It's Bluegrass, Baby!

It's been busy since we returned home from our 2010 Bluegrass vacation.

I had a lot of business pile up, so it was right back to work. While on vacation, I went over two weeks without a client session. That's the longest break I've had in over a year! It was much needed, but I was very ready to get back to work. I LOVE my job! So, with all that taking priority, as well as being a mama to my little man, I've been a bit slow at getting my Bluegrass pics uploaded. BUT, they are finally here!

The first set was taken after the BIG STORM. Tornadoes in the area, 70mph winds, torrential downpour. It was the Wednesday before the festival. At 6pm, we hiked from one side of the campgrounds (The Pecan Grove-where we camp), to the complete opposite side (North of 9th Street/under the bridge-where our camp mom and dad moved this year). They'd invited us for dinner, so with our side dishes in hand, we walked on over. The sky was starting to look a tad bit dark, but no one was concerned. Half-way through dinner, the sky became much darker, but we still weren't worried. It looked as if it would go right around us. By the end of dinner, Tonya and I began to panic...and we quickly picked up, and headed back to camp.  The closer we got to our camp, the quicker our pace got. In the 10 minutes it took to get back, the sky went from sorta dark to black. I wouldn't have been nearly as panicked, but we had Barrett with us. Just a 100 yards from our car, a huge bolt of lightening cracked.  Barrett screamed, and scaled by leg, right up into my arms. Just as we got back to our camp, the tornado sirens blew. I hated to leave the guys (Bill and Layn) behind at camp, but at that point I was only concerned with getting Barrett to a safe place. We told them not to worry about any of our stuff, just to take shelter themselves. They decided to stay in Bill's camper. Justin, Barrett, Tonya, Brandy and I got in the jeep and drove down the road (about a mile, thank goodness) to Justin's parent's house. The rain started to come down on our way. As soon as we got there, we ran for the storm shelter. 

A pic from Brandy. This is what we saw when we got back to camp.

About an hour later, the storm had passed, and we were all exhausted! We left Barrett with his Grandma and Grandpa and went back to camp to survey the damage. It was sad. The cozy little camp we'd been building for almost four days was mostly destroyed. We lost our huge white canopy, as it took flight and landed about 100 feet away from our camp. Amazingly, all of the tents survived. They were FULL of water, but by the next day...everything was as good as new. It takes a lot to dampen our spirits!

{shots of the storm damage...taken around 10pm when we returned from the storm shelter}

::THURSDAY::

{the day after the storm...still drying out}

{Barrett enjoying the Wilders on the hill @ Stage II}

This picture cracks me up! He was dancing. I think he looks so big in it!

The view on our walk back to camp from the main stages...

Less than 24 hours after the storm...our cozy camp was re-built!
Camp MIDNIGHT TATER SOUP

We thought it was crazy that this little table with Melanie's flowers was untouched during the storm. 

Even though our canopy less than 10 feet from it was airlifted.

 

Hanging out at camp...
Also, less than 24 hours before, that whole area where the rug is was ANKLE-DEEP with water! When we came back Wednesday night to see the damage, I was trudging back and forth through it to get to our tent. I couldn't imagine at that time it would dry out anytime soon.

Our camp was so cozy at night....thanks to Tonya's bucket light, and my leftover Christmas lights. Everyone loved Tonya's coffee table in the center of the "room" too! It was perfect! Our tent is the one at the back center of the camp "family room." I strung some of the extra Christmas lights up under our rain hood, and they provided the perfect amount of light to see around inside the tent at night.

Thursday night....we all came back to camp and went to bed at 5:45am!
All of our nights were late, but this one was our latest (or earliest).

::FRIDAY::

Started off with breakfast burritos by Layn...and iced coffee with Kahlua! =)

Friday was HOT! That morning, our neighbors made themselves a pool ---->

 Barrett loved hanging around camp. He played cars, and made friends with all of our camp family. We even put his potty chair in the tent (you can see in one of the pics above). That was the best decision we made. Since he's relatively new with potty training, I wasn't about to take him into the port-a-johns!

He stayed down there pretty much all day on Friday. He hung out with us at camp during the hottest hours of the day, trying to stay cool in the shade. Then watched several shows with Mimi, Grandma, Kylie and Emily. He stayed with Grandma and Grandpa on Thursday and Friday nights. Then with Gigi and Papa on Saturday night.

 Megan and Jamie

More of our camp family

 

 A fuzzy picture of Tonya enjoying The Greencards on the hill at Stage II

::SATURDAY::

We stuck with tradition, and had FOUR crockpots of potato soup at midnight (or closer to 1am) 

on Saturday night/Sunday morning.  It was delicious!!


::SUNDAY::

The saddest day of the year

We woke up, and all walked into the midway for biscuits and gravy.
 Then came back to tear down the camp, and say goodbye until BG 2011!


(some more of Brandy's pictures from our last morning)

Goodbye, Bluegrass 2010! You were one of our BEST years ever!!
Tater family...see you soon!

Yes, I realize I am in only one picture. That was thanks to Brandy! Tonya had her camera on our late night walk-abouts down Picker's Lane, so I'll post a few of those when she gets them downloaded. We met Christin (of Free State Revival) while walking about, and had our picture taken with her!! I'm excited to see those! I told her we were heartbroken the group broke up, and that we listed to their CD SO MUCH, that my 2-1/2 year old walks around singing "come on boys, go to town."