Homemaker Chronicles

That’s an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one!   Although, that’s exactly what we did this weekend.  Let me back up and tell you the whole story.

We were invited to a family campout to be held last Friday night.  It was going to be in the front yard of a family who has over 32 acres, and this family assured me that they have never canceled due to weather…  “Never in all the years we’ve been doing this”.

Guess what.

This year was the first.

Unbeknownst to us, the family campout had been canceled due to torrential down-pouring and slight flooding in the front yard of this generous family.  Being the die-hard campers we are, we packed up all our gear and drove on out to the campout without a doubt in our minds that we’d be camping in the rain and 45 degree air along with all the other family campers.

Woo-hoo!!

Yeah, not so much.

We had never been to this house so we did not know what to expect.  A little side note:  we also did not know anyone that was going to be there…not even the people that invited us.  Weird, I know.  Just take my word for it.  It was awkward!   Anyway, we pulled up in the driveway, which is actually a road, and as we were driving in and checking out the acreage we noticed that there were no other cars…anywhere.

Not a single car.

Awkward!

I got out of our car, in the drizzling rain, and knocked on the door.  It looked like the campout hosts had packed up and left for the month.  I started looking around for hidden cameras, but it wasn’t until we began driving back down the driveway/road I realized that we had not been duped by candid camera.

We were stood up.

As we drove away, Regan cried and the boys just sat in shocked silence.  Then Todd whispered to me, “Isn’t there anyone you can call?”.  I’m pretty sure that he was overjoyed on the inside for not having to set up a tent in the oh-so-cold rain, in the middle of someone’s front yard (of whom we do not know from Adam) which happened to be under about six inches of water, with lots of people that would probably think we made a wrong turn while on our way to Wooly Hollow State Park, but his voice sounded truly concerned.  My mind was racing back through the two minute conversation I’d had with the hosts, trying to remember all the details, but none of them gave me any answers;  I tried to think of someone I could call, but I truly only knew one person that may or may not have even been there.

Who was that one person you ask?  I’m glad you did because I’m happy to tell you…it was Gilbert Baker.  Might have heard that name?  That’s right, because he’s our State Senator.

Alright, so I knew one stinkin’ person that might be there, but what are the chances of me having the Senator’s phone number?  Well, I’ll have you know, those chances were 100%.  (Yet another long story of how and why I would have Gilbert Baker’s phone number in my contacts…I’ll tell ya some other time though)  Without hesitation, I flipped open my phone and clicked down to Mr. Baker’s number, pushed “send”, and hoped to hear his cheerful voice on the other end.

Low and behold, he did not answer and I had to leave a message.  It went something like this, “Hi Mr. Baker, this is Angie…Surely you remember me.  I’m sitting at the campout, in the rain, and wondering where in the bleepity bleep everyone is!!”.

Just kidding!!

I left a very professional voicemail and he, very professionally, called me right back.  Mr. Baker explained that he was actually involved in the campout (he has 4 younger boys that were participating) but that they had canceled the camping portion of the campout and would continue with the festivities beginning at 9:00 am the next morning.  Of course he welcomed our presence for the pancake breakfast, turkey shoot, and hayride.**  He is such a nice guy! See him holding Salem…

**For more photos of our fun day go to yesterday’s post.

The kids were not really consoled by Senator Baker’s phone call so, being the spontaneous parents that we are, we planned a little surprise for when we got back home.  We sent the kids into a bedroom to watch a Spongebob episode while Todd and I transformed their bedroom (remember the four oldest share a room) into a tent.

Lights were hung, sheets were draped to and fro,

we put our camping lantern in there among all the blankets and pillows,
and for the final touch we added a Scooby- Doo flick and some smores.

It was bad fun!

I hate that we didn’t get to camp, but we actually did get to camp.  Indoor Campout!  It’s how we roll…

How was your weekend?

~Angie

Homemaker Chronicles