There’s nothing quite like the sound of rain pitter pattering on the tent roof. Until it’s ruined by a toddler waking up simultaneously as the audio book ends and three older kids breaking out into argument. Thus goes parenthood though and now this post too.

It’s now been hours since the rain stopped and the kids are finally all in bed while I listen to the insects chirping and the frogs garunging while sitting next to the fire. I try to enjoy these little moments of child-free bliss whenever I can and share with you, my dear readers, stories from our travels. We’ve been set up at Talladega National Forest in Alabama for the last few days.

The campground is underwhelming, but the host and other campers have been amazingly kind.

See, one thing to consider with a rooftop tent is once you unfold it, you can’t drive anywhere unless you fold it all back up again. So if you need ice, you’re not going to be able to get it unless you unstake everything (remember, no matter what, always stake out your guy lines), unzip the annex, and fold the tent back up and drive the 15 or so miles to the closest place selling it, and then drive back to the campground where you have to unfold and restake it all back up again.

But, when you’ve an amazing campground host like Ron, you won’t have to worry because he’ll take pity on you and bring you back a bag from his jaunt into town. And when the folks next to you are prior military and have been in your shoes, they’ll do something awesome like give your kids a 300 page book detailing all the flora and fauna they might find as they journey across America.

These things will give you something great to smile about especially after your son tries to skip a stone at the beach and nails your daughter in the temple instead and she goes full on drama queen screaming, “There’s a hole in my head,” “I’m going to die,” and “I hate you for killing me” amongst other things.

Yep, that is exactly what happened yesterday when #2 pegged Miss Drama in the head with a giant stone. She was all right though, no stitches needed, just a butterfly and some antibiotic ointment. It made for a very eventful afternoon though to be sure.

Now that they’ve all gone to sleep, and things have quieted down I’m missing the sound of rain from earlier and wishing it might start again. Though if it does start up again I’d like it to stop by morning because that’s when we’ll be packing up and heading to Georgia.