Annual Spring Break Camping Trip

We visited Pedernales Falls State Park a couple of weeks ago for spring break with several other families.  The weather was perfect in the day but a little chilly at night.  (75F and 40F)  We need to rethink out air mattresses for spring camping because they are just too darn cold!  Or we need better sleeping bags. 

We usually go to Huntsville State Park with these friends but tried something new.  Pedernales was very different.  The individual sites were very private.  The rocks and falls were beautiful and it was hilly.   Huntsville is better for a big group because it's quite open and you can call gather easily for games and fires.  But we had a lovely time and made some memories.  Oh wait, except for the last day when I totally melted down.  This will be addressed in another post. 

Brandi and I made cinnamon roll dough and froze it before the campout.  Then we let them rise overnight and cooked them over the fire in a dutch oven.  They worked pretty well but next time we will cook them out of the firepit and only using coals.  They got a little burned.  But they were good and it was fun to try something new.  I was really committed on this trip to having lots of interesting and fun camping foods.  Crescent Roll dough in a sandwich cooker with cinnamon was a big hit.  I also made a chocolate cake with whipping cream and it was simple and really good. 

The boys!  And check out the background!!

That's Isaac swinging on the rope swing in the freezing river water! Brrrr

The kids played Capture the Flag, Flag Football, Zombie Tag, Kiss Marry Kill and lots of cards and Bananagrams

Stop the glorification of busy

Sometimes I feel like I need to report to the people around me about everything I'm doing in my life.  And I know I'm not not alone.  In fact almost every conversation I have with a friend from school, church or my community involves some sort of rundown about all things were all racing around doing.  And it's good stuff: tutoring, sports, music lessons, scouts, church activities, service projects... Really good stuff.  But when and more importantly how do we draw the line?  And do we even want to?  I mean we all know drugs, teen sex, pornography and a life of crime or indolence are lurking around pretty much every corner.  Curtis and I have always believed that keeping kids busy does loads to keep them out of trouble, not to mention that extracurriculars play a huge role on college applications.  So we know there's a place for all this busyness... But seriously when is enough enough?
I am loving yoga these days.  It is definitely my favorite exercise right now.  It helps that my teacher is inspiring and funny and keeps us on our toes with her music choices (Vinyasa to Eminem anyone?)  She reminds me to breathe fully and live in the present moment.  It's disturbing how often I find myself racing around getting all my stuff done and I will stop and realize I haven't had a full inhale in hours!  It doesn't help that I feel pressure all around me to provide evidence that I was a productive human each day.  (I guess kids that are fed and clean aren't enough :O). But I'm realizing that it is so important to take time each day to pray and breathe and meditate.  And to slow down, eat a quiet meal and just be still. (Psalm 46:10)
It was so powerful to watch our little caterpillars turn into Monarchs recently.  I mean I've read about it a million times and watched videos, etc... But I cannot tell you how special it has been to watch it up close and personal.  And I'm invested.  I mean last night I was digging up a milkweed plant in my yard to bring inside for the almost fully grown caterpillars we have inside right now.  I was just too nervous to put them outside because it got really cold this weekend.  I love these little critters. 

 We also keep waking up to these massive spider webs in the backyard.  They are usually gone by midmorning. 

 We took a trip to the Alligator park with our Cub Scout Pack recently and went on a night hike.  Scary right?!  But the sunset was so beautiful.  And nobody got eaten.  :) 

Nature always helps me to slow down and remember what matters.  Oh but forget what I said about being less busy.  Before this post was even completed I had signed Daniel up for Destination Imagination Club and agreed to let all the boys play a winter sport.  Crazinesss here we come!

Summer Color

 This is Pride of Barbados and I love it ! The leaves look like a Mimosa tree but it's much heartier and drought tolerant.  We planted it two years ago and it dies back in the winter but comes back and blooms all summer.  LOVE!  Butterfly and hummingbird friendly Mexican Firebush is in the background.  We've had so many hummingbirds this summer- it has been so fun to watch them zoom in and out of our yard. 

 Coral Honeysuckle is another hummingbird bush and I'm hoping it will be stronger next year.  I have a trellis for it to grow on but planted it late in the spring and it only grew about 5 feet.  My kids go outside sometimes and drink dew out of the little trumpets- they say it tastes sweet.  :) 

Of course I adore Bouganvillia.  I've tried it a few times and think I finally have the trick.  Mine is a variety with thorns so I came up with a simple solution.  I've gone outside with a pair of scissors probably 3 times the whole summer and just trimmed off any thorns.  It took about 3 minutes and voila!  Here is where I found my growing tips.  Also their color started to fade at some point this summer so I added a couple of Tablespoons of Epsom salt diluted in a gallon on water.  The color returned within a week!

Destin Road Trip

We took a mom and kids road trip to Destin this summer!  It was super last minute for me (like I decided the day before- ahhh!)  But I'm so glad we did- it was fantastic!  We left at 5am- of course the kiddos were wide awake and no sleeping in the car.  We listened to The Great Brain and John Bytheway for most of the drive and those basically saved our lives.  I never would have been able to drive for 10 hours straight otherwise.  The kids were good in the car and we had a late lunch at The Golden Corral (which for the record is pretty much as barfy as I remembered it and really not cheap for light eaters like mine.  I did enjoy the meatloaf though)

One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Fort Pickins.  This was an old Civil War Fort and it actually help the famous Native American, Geronimo (which made me really sad actually).  It was neat to see this piece of history though. 

A gigantic front rolled in just as we were leaving the beach at Fort Pickens.  Sort of expected an alien ship to be behind it.

Playing board games and eating ice cream cones in the lobby.  The Hampton Inn at Navarre was awesome.  They were so accommodating and we were able to get some Bananagrams in! YES

EFY, Peacocks and Deer

Jonah and a group of good friends were able to attend Especially For Youth in San Antonio this summer.  They had a fantastic time, made new friends and were spiritually uplifted.  So thankful to live in a place were programs like this are accessible. 

After dropping Jonah off I got a short visit in with my brother Jim's Family.  Military perks include access to parks with tame peacocks and deer.  I brought Daniel along with me and he and I had a wonderful time catching up with my sil, Kathryn and two of her wonderful boys, Jake and Henry.  It's really nice to have family in the same state.  I feel like Curtis and I have been orphans our whole marriage.  Sometimes I long to be around people who've known me for longer than a few years.  :)  Love my family!

It's May?

Seriously time flies.  I looked at my blog and could not believe I hadn't posted in well over 3 months!  So obviously things have been busy here.  But mostly good.  It has been such a beautiful spring and the weather is actually still not too hot!  More later...