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.

Who's amazing? Who's amazing? Yep, that would be me!!

We are a Star Wars family. Hubby and I grew up on the original trilogy... I still remember seeing the first movie in the theatre. We have all the movies on DVD and the kids love the animated series The Clone Wars... they watch the DVR'd episodes over and over and over.

And over and over and over... you get the idea.

Out of all the kids I think Child #2 is truly the biggest Star Wars fan. He got a bunch of Star Wars Legos for Christmas last year and his birthday this year... I did lots of sniping auctions on eBay. His favorite book is the Star Wars Lego Visual Dictionary... I think he's got every page memorized. Anytime he is sitting reading, that is the book he's got with him.

Well, the Star Wars in Concert is coming to Austin next week. I really wanted to take him but tickets are $65 each... eek! So needless to say that isn't in the budget.

KLRU our local PBS station had a give away for two tickets to the show... and I just won a pair. Unbelievable! Talk about total luck.

So I mentioned it to Child #2 and that we only had two tickets. One would be for him and one would be for either Mommy or Daddy. He didn't have to make a decision right now about who would take him... he could think about it for a while. Without a moment's hesitation...

"Daddy!"

Okay so I'm chopped liver??

Seriously, who is it that finds Star Wars books for him? Who reads those books to him? Who searched and sniped for the specific Lego sets that he would want off of eBay? Who takes the time to carefully swipe under the furniture and pick up any rogue Legos laying around before vacuuming any room in the house? Who listens to him wax on and on about various characters? Okay so we both do that one... Who took the time to record as many of the Clone War episodes as possible? Who found out about this concert? Who tried to get tickets? Who won said tickets??

Yeah, that would be me... guess I'm not amazing enough to be that special parent. Sigh... its hard sometimes to not be jealous when they pick the other parent...