Camping at Canyon Lake

      We've been waiting for weeks now for the time for our camping trip with Uncle Garrett to get here, and this weekend it was finally time. We were very excited and the boys and I had ourselves ready, the car loaded and lunch eaten by the time Dalton got home from work early. We left about 1:15 and headed that way. It was a pretty good trip, without too many hold ups. We did have to stop in Burnet at DQ for a break from carseats and to get the boys some grub. It made all the difference!
     About 6:15 we arrived at Uncle Garrett's house, excited and glad to be out of the car. Cooper knocked on the door and was greeted by Garrett with his new pet on his shoulder. He has a baby raccoon, and though she is cute she isn't the friendliest animal I've met.  We passed her around between Dalton and I and let Cooper touch her. We weren't fighting over the chance to hold her because she growled a lot. Ace kept pointing to her saying 'kitty kitty.'

      It didn't take long for Cooper to find the piano and he was making music the rest of the evening. It was a karaoke style so he could have a song playing while he hit the keys too. Ace enjoyed dancing to the music. Later on Cooper told me "Uncle Garrett sure has a lot of instruments!"

His favorite song was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

      We were ready for supper pretty quick and headed to the Gruene River Grill. It was a great atmosphere and good food. The kids were a little rowdy by the end of the meal, but we still had fun. Then it was back to Garrett's for bedtime. Ace and I took the spare bedroom while Cooper and Dalt slept on the couches. We slept really good but apparently Cooper kept rolling off of the couch in his sleep and slept half the night with Dalton.

 In front of the Grill

     The next morning dawned and it was camping day!! We all got ready and headed to HEB to pick up supplies of the edible nature. It was a new and improved HEB and I was a little overwhelmed and tempted to forget camping and just shop for all the unique goodies they had. I miss having an HEB nearby. They snapped me out of it though and we made it out with mostly only what was on our list.

     By 12:30 we were at the campsite. The boys napped a little on the way so they were semi-fresh. We set up camp and got the supplies unloaded. I was so thankful to have Garrett there. It was nice not having to help set up the tent!

 Camping is Fun!

    Of course we had to take a few photos before we began adventuring.  Then we took a little walk to a pier that was nearby. The lake was pretty low but it was still a pretty view. Then it was time to go fishing.

They were some happy guys

 Cooper insisted on pushing Ace. 

Ace looked a little uneasy the entire time and never quite relaxed.

 Ace had his little coon hands all over Daddy's glasses

     We headed to the boat ramp and dropped Garrett, Cooper and the boat off before we parked the truck. Then we hopped in the boat and headed to Garrett's special fishing hole. He'd found and staked out a spot earlier in the week so that we'd have a place to have success (hopefully). We were so appreciative of his efforts to make our fishing adventure a fun time, very thoughtful.  Garrett let Cooper drive the boat some and he did a pretty good job. You know Cooper and machines.

For the record, we did snap Coop's lifejacket after we got into the boat.

     Before we got to our spot, though, we stopped to see the 'dragon blowing bubbles' from under the water. There were two really strong springs under the water and it was a neat sight to see the water bubbling to the surface. Cooper was disappointed he didn't get to see the dragon.

     Garrett threw a quick line out and caught a little bass. We took it as a good sign, then moved on.

      Once we got to the spot we got our poles rigged up and got to fishing. Cooper was more interested in catching minnows than crapie, so he was our minnow man. Ace preferred the worms and when we set the worm box in front of him it didn't take him long to touch the worms and grab the dirt. Cooper said the worms were nasty.

     Even though Cooper didn't man his pole too well, he still managed to catch a couple of fish on it. Garrett had to put a cork on it because Cooper wanted to put it in and pull it out over and over. The cork didn't help with that much, until Cooper abandoned the pole and we watched it. Speaking of catching fish, we all caught at least one. Not to brag or anything, but I did catch the biggest crapie.

     When the fish stopped biting and the boys starting getting too close to the edge of the boat we headed back, pleased with our success. They cleaned the fish while Cooper and I visited the restrooms…which were very nice and clean. Then it was grub time. We started the fire and got the food ready. We had potatoes in the cast iron skillet, roasted corn, beans in a can, crapie a la lemon, and steak. The boys also had a hot dog. It was all so delicious! The corn was so flavorful, the potatoes buttery and perfect and the steak well seasoned and juicy. Yum!! 

 What a pretty sight.

     Then it was play time. The boys carried dirt from one pile to another and basically just walked around and explored. They did so good, didn't get too far, didn't fight and were just generally having fun by themselves. They liked going in and out of the tent, of course, which Dalton kept monitoring because he didn't want them to jump on the air mattresses. It was a little comical watching him try to control their excitement over the tent. Next time we'll keep the mattresses put up until closer to bedtime.

 Ole! Happy Cinco De Mayo 

 They grabbed an ear of corn and shared it as they wandered around the campsite. 

 Camping chairs worked perfectly by the fire.

 Cooper was trying to capture the sunset on the camera.

     Once the sun set you know what time it was….smore time!! We listened to Cooper tell the story of Pinkfoot, a story he heard on one of his shows, Bubble Guppies. He told it with lots of suspense and we were able to get it on video. Then we broke out the marshmallow roasters. Cooper loved roasting them, or should I say burning them. He would get one flaming, pull it out, wait for us to blow it out, put it in the dirt and then say he needed another marshmallow. We let him do this with three then cut him off.

     We all enjoyed a smore, changed into our pjs and visited by the fire until the kids fell asleep. At that point I went to bed with the kids and the guys stayed up and visited some more. The night wasn't too bad either. It was rather chilly, but our sleeping bags kept us plenty warm. I was especially cozy sleeping between the two little snuggle bugs. Dalton planned to sleep on a separate air mattress but we forgot an extra sleeping bag and after about 10 minutes using the boys' fleece covers, he made us move over so he could get in the big bed. It turned out to be just enough room.

     Morning dawned and we got up and at 'em about 7. It was really cool and windy, so we didn't hang around too long. I put things in the car while Dalton cooked bacon and Garrett got his stuff together. Cooper stayed in the tent as long as possible and Ace followed me around whining until we went and sat in the warm car. We had a yummy bacon tortilla wrap and left the campsite feeling good about our first attempt at camping.
    I have to say though, getting back to Garrett's and taking a nice shower and putting on clean fresh clothes was nice. We stayed there for a little while, visiting and looking at his house plans. He's building a new house on a really neat lot in New Braunfels. I can't wait to see the finished product. The kids loved being in a kitchen with no locks on the cabinets. Thankfully there wasn't much in there for them to mess with. Garrett said they were a couple of little raccoons and I think he is right about that.
     Finally we went to a chinese place for lunch, thank you to Dalton for eating chinese food for me. By the end we about lost control of Ace, the wild thing. He is a maniac! (I'm starting to see a pattern here….I hope we can still manage outings with three kids without them taking over!)
    We said our goodbyes and headed out with full bellies and tired boys. They fell asleep almost immediately and slept until Lampasas, which was awesome. Actually I'm writing this on the road and Ace is still asleep. The Lord has blessed us with a smooth trip!
     It was a blessing of a weekend. Getting to visit Garret, camp, fish, enjoy each other's company was all so great. And Garrett is so great with the boys, which is another blessing. Makes it easier on us because he's right there ready to step in and help us out or take a kid on his shoulders when we need him to. Why do we live so far apart?? I told Dalton we are too close of siblings to live this far apart.
     I'm looking forward to more fun times like this weekend!

"Whoever gives thought to the Word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord." Proverbs 16:20