Camping at Jellystone

I'm thinking that I might have to rename what we do from "camping" to "slightly roughing it." I mean, it's hard to feel like you are truly "camping" if you are enjoying your A/C and using your own bathroom that you don't have to wear flip flops because you don't want to touch the nasty floor that hundreds of others have bathed on...needless to say, we "slightly roughed it" last weekend. Between Hudson's school this semester, some illnesses for Micayla, and my surgery, plus our church commitments, we just haven't had a weekend to get away. So last weekend, since Hudson's final hadn't been published yet, we packed up and headed out for a weekend o' fun.

Typically, we try to camp at a state park because we have a state parks pass, and we love being able to hike, play outside and truly just enjoy nature. But we couldn't definitely plan our camping weekend until a few days before, which meant that most of the state parks that we can drive pretty easily to were already booked (it has been a wonderful Spring, except for the pollen). So, we had heard of Jellystone Campground in Waller (several of our friends had actually been last year), and we knew it had a water slide (which is likely Micayla's love language, if that's possible), and it's only about 1 hour and 15 minutes away, plus they had openings. So, plans were made (reservations completed), and Friday around lunch we took off with the Silver Streak towards Waller. It is a little expensive for a camping weekend in our opinion, but we know we won't be able to camp much (if any) this coming summer due to Hudson having three classes to take (plus still work FT), so we chalked it up to making a great weekend for Micayla (and us). Call it a mini-vacation if you will. Plus the cost includes all the activities (water slide, pool, mini golf, big water slide, fishing, etc.), and Micayla was free! (Yippeee!)

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

Hanging out on the bed (likely watching Tangled).

Daddy cooking breakfast outside for us.

So excited to be in the water park.

Heading out on her maiden slide voyage.

Hudson and Micayla rode a tall tunnel, twisty slide together. Notice Hudson's face.

Notice Hudson's face again...Micayla was as excited as can be...she asked to ride it again (with me the next time).

Coming down the slide--she got turned sideways, I think because she's so light that she caught some air on the turn, (and thought that was so fun!)

Here's the rest of the progression...

I can't count the number of times the child went down this slide. We did have to really work on helping her understand waiting her turn in line (lots of bigger kids in line with her didn't appreciate her cutting).

Our "home" away from home.

My two favorite people!

Trike riding (it was hard in the grass, so Mommy got to pull her everywhere).

Fishing at dusk.

They didn't catch anything, but Micayla believed that she was "big enough" to throw her line in the water by herself (she isn't). So when she couldn't do that, she decided she'd rather not fish. I'm guessing she might be what they call a "fair weather fisherwoman."

Climbing on Yogi the bear and his picnic basket (it was right across from our camper, so we visited often).

Cooking pancakes and maple sausage for breakfast #2....it was good!

We are in the fake smile stage. Enter my sarcastic "yippee" here.

Playing mini golf...Hudson learned by the second swing to not stand as close to her.

If Micayla were an adult, she would call this one "that was a practice swing, Mom."

See the camo/brown bounce house in the back of this picture? They had it blown up Sunday morning and it was a scary looking monster type thing. Anyways, while my child looks happy in this picture, let's just go ahead and say that by hole number 4 (out of 18), all I heard was "Mommy, I want to go jump" every few minutes, despite my telling her that I wasn't going to let her go in it, and that I didn't think she was old enough. (Lots of bigger kids going in it=this mommy isn't going to let little bit get jumped over and on.) This picture was right before a meltdown--isn't it funny how we moms remember all the details of our pictures before and after they are taken? Thankfully it was a short meltdown and we recovered quickly. Said meltdown was likely encouraged by the fact that she didn't want to go to sleep the night before (she would miss out on the fun, she . said!), and waking up at first light (around 6:15). Kudos though to Micayla--we had no accidents all weekend long, which is quite a feat since we've been in the "potty training" stage for 8 months now.

All in all, we had a great weekend away. Micayla has talked about going down the water slide all this week and wants to know when we can go back. Though she's already asked that she bring a friend next time (where did she figure out that was a possibility?). It was a great location for our family--we were home by early afternoon and while Micayla didn't take a nap, she did go to bed early. :) I enjoyed spending a little quiet time under the stars in lawnchairs talking to my hubby--and reading a little bit before bed (a luxury nowadays). While we won't be able to go every weekend (ever) to Jellystone, I can see that we could likely go once a year (probably in the Spring), mainly because of the short drive it takes to "get out of the city." Already looking forward to our next camping trip--whereever that might be!

July 4th Vacation, Days 2-4, Atlanta State Park

So after we loaded up from Mission Tejas State Park, we headed towards Texarkana. The state park we were going to be at was actually just southwest of Texarkana, and more near Queen City, TX. Anyways, we knew that we would have to stop again for gas, and would be passing through a few "larger towns" that offered Walmarts with gas (side note: they are offering 10 cents off if you load money onto a Walmart card, and we were all about saving any extra money since travelling with a camper usually means around 10 mpg. Plus big parking lots offered us the possibility of actually turning around or parking if we needed to. Lucky for us, we thought of a few necessary items so when we stopped at a Walmart (I think it was in Marshall, TX), we also scored Subway sandwiches for lunch since I didn't plan our lunch meal for that day. Micayla's skinned knees required some bandaids, so we picked up our few things, ate lunch, got gas, and headed on our way.

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!