The Hopkins Family Goes Camping

Last Friday, Will said to me, "Want to go camping?"

"Sure," I replied. "When?"

"How about today," is what he said back.

Well. That was a little out of the blue. Did we have a tent? Uh, nope. Did we have sleeping bags? Also, nope. Did we have camping food, or a cooler, or anything? Nope, nope and again, nope.

But life is short and meant to be enjoyed, so we threw some clothes and toothbrushes into a backpack, packed the kids and dogs into the car, and went to Walmart, which I hate, but which sells 8 person tents for only $50. That is pretty great. Then, after stocking up on sleeping bags, a cooler and food, we headed for the Abilene State Park 15 miles away.

Let me just say, driving 15 miles from home to go camping is 100% awesome. Especially when you're with a 3 year old and a 5 year old. We didn't even hear a single, "Are were there yet?" until we were pulling into the park.

(this is my attempt at being nature-y and taking flower photos...
yeah. I'll stick to drawing flowers, in the future)

And the campground was beautiful! All woodsy with cute little wild flowers all around, and nature trails for walking, and trees for climbing. Twenty minutes of driving and we were in the magical land of campfire smoke, chattering squirrels and chirping birds. Can't beat that, right?

We did have to make sure that Gracie
wouldn't get eaten by wild animals.

But the girls had the best time ever.
Annelie got to climb trees to her heart's content.

Also, the girls were extra excited because we filled the cooler with stuff they don't usually get to have, such as junk food and sugary "juice." I was excited because I hadn't had s'mores in about eight years, and Will and the girls had never had one at all.

(they liked them very much)

Will was excited because he's all nature-y and couldn't wait to go hiking. He calls it casually walking along a nature trail.

I call it hiking up a freakin' (flatish) mountain. Let me just say, I'm not the worlds most outdoorsy person. Not that I don't like the outdoors - I do. But I think outdoorsy people are the kind that like going on long nature hikes and river raft trips and stuff like that. Like my husband.

Me - I like to sit at the picnic table with birds quietly chirping around me (I tend to shush them if they get too loud) and draw in my sketchbook, or read. I sort of take after my mom, whose idea of camping is hanging out in a five star hotel.

And something I forgot about camping - when the sun goes down, it gets dark. When you're waiting for the kids to go to bed so you can read the book you brought along, and then the sun goes down, and you're like, "Oh wait. I didn't bring a flashlight," you don't have a lot of options. In fact, you have two options. Not read, or sit in the car. The stars at night may be big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas... but you still can't read by them.

Luckily, Will offered to hang out in the tent while the kids went to bed and I sat in the car, reclined in my seat with the little side light on, and enjoyed my night. A camping success, if you ask me. Then, once the girls were asleep, Will came back out and got the campfire going again and we had some kid-free hang out time.

In the morning, we hung out around the campsite for a little while, sipping on sugary "juice" and eating breakfast-y things. Then we packed up our tent, sleeping bags and dogs, and off in the direction of home we went.

But not before stopping in the historic town of Buffalo Gap (seriously, how Texas is the name of that town?) for some lunch.


And in only 15 minutes, we were back home, and thoroughly exhausted. A less-than-24-hour camping trip and it felt like we had been gone for ages.

In case you were wondering, the camping trip won
Gracie's Arm Heart of Approval.
Always good.

xoxo,