Mission Tejas

My sister and I went camping for a couple of nights in Mission Tejas State Park. The main goal of the trip was to see how well all of our children and things fit in The Pearl Pony. Basically, it was a short test run for our summer road trip. Everything fit fairly well and we do not believe we will need to add any storage on the outside of the van.

While we were unpacking I noticed a park ranger staring at us. I asked him if we were doing something wrong and he joked "yeah, getting your kids out in nature!" He said it was so good to see us out there and that it is hard for the parks to attract the younger generation because they have to compete with the "wiffy."

He came back later to give the kids their own special show and tell. I was VERY impressed with this man and I will definitely be writing somebody about his awesomeness.

I had to have a talk with my sister about fires. Whenever we camp alone, I do not make fires. First of all, wood is expensive. Second of all, it's a pain in the ass. All the kids want to do is play with the fire and that's fine to a point, but they do not acknowledge the stopping point. So I told her that when we camp, when it gets dark, we take all of our lights in the tent and we journal or play games. Really, this is the perfect time to write in our journals and cut and paste things we have gathered into our scrapbooks. The kids can play cards or tell stories and snuggle under the blankets if they need to. It is just as fun as a fire but hassle free. We will still have fires, but not every night.

The park ranger told us about a photo scavenger hunt that we could do and win a prize. The kids found all of the items and enough bonus items for the bonus prize as well (bracelets and tattoos).

Wale aka Stick man.

Seun wanted to take a different trail so we split up into groups.

We tried out geocaching for the first time. It was pretty fun, but I did not know you were supposed to bring little trinkets to leave in the box. Next time.

For the most part, I think my sister and I have a good idea of what we still need to get for our trip and how it will fit in the van. This was a helpful test run for sure!

We only have one last reservation to make tomorrow morning, Yosemite! I am a bit nervous about getting the spots because the site says the reservations are full within seconds or minutes after opening. Crossing my fingers!