The pop-up has been patiently sitting in the garage waiting for the next time we pull it out and go camping. Somehow I was convinced that September would be cool enough and booked us a weekend away at Stephen F Austin State Park - we went there in peak pandemic when camping was banned, but day visits were allowed. It seemed like a fun, but close weekend to dust off the pop-up!
Spent most of the day getting things ready, so as soon as we picked up the kids from school - we were ready to hit the road! They look pretty pumped, don’t they??
We got camp set-up a little easier than the last two times and had some burgers before bed. And like the last few trips - Natalie was ready to get busy as soon as the sun came up. “It’s morning, mommy!!!”
Since Natalie and I were headed off to the bathroom, the boys joined us for the walk over. And don’t be fooled into thinking Henry is so on top of things he already changed out of his pj’s - he never changed into them last night…!
After breakfast, we decided to hike some of the trails before it got too hot outside. There was a rough start when the littlest one was demanding to be carried, but luckily I got away with carrying her for just a few minutes - then she wanted to walk like her big brothers!
Thomas mapped out our hiking paths last night on the trail map. Last night, we discovered the trail map on paper didn’t match the trail head map, so Thomas sketched in the missing trails. He then drew out which way he wanted to go and added up the distance of all the different segments. He was such a good navigator!
This was the fishing access point that was missing on the paper map - and quite a nice view of the Brazon!
Look at this sweet little angel! You wouldn’t believe me on the ever-loving fit she was throwing just 10 minutes before when she wanted to be carried…
This is the overlook we made it to on our last visit. It looks about the same, though the river wasn’t as brown as last time - torrential rains didn’t precede this visit!
You may also notice that Carter joined us this time - it’s her first camping trip! She loved hiking around with us and absolutely loved hanging out at our campsite. She even spotted a deer crossing through our site this morning and didn’t freak out.
The kids were not impressed with the playground close to our spot, but they had a blast riding their bikes around the path in front of our campsite. Natalie is doing so awesome on her pedal bike, but I am doing less awesome on the fact she needs a new helmet. New priority to find one that works with her two BAHAs now that we are back to riding in the cool(er?) weather!
Overall, a good dust-off trip for the pop-up and I really like the big spots at this park. Will definitely be our close-to-home favorite!