Annual Beach trip to Padre Island

So Hubby decided we needed to try to do our beach camping trip earlier this year before the heat of the summer started to roll in like last year.

We decided to go camping Easter weekend because the kids would be out of school on the Good Friday. Last year we were driving back from Utah Easter weekend, doesn't seem like its already been a year.

So we planned to have everything packed up and ready to go when the kids go out of school Thursday afternoon. Yeah, right. Best laid plans so didn't happen. At least Hubby did put up the tent and clean it really good the weekend before. Unlike when we went camping at Pedernales a month after last year's beach trip to Padre Island and the tent was still covered in sand. Yeah that was pretty miserable with everything coated in sand. Yuck.

So at least we didn't have that issue. All in all it really only took us about 4 hours to get everything organized, packed and loaded. But it was still waaaaaay later than we'd planned to leave.

Hubby found out there is NAS (Naval Air Station) billeting down near Corpus Christi, so we'd already arranged to sleep there Thursday night. We'd just planned to get there by 10 pm... instead of leaving the house around 10 pm. Four+ hours later we arrived at the "hotel". It was really nice sleeping on fairly comfortable and clean sheets.

Camping was fun... but also miserable. It was soooo windy. Everything became coated in sand. Not just "sandy" like caked in sand. It was horrible sleeping in what felt like a layer of sand in the air mattress bed... which ended up with a big ole hole in it the second night and lost all it air.

We took Roger the puppy with us. We made an interesting discovery, He didn't handle car trips very well. He didn't bark... he just yacked. Often. Thankfully he was in a pet carrier the whole time. He also didn't enjoy the beach very much. He was most pathetic about being in the sand. Don't think we'll be taking him on the next beach camping trip.

The kids had a great time. Played in the water, made lots of sand castles, looked for seashells, and found a few Man-O-War jellyfish. No one got seriously burnt this year. Child#1 had a few red spots that have already turned to tan. I only got slightly burnt on my back/shoulders during the two hours we packed up camp. Not bad since I didn't remember to put sunscreen on. Nothing like last year!

I think we've decided that while it seems all wonderful to camp on the beach... we'd really like to maybe stay at the NAS again and come to the beach for the day... going back to hot showers and clean (sand free) beds... maybe sleeping on the beach for one night with the last night definitely at the NAS before heading for home. I think if Hubby and I could have figured out how to quickly pack up the camp that second night we would have and just driven home that night... that's how miserable we both were feeling.

Honestly I think I'm more of a park camper and not a beach camper. Perferably in moderate weather. LOL!

Camping at Enchanted Rock

Hubby took Child #1 and Child #3 camping to Enchanted Rock last night. They all had a good time and enjoyed hiking up the Rock this morning... until Child #3 fell and landed with his hand in a prickly pear cactus.

Then he was done and ready to go home. NOW!

Needless to say wasn't the greatest ending to a fun trip but at least he does still remember having fun.

Pedernales Falls

I've come to the conclusion that I'm an Oct to April camper... not a July to August summertime camper. At least not in Texas. Its just too damn hot during the summer here! BLECK!!

A friend's family and our family just spent the weekend camping and enjoying the beautiful state park of Pedernales Falls. Her three kids are the same age at Child #1 & Child #2 and they all have lots of fun together. The water was high (from the recent rains) and cool. The temperature was hot. Very hot. But it was the flies that were the worst. Swarms of them at a hint of food. Yuck. I'd forgotten about how nasty they were last year we camped here. The family that was with us last year had a screen tent that we set up over the picnic table area so we weren't bothered while we ate. This time Hubby and I ate dinner on Saturday night after the kids while walking around. The flies were just so horrific that we had to keep moving around or they would just... ick! Definitely putting a screened tent of the list of MUST HAVE for the next camping trip.

Definitely enjoyed sleeping on the air mattress over the thin mattress pad from last month. A bonus was having an electrical outlet to plug into... with an extension cord and the box fan that we brought. Having a "breeze" really does make a difference when its hot out, especially when you are trying to sleep.

The nice bathrooms and showers are also wonderful too. Its amazing how much better you feel even in the heat after having a nice cool shower to rinse the funk of the day off.

Most of Saturday was spent lazing around down on the river in the cool water. Everyone enjoyed the water and had fun.

No one was seriously burned this trip. A few spots of being "sun kissed". So I think we've gotten the kids into the habit of using sunscreen and keeping hats on their heads.

