Big Doings on the Farm

The End of Summer is here and with it comes the End-of-Summer Camp Out for the children at church. Since there was a wedding happening at the church, our fabulous summer interns, Beth and William, asked if they could have it at Huckleberry Farm. Why, sure!!! Yesterday finally arrived, bright and beautiful although a little hot. We spent the day putting up tents, a volleyball net, freshening the farm and putting up Address Numbers on the mailbox so everyone could find us.

The kids were due to arrive at 7 pm. Our bright and beautiful day suddenly took a turn as Mother Nature unleashed Her fury on us around 3:00. Severe thunderstorms, lightening, torrential rain.... we had it all. It poured and poured. Lightening shot down to the ground, the wind gusted all around us, and my children looked miserably out the window. Our desperate attempts to monitor the radar on TV ended when our satellite went out. A few hours later, the clouds lifted and the rain ended. Despite an almost-cancellation, everyone agreed to continue on with the Camp Out. I eyed the huge puddles and wet ground, picturing dirty and muddy children. But, hey... they're kids. What do they care? And at least it was a little cooler, although much more humid.

Beth arrived and kindly pointed out that the new numbers on our mailbox didn't match the address I had given her and she had given all the parents. COLE! Apparently my husband does not know the address of the farm and had put them up incorrectly but he quickly traipsed up the front of the farm, screwdriver in hand, loudly blaming my sweet son for the mistake. Crisis averted.

Everyone arrived, ran around, played volleyball, cooked hot dogs, had smores, looked for Bigfoot, saw a ghost and a secret tombstone (9 and 10-yr old boys have pretty vivid imaginations!), fed the donkeys, held the chickens, repeatedly told me that the goats just poop anywhere they want and that's gross (this was from the girls), and had a great time. Thankfully Cole and I slept in the house but left the door open so the girls could use the rest room. Strangely not one single boy ever came in to go to the bathroom. We peeked out the window around 3 am and saw flashlights running wild. Guess they were still up!

William made a 4 am trip to find some doughnuts (more sugar... just what they need!) and the morning dawned foggy but dry. The kids even found an egg in the coop that was lacking a shell. Very weird and extremely fascinating to a group of kids!

We might have had a smaller group due to the weather, but everyone that braved the elements had a blast. Our first official Huckleberry Farm event was a success, a wet success, but a success nonetheless! Can't wait for next year!