First Family Camping

I'm proud to say we went on our first family camping trip.  We've been camping once before with Jake, but like our past married camping experiences, we were with a group of friends and definitely relied on others for supplies, planning, etc.  We love short-term (1 night, maybe 2) camping and knew Jake would love it too, so it was time to give it a try.  We camped Easter night, after heading back from Gainesville, so we chose Lake Whitney as our location.  It was great!! We did have a bit of a rough start b/c a storm blew through right as Jake and Kevin were putting up the tent and I was headed to town.  Fortunately, it cleared out completely in 45 minutes and we enjoyed the rest of our trip.  Our site was super close to the lake which is the perfect place for a little boy to throw lots and lots of rocks...

 Here's Jake looking out at the lake and throwing his rocks...

 We also brought all the supplies so Jake could try S'mores for the very first time.  We were having some issues with our fire temporarily, so it was more like a marshmallow, chocolate sandwich, but he definitely didn't mind...

 Here's a pictures taken next to our tent.  There were lots of bluebonnets and a beautiful sunset...

 The boys and their rocks...

 We are also a family who likes to hike.  Jake loves being outdoors and he also likes the wonderful, creative stories Daddy begins and the entire family adds to while hiking.  We hiked around the shore of the lake near our sight, and the following morning we headed to a designated hiking trail.  It was tons of fun (and even a little cool, as you can tell by our attire).

 It was important to get pictures of everyone!  A great perk to camping on Easter Sunday night is that we practically had the place to ourselves.  We saw a total of 3 other sites filled.  It felt like our own private State Park.  The only downside is that there was no on around to get a family picture.

 Here's a funny story to end our camping trip.  Our plan was to pack everything up and head out so we could grab lunch out before heading back home.  Just as we were taking down the tent and loading up, a nice elderly man in a neighboring RV came by to chat.  Boy, did he love to talk!  He was super nice, but it was just bad timing.  At one point, Jake pulls at me and says, "Mommy, I'm ready to go." I replied, "Yes, honey, we'll leave in just a little bit as soon as we finish talking."  Well, five minutes later, I notice Jake head to the car, open the door and climb in.  Within minutes, he looked like this...

I've never seen him initiate his own nap.  I guess a great fun-filled day of family camping can really tire a guy out!