Some how we ended up not taking a SINGLE photograph. How did that happen?

Now I just need to sort through all the laundry and re-pack the camping gear for the "next" trip.

Enjoying the beach

Well, we were talking about going camping with the kids before the weather turned really hot... yeah like it isn't already hot here... but we are talking the scorching oppressive heat that is a Texas summer day. So going to Pedernales Falls State park was gonna be the choice of camping location when I heard the morning guys on the radio talking about camping on the beach at Port Aransas. Hmm camping on the beach, the kids would sooo love that. I remember camping on Pismo Beach CA when I was a child, it was awesome and an experience I wish my kids could have. Soooo in light of recent events in the Gulf with the British Petroleum oil drilling platform exploding and continuing to pump millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico maybe its a good idea to hit the beach sooner rather than later when the oil sludge starts washing up on the sand. I've never been to Port A before so it would be an adventure for me too.

All week the weather forecast kept saying scattered thunderstorms for the weekend. Great camping in the rain isn't fun and at the beach really isn't fun. So we kept watching and hoping that it wouldn't rain. Game plan was to load up and leave Friday morning-ish and stay until Sunday afternoon. Its a four hour drive from Austin. Friday the day went out every direction but how we planned. So we thought we'll leave late afternoon and get there Friday night setup camp and go to bed. As the day progressed we decided we'll sleep at home and get up really early (by 5 am) and head out to get to the beach by mid morning. Yeah that worked... 5 am and its a massive storm outside, thunder, lightning and a gully wash of rain. Good thing we threw a tarp over everything loaded on the roof rack of the truck or it would have been a really unpleasant experience with a wet tent. Needless to say both Hubby and I rolled over and went back to sleep until the storm was over a few hours later. A friend of Hubby's was also at Port A with his family (staying in a condo) and he texted message that it was storming really bad there right about the time we had been planning on arriving to the beach. Sooo because of the Hunter Family tradition of getting a late start on a trip totally worked in our favor. If we'd gotten down to Port A on Friday we'd have been in the rainstorm in a tent with 4 freaked out kids aka we'd have been sitting in the Land Cruiser watching everything get soaked. Or if we had gotten up at 5am and headed out we would have been in the middle of that storm... don't know if the kids would ever want to go camping with us again... don't know if I'd ever want to go camping again. LOL!

So we finally got on the road and heading to Port A late Saturday morning. We did a leisure drive down and stopped at a local Farmer's Market on the way and picked up some peaches and a watermelon.

Hubby decided that he wanted to camp as far away from other people as possible... so instead of camping at Mustang Island State Park where there are shelters and electrical plugins and BATHROOMS... he decides we need to truly camp further down the coast at Padre Island National Seashore... about 4 miles down the beach away from any civilization. seriously?!?! So we didn't even get to have one of those semi-sheltered picnic tables. We were on the empty beach. Yeah got to teach the kids how to make a "cat hole" because there weren't any bathroom facilities.



It was early evening once we picked a spot. The kids went down to play "near" the water on the beach while Hubby and I unloaded and set up the tents. At one point I looked up and with the sun low in the sky and looking over the seaweed dune line between us and the kids I could see them jumping and hopping along the sand all carefree and joyous. It was that perfect Kodak home movie moment... of course the camera was in the truck at the time and the kids all wanted to pose once Hubby got the camera and tried to catch them unaware.

It was beautiful to see though.

After we got the tent set up and a fire going we enjoyed hot dogs and then later of course s'mores. I think that is really the reason the kids love to camp. LOL!

Kids also got to chase a little sand crab around for a few minutes. Especially once it vacated the tent.

Kids went to bed while Hubby and I enjoyed the evening and the stars. We even got to see a little sand mouse scurry around in the darkness.

Sleep wasn't the greatest because we couldn't use the air mattress, the pump that uses the car plug didn't get packed... so it was sleeping on a thin pad... not that great, I'm an air mattress camper now.

A good time was had by all though we made a few discoveries on items to always take with us camping... a good sun cover being one of them.

Everyone got burnt except for Child #2 who kept reapplying sunscreen every couple of minutes... he had a distinct bluish cast from the Avon "disappearing blue" sunscreen. Guess he learned from last year's camping trip to Pedernales Falls where he got blistered on his back & arms. Very bad mommy for not noticing that he'd taken his rash top off and was out of the water/shade most of the time!! Boy doesn't take his rash top off now.

Hubby and Child #1 got it the worst on their backs... definitely two crispy critters.