Stephen F. Austin State Park

The week after spring break we tried camping again-- this time in our tent and with our dog.  We had so much fun that BOTH Jared and I ended up writing to our families about the trip.  So this post will have portions of Jared's emails because there were some things that I just couldn't say any better than he did.  You will recognize his words by the different font.

Griffin stayed tied up while we set up the tent and started the fire.

Micah (and Luke, but mostly Micah) loved the "camping fire" and was pretty impressed when I couldn't get the stupid thing lit and resorted to hosing it down with lighter fluid.  He thought that since I "turned on" the fire with my lighter, I could turn it off by pushing the lighter button again.  When that didn't work, we decided to dump water on it.  

Both boys enjoyed cooking hot dogs over the fire even though they both refused to eat theirs and dragged their food in the dirt instead.  Griffin appreciated the dirt coated hot dogs, though.

I tried to get a good view of the inside of the tent but it didn't work so well.  I like camping but just can't seem to tone it down.  Jared thinks a sleeping bag and pillow are all we need.  I am not so much of a minimalist.  I brought air mattresses for Jared and I and for Luke.  Micah slept in a portable crib.  Griffin had his crate and cushy bed.  We also had toothbrushes.

Jared describes our night pretty well:

The campground was beautiful and right next to a swamp that had a bunch of vociferous critters in it--chirping, croaking, chortling, singing, caterwauling, cawing, and generally yakking at each other in hopes, no doubt, of passing on their genes this year.  The critters were not annoying for some reason.  The humans at the campground, however, were.  Until 1:00 a.m. (my best estimate), they were yelling, singing, shouting, tripping on our tent's guy lines, trying to pet our dog, running while screaming, and generally acting like drunken rednecks in hopes, no doubt, of passing on their genes this year.

Griffin did great until we had him in the tent and were ready to sleep.  Then he started barking and kept barking, so we locked him in the car.  Micah woke up around 4:00 a.m. and starting singing Frere Jacques.  We told him to be quiet and go to sleep.  He did.  Until Luke woke us all up at 6:00 a.m. after a bad dream.  At that point, we courteously took our kids and dog on a "hike" (I don't think a walk through the woods can be called a hike if there is no incline or decline involved, but we were definitely on a "trail"--said the sign).  Then we played on the swings, packed up the wet tent and muddy tarp (it rained a little during the night), and went home around10:00 a.m.  

Swing Time!

Griffin crashed out for the rest of the day.

As for the rest of us: After we came home, we got to mow, edge, ride bikes in the cul-de-sac, clean the house, wash the stinky dog, wash the stinky kids, and draft a response to a request for an Attorney General opinion.  Then we woke up the next day, got me packed, went to church (Luke cried when I told him I had to leave early to go to Virginia to review documents in a warehouse for two days--now I know he loves me), and I went to the airport, leaving Stacy to wrastle the young'ins.  Ahhhhhh, relaxing weekends.