Camping at Lake Sommerville

 We took a break from school in early October and headed up to Lake Sommerville State Park (Birch Creek Unit) for several days of communing with the great outdoors.  Other than being a tad warmer than I prefer, it was a wonderful trip.  We had lots of time to relax, hike, bike, canoe, and fish.  There weren't too many people there, and the campsites in the loop where we stayed were secluded in a little grove of trees and brush.  That made it feel a little more private -- nobody could accidentally just stroll through our site.

We saw lots of deer, a few armadillos, and some feisty raccoons.  The first night, one raccoon found a plastic bag with a toothbrush and toothpaste in it that somebody had left out on the picnic table.  Fortunately, I heard it rattling and scared it off before it ate the toothpaste.  Also fortunately, Ronnie had wisely told me to put all the food away into the trailer before we went to bed.

We saw some other wildlife as well...

The boys have gotten pretty good at getting fires going quickly...would have been only one match, except the first one broke.

Of course, there always has to be the marshmallow roasting (or flaming) experiments:

After several camping trips where I tried to either cook on a fire (and we couldn't get it lit or keep it going) or with a camp stove and feeling like I was spending most of my time preparing food or cleaning up, I finally discovered a method that works better for me.  We always get sites with electricity, so I cook hamburgers and hot dogs ahead of time at home, then just put them in a crockpot to warm up.  I can set it up after breakfast or lunch to be ready for the next meal.  Then I'm free to go explore or just relax, and it's ready to go whenever we're ready to eat.  I've also done other crockpot meals that are prepared ahead of time and are ready to pop into the crockpot to heat or cook.  

Another camping trick I've learned is to freeze drinking water in gallon jugs.  I use these as ice packs to keep the food cold in the ice chest.  And when they melt, we can pour into into the water cooler and drink it.  It was hot enough this time that my usual amount of water and ice wasn't enough ... either for the food or for the all the thirsty bodies, so we had to buy some extra bags of ice.

One of the kids' toy sheep came along with us...

I remembered to bring a couple of box fans.  Those helped tremendously during the hot afternoons and the last night which got kind of warm and muggy.  The kids all slept in the big tent.  Ronnie and I slept in a small two-person tent.  This was the first time all the kids are old enough and independent enough that I felt comfortable letting them all be in one tent without an adult.  It was night to be able to sleep with my husband this time!

On our first full day there, we spent the entire morning exploring the park on our bikes.  Even the youngest made it!  He just learned to ride independently this summer.  Some of the hills and the forest trails were challenging, but with some encouragement, he did it! (Close observers will notice that this picture is not of the youngest one.)

In the afternoon, Ronnie and the big kids went on a 13-mile round trip bike ride on the Lake Sommerville Trailway.  They were pretty worn out after that!  So were some of their tires...at least of couple of them had flats, or near-flats.  

We scouted out the boat launch and fishing pier, looking for a good place to launch the canoe.  We spent the second morning out on the lake.  Ronnie and I took the 3 younger kids out first, while the big kids went fishing.  Then, Ronnie went with the three older ones while I stayed on shore with the younger ones.  I didn't get any pictures of that. In the afternoon of the second full day, Ronnie took the boys fishing while the girls and I hiked.

We packed up on the third morning, letting the kids figure out how to load 8 bikes and a giant ice chest into the trailer.  We load up the back of the van with boxes of blankets, sleeping bags, non-refrigerated food, chairs, tents, and other camping supplies.  Then we usually rent a cargo trailer to haul the ice chest, bikes, fishing gear, etc.

We've been camping once or twice a year for several years now.  I must say that it is so much easier now that all the kids are bigger and more independent.  No diapers.  Independent bathers.  All can ride bikes now.  The older ones can be trusted to be left on shore alone so I can enjoy a turn in the canoe as well.

We had a great time, but I was very glad to get back home to the air conditioning!!  I much prefer to camp in colder weather, but here in Texas, there's just no predicting the weather in October or even November.