The neat thing about this part of the trip was that two very special families had agreed to tent camp with us for the few days at Atlanta SP. My sisters and their families! Micayla had been talking for weeks about missing her cousins, so this was so exciting for her too, as she anticipated seeing her aunts, uncles, and cousins. We had our meals planned out, homemade ice cream on the agenda, swimming in the lake, fireworks, and just time together. Lesli, Justin, and Miles were heading out before Lisa, Emery, Kathryn, and Lauren. We got to the park, found a spot that had plenty of room for two tents, our camper, and three vehicles, and got set up. It was awfully hot, but we could see the lake in the distance (Wright Patman Lake) from our spot, and as soon as we were level, the A/C got turned on. Lesli and family arrived about an hour later, and then Lisa and her family arrived later that evening. It will be probably be best if I just show pictures and narrate, otherwise this could be a really long post. :)
Micayla and Miles
Cooking breakfast (eggs, sausage, bacon, and biscuits one day, pancakes and link sausage the other)
Lauren and Micayla playing mini-golf at our campsite
The Silver Streak resting comfortably in the shade. The A/C ran all the time--it was about 102 each day, with no breeze. Humid, sticky, and we all needed a shower at night.
If we only knew how much hotter we were going to get....(that's Justin beside Hudson, and Justin, Lesli, and Miles' tent in the background). It was so hot that just sitting under the canopy with a fan, you still felt little relief from the heat. I can't remember camping before when it was so hot, but since we went almost every weekend in the summer when I was growing up, I'm sure it was hot. Plus, I notice the heat so much more now as a adult.
Trying to keep the kids cool with the inflatable pool we brought--by far, one of our best ideas. The pool might have also been used as a bathtub for some unnamed adults after dark. While the kids were napping one afternoon, the adults also might have added ice to the pool and stuck our feet in to keep us cool. Oh, and Lesli convinced us to put ice cubes on our head (tucked in our thick hair) to keep us cool (and it worked!). Lisa also served as "salon" lady and did shampooing on some of us one afternoon when we were tired of feeling dirty. Those of us that participated all believe she might have found a job opportunity for the future as a shampoo lady. Ha!
The cousins!
The girl cousins posing in their July 4th swimsuits.
My little American girl!
Kathryn, Lauren, Micayla, and Miles
Micayla getting ready to watch the fireworks in Queen City, TX.
So there's a story to finding the fireworks. It should start with "only in a small town." When we checked into the state park, they mentioned that there would be fireworks one evening in town on July 2nd. Seeing as how we were celebrating the 4th of July, finding fireworks seemed like a great idea. Plus, I needed to see how Micayla would react after last year's fireworks at DeGray Lake State Park. (She was equally as excited, but certainly more verbal and still wonders why we can't go see fireworks every night.) Anyways, the park rangers said "town." No other directions, but we were able to deduce that the fireworks would start around dusk/right when it got dark. So, we had dinner, and then loaded up the trucks/cars and headed towards Queen City. Some brother-in-laws of mine might tell you that Hudson was in a hurry to find the fireworks based on the fastness he took some of those windy roads. Since they were following us, I'll have to trust them. (Hudson was probably just excited to not drive with a camper behind him.) Anyways, Hudson decided to pull into a gas station to ask about the fireworks. The clerk there, a woman, told him (in the most Southern voice you can come up with): "now honey, go down that road (pointing to the one we were on), see the maintenance equipment on the side of the road, turn on the dirt road right after." Now, the population of Queen City is small (maybe around 2000?), and those directions were classic. Even hearing Hudson repeat her inflection was hilarious. So we get back on the road, and hope that we find where she directed us...sure enough, miles down the road, we see maintenance equipment and a tiny dirt road to take. We take the dirt road for a little bit (not long), and find that all of Queen City's residents are at the hidden city park, listening to a live band, jumping on inflatables, eating, waving glo sticks, and enjoying a nice breeze. I can't say that we "fit" in with the QC crowd (ie, we didn't wear denim jumpsuits, smoke, drink, or talk with a twang that was hardly understandable), but we did enjoy $1 snowcones while watching the fireworks.
Everyone getting their spot in the back of Emery's pickup to watch the fireworks (the guys are out getting $1 snowcones at this point.)
Lauren and Micayla
Lesli and Miles right before the fireworks
Adorable 1 1/2 year old Miles
Micayla
Kathryn and Lauren hanging out in the lawnchairs, probably wishing that the 2 year old wouldn't follow them everywhere.
Sweet sisters (Kathryn and Lauren)
How is it that not a single one of them is looking at the camera?
All the cousins in their July 4th outfits.
Lesli, Justin, and Miles
Micayla and Mommy (we were heading out to Texarkana for our one out to eat meal)
Lisa, Kathryn, and Lauren
The three sisters (not the best picture since we had been sweating for 3 days straight...) Can't you see why we're called the triplets? ha ha ha
A nice "neighbor" in the campground gave the kids flags to celebrate the 4th!
All the kids waiting on the homemade ice cream to be ready!
Miles had the greatest time spritzing everyone with his sprayer. Micayla loved it, but didn't understand that he didn't want to give her the sprayer so that she could do it to everyone else.
Our spot at the campground
All in all, it was a great trip with family and I'm so glad that we took the time to meet up again for the 4th of July. I think this is year number 3 that we've been together, and I hope it continues. We had a long day driving back home since we lost the tread off of one of our camper tires on the way back. Thankfully Hudson noticed it before we had a blowout and we were able to pull off to the shoulder. I was fiercely praying for his safety since it was on the highway side (and we couldn't have pulled off anymore or driven any further to find a bigger spot), and thankfully again, a DPS officer stopped to direct traffic around us and to provide us assistance if needed. We stopped in Longview, TX at a Walmart to buy a replacement spare tire since we used our spare on the one that lost its tread. But we were glad to finally pull into our street and sleep in our beds that evening, and enjoy the sweet slumber that comes after a short vacation away!
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