George's persistence finally paid off. He's been asking us for the last two years to take him camping. Living in hot, hot Texas can be tricky though. Who wants to go camping when it's 100 degrees outside during the day and it only cools down to 85 or 90 degrees at night. So you either go early spring or late fall. Well, George's soccer season ended Nov. 1st this year, so the first available weekend was Nov. 8th--seemed a bit late in the year to go camping. However, the temperature was averaging around 70 degrees in the day, so I said, "Let's just do this thing!"
Everything about camping was so new and exciting, especially for Katie, who had no idea what a tent, lantern or camping stove looked like. As soon as it got dark, the kids started asking if they could go to bed (they were really excited about this sleeping bag idea). Well, the temperature started dropping, so settling down for the night sounded quite nice. However, that was the beginning of the longest night of our lives! Little kids roll around SO much at night. Jared and I were up every 30 minutes, ALL NIGHT LONG, putting George and Katie back into their sleeping bags and under their blankets. They were freezing all night because they wouldn't stay put!
When the sun finally came up, we decided to forget about "trying" to sleep. So we got ourselves dressed in multiple layers and ventured out. It was freezing! Pour little Katie's hands were bright red. We built the fire back up and that helped a little if we stood right up against it. The hot chocolate helped a bit too. We made pancakes and sausage for breakfast and the kids snacked on Smores Pop Tarts as a treat. We were all SO cold though. I felt a little unprepared--I should have brought the kids hats and gloves. Luckily, we brought a game along and that helped to distract us. Here George is pointing out his first win.
The sun finally started warming things up around 10:30 in the morning (we had been up for hours by then). Here, Dad and Katie are playing around.
We took a walk down to the river. The sun felt great! The kids wanted to get their swimming suits on, but the wind was still a bit chilly. Instead, we skipped rocks and enjoyed the view. The kids had fun collecting rocks, sticks and shells.
After packing up, we drove over to an animal reserve park called Fossil Rim. It was so neat! Most of the animals came up to the car to eat right out of our hands.
George reached out to feed one of the animals.
The giraffes were not shy! George and Katie were shocked at first when the giraffes leaned down to meet us. It was nice to have a sunroof and they reached right inside for a handful of food.
This is my favorite picture! Katie stood half way out through the sunroof. It was an amazing experience to be so close to animals that are usually behind fences at a zoo.
Everything about camping was so new and exciting, especially for Katie, who had no idea what a tent, lantern or camping stove looked like. As soon as it got dark, the kids started asking if they could go to bed (they were really excited about this sleeping bag idea). Well, the temperature started dropping, so settling down for the night sounded quite nice. However, that was the beginning of the longest night of our lives! Little kids roll around SO much at night. Jared and I were up every 30 minutes, ALL NIGHT LONG, putting George and Katie back into their sleeping bags and under their blankets. They were freezing all night because they wouldn't stay put! 
When the sun finally came up, we decided to forget about "trying" to sleep. So we got ourselves dressed in multiple layers and ventured out. It was freezing! Pour little Katie's hands were bright red. We built the fire back up and that helped a little if we stood right up against it. The hot chocolate helped a bit too. We made pancakes and sausage for breakfast and the kids snacked on Smores Pop Tarts as a treat. We were all SO cold though. I felt a little unprepared--I should have brought the kids hats and gloves. Luckily, we brought a game along and that helped to distract us. Here George is pointing out his first win.
The sun finally started warming things up around 10:30 in the morning (we had been up for hours by then). Here, Dad and Katie are playing around.
We took a walk down to the river. The sun felt great! The kids wanted to get their swimming suits on, but the wind was still a bit chilly. Instead, we skipped rocks and enjoyed the view. The kids had fun collecting rocks, sticks and shells.
After packing up, we drove over to an animal reserve park called Fossil Rim. It was so neat! Most of the animals came up to the car to eat right out of our hands.
George reached out to feed one of the animals.
The giraffes were not shy! George and Katie were shocked at first when the giraffes leaned down to meet us. It was nice to have a sunroof and they reached right inside for a handful of food. 
This is my favorite picture! Katie stood half way out through the sunroof. It was an amazing experience to be so close to animals that are usually behind fences at a zoo.
