was packed and I am sure the wedding was REALLY FUN until the stream beside the campground rose and tents were swept away and picnic tables and bridges and trees and all sorts of things were sent flying down stream! We only saw the aftermath but my heart goes out to everyone there and hopes that there were no major losses and everything was ok. I heard that the rescue teams had to be called in and people needed a lot of help to get out!

I hope the couple can think of it as a flood of love for them...

On oour way home this is one of the things we saw... I WAS taking pictures of these peoples Hops growing setup, but their road was out too...

I tried to fix this picture and it didn't work out, but just look at what a good time we had.

You can just TELL!!!

The best part is that we were happy the whole crazy time AND Aaron says we need to do it AGAIN!!! AND get a new and bigger tent! WOO HOOO!!!!!

(I knew he'd come around!)