We’re back from our first real camping trip with children. It was REALLY fun! We’re so glad we went, and look forwards to many more mini trips. The boys did amazingly well.
Yes, that’s right, we went camping on purpose, in the middle of July, in the South… …and survived. It actually felt wonderful.
We went to Lake Texana in Edna, Texas.
Friday night we headed down and got there just at sunset, we rushed to set up camp in the setting sun and I took the boys around the camp site in an attempt to set up firm boundaries. Kevin had to make a store run because between us we’d somehow forgotten to get cash to pay for our spot. Kevin took Aiden, and Michael, Joey and I stayed back to finish getting things settled at camp. It was pretty late, and I worried about Kevin being able to get back in, but he made it back, we ate a gas station dinner (we expected some fast food down there, it was sparse) and went to bed.
Yesterday morning we got up at 7ish, enjoyed a “honey bun” breakfast, got ready for the day, since we got there so late, when I woke up early yesterday morning, a man on a motor car drove up and said “Did you arrive late lastnight?” I said yes fully expecting to get an earful since we hadn’t straightened out our tags yet, he kindly wrote us up a reminder so we could get things figured out. We decided to take a family walk back to the rangers office to pay and explore about. We’re glad we did because we saw a gator or two.
We brought all of our swimming gear before finding out there are gators. In fact Lake Texana carries the Texas State record for the largest officially recorded alligator at 14 feet. All of the ones we saw were 6 feet or less, but it was so thrilling to see and hear them.
Kevin ran to the store and got some stuff we’d left at home, and the boys and I went to a class about alligators one of the rangers was giving.
Kevin’s friend Isani and his wife Joy came and they are SO fun! I’ve met Isani very shortly on Kevin’s birthday when I brought the left over cake to him from Michael’s class, and never met Joy. They set up camp and Kevin headed off with the boys to a puppet craft. I sat and rocked Joey and talked with Joy and Isani. They are so relaxed and fresh and happy. We really enjoyed being with them.
We sat around and chatted and for once it wasn’t actually more work with the boys because of the way that Joy and Isani acted towards them, and the boys really connected with them. That’s not to say that the boys were angels, not by any stretch, but it was nice to have the attention kinda distributed between more responsible adults. It was like being back home with family.
We took a little walk down to one of the fishing peers and checked out the alligators. Evening came and we decided to start dinner. Joy is a vegetarian and she pulled out some exquisite oatmeal raspberry nut bars. I want the recipe so bad! It was really fun and insightful to talk with her about food. Kevin and Isani put together some t-bone and ribs, and cooked them up, and there was a boca burger and a few beef burgers. Yummy yummy dinner!
After dinner we were sitting talking and these deer would come SO CLOSE. I grew up going to Yellowstone and the deer there are cattle size, here they’re more large dog size. They were so close coming up to us. At one point one walked all the way up to me and nuzzled all along my left arm while I had Joey in my other arm! Hahaha! So weird!
The boys wore themselves out playing and drawing in the dirt. Isani went and got his tambourine, and played and sang for us a little, while the boys danced, it was really cool. Look at Kevin’s blog labeled “Music, Friends, and Extending Boundaries.” To get to know more about him and his background. Before we knew it, it was 10 PM. Kevin took the kids to bed while I nursed then rocked Joey to sleep.
We ended up staying up until 12:30 talking. We didn’t have a camp fire,* so a good part of that was fighting off the raccoons…**
This morning as we were breaking down camp the boys enjoyed their kites that had been bought, forgotten, and mashed about in the trunk a few years ago. Isani and Joy were saints helping them out with fixing up and assembling then flying them while Kevin and I took care of finishing up breaking up camp.
At around 10 Isani and Joy headed out and we were only minutes behind them. Michael was disappointed we didn’t go to the playground one last time, but it was nice to suddenly be ready and just go.
Aiden did pretty well on the potty training front, I think partially because it was a concentrated effort to get everyone over to the toilet when needed, but sometimes, He’s start his potty dance and start yelling “Potty train! Potty TRAIN!” He only had two accidents, and they were both right in front of the bathrooms. As Michael puts it, we’re getting closer and closer to Chuck E. Cheese, our families’ official “potty trained” prize.
*** Pictures are still forthcoming, I’m still dealing with lack of space on my computer and too many pictures, LOL! ***
OK, here are my notes on Lake Texana, skip it if you’re not thinking about ever camping there.
Lake Texana Pros~
Roughly 100 miles or 2 hours drive away. Close, but far enough to really feel like we got away.
Electricity, more than half of the sites have electricity, I think all we used was about 20 minutes for Kevin to try and charge his useless cell…
Running water at the campsite, don’t know if it was drinkable, but it was nice to be able to rinse stuff and wash our hands as needed.
Showers, ahh! Nothing better than a quick shower to make a camping Mama or Daddy feel refreshed.
Bathrooms, flushing toilets, fairly clean, and lit at night!
Real playground, school grade, not just a couple of rough logs bolted together etc…
Nature trails all over the place, and free maps too…
Class at 10 and craft at 2 every Saturday for the kids.
Space, I think we had about half an acre, we were near people on either side but had about 100 yards down to the beach, but the bathrooms were close
Shade, some trees, some structures
Water front breeze
Lake front camping, mowed grass and all.
very nice and helpful rangers~ they had so much to offer, when Michael was moping about not getting souvenir’s they handed him a Texas Parks and Wildlife plastic bag and a stack of literature about camping, animals, and Texas treasures. Also when Isani and Joy arrived, they said “Hi, we’re meeting some friends here” and the ladies said, “Oh you’re with the Steele’s!” and sent them on in! They’d payed that much attention.
Lake Texana Cons~
Gators~ so no swimming, that is if you mind swimming with an animal that could take your arm off, or worse.
**raccoons~ Seriously not cool… Lots of them… No fear of humans, and they wrecked everything in the way of food. One dude left a loaf of bread under his seat in his newly reupholstered boat, and woke up to stuffing and shredded covers. I should have taken a picture of that… Also given that my husband was bitten by a rabid raccoon as a teen and had to go through the rabies treatment… You can figure out the rest…
REALLY noisy. We slept to an entire cricket orchestra, and we’re not sure what else, maybe we don’t want to know, something reminded me of a squeaky wet gym shoe. Could be a plus for some, but I listen to nature sounds as my choice of noise many days (just under the rumble of children) and I just REALLY wanted to turn the volume down…
*Currently there’s a burn ban. You can still have small controlled fires in a grill, but no pit fires. This turned out fine for us, but could be frustrating if you planned on dutch oven, or foil packet foods.
Will we return? We REALLY HOPE SO!!!
That sounds awesome! Electricity & running water on site? I’d be in heaven!
Sounds like a great weekend in the outdoors! Glad it went smoothly.