March 2018- They say it's my birthday!

I have to admit that I have considered giving up on this effort to catch up on this blog.

But... my kids love to look through the the printed books and recently I thought I had lost all of the pictures from my phone and from my laptop that I had used in my last 2 posts. I was so relieved when I realized I had blogged those pictures so they were preserved somewhere. (As a side note, I found the missing pictures tonight and have tried re-saving them to my computer. Fingers crossed.)

 I started my birthday with famous pancakes that were made even more amazing by being smothered in German chocolate cake frosting. 

Then, I had the blessing of serving lunch to some senior citizens as CCA. 

 Samantha was a great helper. 

And then, we finished the day with the most delicious German Chocolate Cake made by Peter. It was a wonderful day! 39 won't be so bad and I am looking forward to 40! I have realized that it is not as old as I once thought it was. 

March 2018- Spring Break Day 3

We all enjoyed a bit of sleeping in and then packed up and headed home. 

We decided to stop at the Fossil Rim Wildlife Park on our way home. It was really cool! 

 Since you can not drive over 10 mph in the park we let the kids pile in the front row and even venture up to our laps when we were stopped. 

 Samantha loved it! 

The kids each took a turn sticking their head out of the sunroof. 

 We stopped at In-n-Out burger for a delicious non back packing food dinner. 

And Lily represented how most of us were feeling by the time we made it home. We spent a lot of time in the car but had a great trip spending time outdoors and with each other. 

March 2018- Spring Break Day 2

 We made it through the night but it was not my best night of sleep in my life.  We had a sprinkle of rain in the middle of the night that caused Peter and I to jump into action and put rain flies on tents. 

 Packing up and eating oatmeal. 

 The hike back to the car was not as long as it could have been since we had made part of it the night before. Samantha struggled with the little bit we did hike. We had already planned to take drive to Brenham and go to the Blue Bell Factory. It was a fantastic break and the ice cream was delicious! 

We decided to simplify our lives and camp at the established campsite that we had originally wanted to hike to and sleep at the first night.  We opted not to hike in to it but just drive and unload and enjoy some fishing, swinging in hammocks, reading, and hanging out- oh, and hot showers. 

Jon showing off his new skill of cooking ramen noodles. 

This night Peter and I sat and looked at the stars after the kids were in bed. It was lovely! 

March 2018- Spring Break Day 1

Family Backpacking Trip

Lone Star Trail

 Loaded up and ready to hit the road. 

 We stopped at a gas station with fresh peach everything including soft serve ice cream. 

It was so good! 

 We arrived, put on our packs and hit the trail! 

 A fallen tree provided the perfect photo op. 

We hiked in to where we thought we were going to camp for the night but the kids were not thrilled with the roughing it idea of just sleeping off of the trail. So, we hiked back another 1-1.5 miles to a better clearing we had passed and spent the night there. We let them vote and that is what they chose though they were all done hiking by that point. My favorite part was watching them work together to help each other over a few little streams and awkward mini ravines that we passed along the way. I love my family!