Great Outdoors

Yesterday was great. The entire weekend was great! Our little family experienced our very first camping trip to Guadalupe River State Park for Mother's Day weekend. I have years of wonderful memories of doing this growing up and I hope my girls look back at this trip and smile like I do. There is one major difference though. We went for ONE night. I remember going for a week with my family and honestly...I don't know how they did it. Because frankly, it is A LOT of work! Luckily, we went with another family and that spread out the work load. Our kids are also the same ages and that kept them busy.

We were off to a rocky start when we arrived at 2pm in the Texas heat. We set up camp at the hottest part of the day. Ms. M set to the task of helping Daddy Land set up the tent.



While Ms. K played with a bucket.


And the pups were hot.


Really hot.


And it was not long before we had our first boo boo...the first of many.


But before long we were settled in at our camp and our friends had arrived. Time to kick back to relax.


Then it was time to head down to the river. Here is Ms. K and our friends' son. Ms. M was long gone. Too quick for mommy to get a pic.


Then it was time to get back to camp. The kids enjoyed hot dogs and the bigger kids ate yummy fajitas. And beer of course. (no that is not Ms. M's beer on the table. I meant grown-ups)


After dinner, it was time for the kids to settle down and go to bed. Someone isn't a happy camper...sorry, couldn't resist.


However, that did not happen for another 2 hours or so...go figure. I guess they were having too much fun! Time for some adult/drinking-around-the-fire time.


That is pretty much were the pictures stopped for the night!

Our night in the tent was...pretty much sleepless. At least mine was. At first I was too hot and dirty-feeling (that is a word, right?). Then I couldn't sleep because of the teenagers in the campsite near us (after commenting about this to my husband, he called me something along the lines of an old lady). Then I was too cold. Then Katie was crying. Then I was worried that the kids were too cold. The list could go on and on...

The morning came way too quickly. The kids were offered breakfast tacos like the rest of us, but they had something else in mind...the breakfast of champions: Pringles and Cheez-its. Oh, what the heck, we're camping.


It was then time for Daddy Land to make the mommies some Mother's Day coffee in our very cool new percolator.


Then there was a dance party in the tent to the song, I Like To Move It Move It from the Madagascar soundtrack.


Unfortunately, it was time to pack up the gear. Was it that time already? It really went by quickly. The kids entertained themselves with the water faucet while we cleaned up.


What a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! I am still recovering and I still don't know how my parents did it. But it was certainly worth it! In the beginning, I had my doubts that we would survive. Ms. K hates bugs, trips alot (because she is 2), and doesn't like to get dirty. I wasn't as worried about Ms. M since her best friends are rolly-pollies. But in the end, they were filthy, brused, barefoot and...HAPPY. We can't wait to do it again!
After we were all showered, fed, and unpacked, my girls and guy surprised me with a lovely Mother's Day song last night.

What a lucky mama...