Kamping with Kids!

We went camping!

Tent camping!

With 4 kids!

Ages 8 - 2!

Are we nuts?!?!

Not really.

We only stayed one night,

so we started off easy.

J got a fishing pole from 

papa grande for his birthday,

so we HAD to find a place to get his hook wet!

After purusing the internet,

we settled on Garner State Park...

in Texas!  

Yep, there is a Garner in Texas!

(There is one mere minutes away from our

hometown in NC, too)

It got a ton of great reviews,

the pictures on-line were great,

and their facebook page was VERY active

so we figured we would try it out.

We did J's little get together on Friday night,

then bright and early Saturday morning

we were up and loading the car for the camping trip.

The boys kids were bouncing off the walls

with excitement!

It was just over an hour drive from our home

in San Antonio,

which was perfect in case it didn't work out and 

we needed to hustle home for any reason.

(daddy and the boys rushed home from 

the last overnight camping trip they went on

because R got sick in the middle of the night)

Here is how it went in pictures...

my camera died half way through, 

so you only get pictures of day 1...

This is what we saw on the drive out...

a whole lotta nothin!  

Dry, brown...

nuthin!

The park was rockin!

There was a huge line to check in when we got there,

but luckily we had chosen the quieter side of the park.

I am so glad we did!

As soon as we got there,

everyone ran down to take a look at the 

river!

They also started to gather drift wood

for our fire...

we later learned 

from the kind park rangers

that what we did was TOTALLY illegal!

ACK!

Snapped this adorable picture too!

Then, Daddy put our cubscouts to work

making camp 

and 

pitching the tent.

R was even showing the littles what things were

and 

telling them how they worked.

"These are to hold the tent down 

if it gets too windy"

We saw this baby on our way to the river access that we backed up to.

Thankfully no one got poked!

This wasn't the only one of these 

bad boys we saw.

The Frio River!

It was REALLY low!

REALLY!

You can't see it very well, 

but all of the white you see on the ground,

used to be covered by water.

WOW!

I trapsed back from my quick view of the river 

and took a picture of my crew setting up camp.

We had a nice, quiet, private area

for our camp.

The boys successfully got the tent up!

(with a little help from daddy)

Then they started setting up 

sleeping bags and air mattresses.

Mr. T loved it!

So did Ms. Priss!

Yes, 

I said air mattresses...

mommy will gladly go camping,

but I am NOT using a rock for my pillow!

And this princess CAN feel the pea under her mattress!

Apparently those stakes R was showing the littles earlier

didn't get used!

Cause just a little breeze and this happened!

With the boys in it!!

Hahah!!

(no children were harmed in the rolling of this tent!)

Daddy finally finished "my" bed,

then Mr. T noticed how inviting it looked.

and decided he wanted to take a nap...

 

Then he was joined by two of the other youngins...

Wait a second

that's MY bed!!!

Don't get too comfy there youngins!

Then since it WAS his birthday

and HE is the WHOLE reason we were here

and he DID get a new fishing pole...

we figured we would take the 

birthday boy 

to the fishing part of the river

and let him throw his hook in the water

And eventually a tree!

Thankfully we were able to holler at these two in a kayak

and they graciously came over to try and assist,

while we were willing that boat NOT to flip over!

No luck and we called it a day...

since we weren't getting ANY bites anyways,

due to all the swimmers and kayakers and tubers...

but at least the boy got his hook wet!

And got to drown a few worms...

Here are some pre-tree fishing pictures:

My curly red-heads!

Ms. Priss givin it a go.

Then R eventually got tired of casting and reeling in,

so he started climbing...

trying his darndest to fall in!

The view down past the dam was pretty, too!

(if only it were green)

Then we headed back to our side of the park

and let the kids play in the river on our end...

there was hardly anyone else on our end wading 

in the river, so it was great!

The river was living up to its name and 

was kinda chilly...

and all the kids were doing their best not to get soaked

and freeze!

Then this happened and that was the end of swimming!

So we headed back to the camp site and lit a fire.

Due to the extreme dry conditions,

you are only allowed to have fires for cooking.

So since our soggy and frigid Ms. Priss

needed to warm up,

it was time to start dinner!

Unfortunately that is the end of the pictures...

but in a nutshell

we ate dinner,

Tony got sick,

no one got any sleep

because we were all so uncomfortable,

we woke up,

cooked breakfast (daddy did the majority of the cooking!),

went down to the river again,

chilled out,

packed up,

went back over to the main side of the park,

played a game of putt-putt

and headed home.

I honestly did enjoy laying awake in the tent, 

looking up at the stars,

hearing the river flowing meer feet away

and imagining that this is EXACTLY how

travelers, cowboys, outlaws, pioneers!

 camped and slept YEARS ago!

I know they stopped at this same place,

slepts on that same ground.

Had their horses tied up to the trees we were sleeping under...

THAT was neat!

We had a ball,

it was a wonderful family experience

and we WILL be doing it again...

but I really want a camper! 

Haha!