The Petersen Herd

The Petersen Herd

Monday, May 4, 2009

Back to Basics

We decided it was time to get away from all the people and have been planning a family camp-out for a while so when the rain descended we were pretty bummed. Then Thursday afternoon it cleared up a little and Daddy said, "Let's go!". Within an hour we were on the road to Mineral Wells State park. It was GREAT!!! We had the whole campground to ourselves (Thursday night) and it was perfect weather.This is a cool hollow tree that I bribed my TALL TALL girl to stand in.
Ayvri loved the camping food and had ketchup ALL over her! She also loved trucking around in the dirt and "walking" the dogs.
Kabe looks excited right? This is the part where Mommy thought vegetables were camping food! Ksenya is very amused at her brother's dissapointment.
This was the littlest happy camper - Brig did great, aside from the tumble he took when he flipped his carseat over with him in it and scratched and bruised his poor little face.
Here's our campsite. When we pulled up there was a deer standing in the road and we saw a very large raccoon. There were tons of birds and MILLIONS of bugs - the worst thing about Texas! I'll admit, the raccoon kind of freaked me out because of all the rabies you hear about, but we had our attack dogs with us and they scared off most of the critters.
The best surprise of the whole trip? There was actual hiking! Not like a mountain or anything, but really big rocks and a steeper incline than I've seen in Texas anywhere else. It was remarkable and beautiful and reminiscent of other hiking days.
Of course it wouldn't be a Texas camp-out without this little friend . . . thankfully this was the only snake we saw on our adventure (there's hope we might try it again sometime).
Are they meditating???
He's the KING of the rock!!!
Ayvri really loved riding in the pack - she didn't feel great and had a rude awakening when she got up in the night and wasn't in her bed. It had her pretty upset and so she was tired the next day for the hiking part. I can't believe this was her first camping trip and she's already 2! We'd better break the princess in better than that!
Here they are at the overlook. Yes - I really was there with them, but the whole "camping" look isn't great for me and so I will not post the picture that I let Ty take of me and the kids, we'll keep that one for private posterity!

Hooray for camping, for nature, for a place without a million people and (gasp) a place without internet! It was nice to get back to basics and just sit around the campfire telling the kids stories and listening to theirs.

9 comments:

Kinzie Sue said...

How fun! We've been itching to go camping for a while too. Then Kiera got her cast on, and when she got it off the rain decided to start coming. We are looking forward to dry weather so we can head out!! That place looks great, I'll have to get details from you about it sometime!

Heath 'n Jeri said...

YEA! I am jealous of your camping trip. It sounds wonderful to be away from "life" and enjoy the good stuff!

Anonymous said...

I love camping! It's so fun to be out in the "wilds" again:) How adventerous to bring four little ankle-biters along with you:) (that's not sarcastic--ha!ha! My 5th grade teacher Mr D used to call me that so I thought I'd give it a try:) We've got to get our fams together and hit the hills for a camping trip one day, got it?!?:)
Love you guys!
--Amb

Holly said...

Ah, looks like a ton of fun! See, camping in Texas isn't that bad, right?!

Erickson Fam said...

You picked the perfect week to do this. The weather has been tolerable.
Those grounds look really nice!

Yuck snake though!

Niki said...

Camping brings you right back to your roots. I will never forget those Guymon Reunion adventures...I'm glad you got away!

mom o said...

It is great seeing that you are keeping up with getting out and enjoying nature. I love the pictures of your family and your blog.
Love you

joana said...

my kids love camping too, this looks like a great spot!

Jami said...

I love camping! Way to brave the fire ants and beetles and enjoy yourselves. It looks like you all had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing with us :)