We took our "Spring Break" the first week of April, camping for a week at Martin Creek Lake State Park near Longview, Texas.
The first order of business was to unpack the van and trailer and set up camp.
The adults and the food stayed in a screened shelter...
The kids stayed in a tent...
It took about an hour and a half to set up camp. Then we all went on a bike ride to explore the park. It's a rather small park, so we were able to tour all the paved areas in about 30 minutes. We also crossed this bridge to an island and rode on the trails around the island.
Back at camp, we bought firewood from a vending machine...
And the kids started a fire in the fire pit...
After it burned down to coals, we cooked "silver turtles" (also known as "hoboes" or "foil packets"). At home, we had assembled foil packets of raw ground beef, thinly sliced potatoes, carrots, frozen mixed vegetables, and a variety of spices and seasonings. Everyone fixed their own as seemed good in their own eyes. :-) Then we double-wrapped them in foil and put them in ziploc bags. The kids were in charge of cooking them. It took about 30-40 minutes to cook them thoroughly.
I confess to being a bit skeptical about the success of this venture, because I'd tried it once before on our very first family camping trip (back when we only had 2 kids). That time it was an epic fail. The kids asked to cook some of our meals on the fire this time, so I let them be in charge. I was pleasantly surprised that they actually turned out great!
I got to relax and read a book in the cool weather and pleasant sunshine while they cooked supper.
And where there's a fire, there must be s'mores...
The weather predictions kept calling for high chance of rain that first night and all through the second day. I kept praying it would hold off long enough for us to do some fun things in the morning, but we were prepared with games and books in case we were trapped in our tent/shelter all day. Thankfully, it only misted and sprinkled off an on until after 2 pm. Then a light rain, a break, and another shower before the sun came out to stay.
We were able to get in a bike ride on a 3 mile trail loop in the morning. There were several areas of deep mud and standing water on the trail. Fortunately, some places had a "bridge" of stumps that we could walk across while pushing our bikes. Ronnie's bike got a flat tire just a few minutes into the ride, but he bravely (and cheerfully) jogged along the rest of the way while pushing his bike.
Along the way, we identified some wildflowers, such as Texas Thistle...
Bluebells (not the ice cream)...
And ...
After repairing Ronnie's tire, we spent some time at the playground before lunch...
After lunch was a time for resting, reading, playing games...
And magnet fishing off the docks...
Supper was chicken pot pie soup (frozen chicken pot pies cooked in the crockpot) and a variety of fruit. While the kids cleaned up, Ronnie and I took a walk around the camping loops just before sunset. There is a large power plant on the other side of the lake. The constant background hum makes this not the best park for listening to nature sounds, but other than that we really enjoyed this park.
The next day was a gorgeously cool and sunny day. We took turns taking the canoe out on the lake, first carrying it from our site to put it in two sites over.
The adults took the 3 youngest ones out first...
We went up close to the dam on the lake...
Then around the island we hiked on the first day. We were able to slide under the bridge, if everybody laid or ducked down...
Then we let the older 3 go out on their own, while the rest of us went hiking on the island. Ronnie had bought a set of walkie-talkies before the trip. That greatly improved our communication (and mom's peace of mind) when different groups of kids went out exploring ...
After lunch, some kids went hiking and others took the canoe over to the fishing docks. Later in the day, Ronnie's cousin and her family came out from Longview to join us for the evening. Ronnie took some of them out in the canoe. Then we cooked hotdogs and s'mores over the fire and had a great time visting.
The next morning, we broke camp after breakfast. It took about 1.5 to 2 hours to pack up. Then another 20 minutes to unpack the battery charger and extension cord so we could start the van. (At least we had those -- a lesson learned from our first camping trip...) It is so nice to have big kids who help out so much with packing, unpacking, and cooking on these kinds of trips.
Somebody had fun playing near the fire pit...or is that war paint?
On the way back home, we stopped at Mission Tejas State Park for a picnic lunch (such beautiful, huge pine trees!) and to explore the replica of a mission built by the Spanish to try to convert the natives to Christianity. The mission didn't last too long, as the natives weren't too interested and blamed the baptismal waters for the diseases the missionaries brought.
You've heard of "cowboys and Indians," but have you ever heard of "preachers and Indians?" That's what the kids were playing...those who were the "Indians" were escaping out the windows and the "preacher" was trying to round them up and bring them back in to the church.
We came back by way of Hunstville, where there were lots of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush, and other wildflowers gracing the sides of the road. Beautiful spring in Texas!
Later in April, we completed our 16th year of parenting...
And the girls and I went to mother/daughter horse camp at Camp Peniel in Marble Falls. It was rescheduled from the February freeze weekend. We drove through some horrendous rain to get there, but then it was beautiful and pleasant all weekend.
It was my second daughter's first time to get to go. We got to try out our horses in the arena on Friday night...
Charlotte the pig was a popular figure...
On Saturday morning, we split into two teams. The team on horseback had to try round up the cows (the people on foot) and herd them into the "pen." Some cows were a bit ornery...
On Saturday afternoon, we went for a trail ride. After supper on Saturday evening, we played Horse Trivia. It ended up being a tie between my two girls, even after numerous tie-breaker questions, so they both won T-shirts.
On Sunday morning, we saddled up again and rode up to the breakfast cookout...
The cooks tried to use up the last of the eggs to make one gigantic omelet...
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