Lake Somerville Camping

Mike here :)
Since the weather is getting to be near perfect, it was time to introduce Bryson to the wonderful world of camping. My friend Jason and I decided to take our boys to Lake Somerville. Neither of us had been there, but because all the other campgrounds were filled up, we decided to check it out.



Enjoying a morning donut

We arrived to a beautiful day with 25-35mph winds. They were pretty brutal and made putting the tents up a challenge. The boys decided to play trucks in the sand behind the picnic table canopy.



After getting our campgrounds setup, we went to the lake to throw some rocks and check out the animals. We discovered an armadillo, 2 baby vultures, clam, woodpecker, geese, and seagulls. After tossing rocks for almost a hour, it was time to head back to get the campfire going.



Once the campfire got going, the boys were told to hold their hotdogs over the fire.



"Over the fire" to a 3 year old means 5' away from the flames.


Eventually, they got the idea. Hot dogs in tortillas for dinner and of course Smores for dessert.

Conversation during hot dog eating:

Bryson: Hey, Wyatt.

Wyatt: What Bryson?

Bryson: This is fun.

Wyatt: I like camping.



Bedtime.



Bryson slept real well considering it got down to about 37 degrees. At 3 in the morning he woke up and was a bit cold, so we shared a sleeping bag until 6:30. Sure was cold and nothing warms a boy up more than a fire and some more donuts!



There were two geese that decided to guard our cars as we were packing up. They weren't real friendly so we decided to mess around with them.



Before we left, more rock throwing was in order.




Just before we got home, we stopped for some ice cream. Overall a fantastic trip. Everyone had a fantastic time and Bryson can't wait to go again.

Crayon Project

Yesterday while Finley was napping Bryson and I did a little activity before I started working. I thought it was so fun, easy and worth a post. It's a great idea to use up a bunch of old crayons, or you could start bringing home all of the extra crayons that you get at restaurants. I don't usually bring them home, but now I have a fun reason to!

You take the wrappers off of the crayons and break them into halves or thirds. Then you place them in a muffin tin with or without cupcake holders. It probably would have been a good idea to put similar colors together, but we just threw them in to see what they would make.



You then bake them at 275 degrees in the oven for 8 minutes. I had to add a few minutes and then mix it a little with a toothpick to melt the rest of a few chunks, but it was easy. They will come out runny, but you just let them set and cool down for a while, and then you'll have new crayons to play with! I was thinking it would be fun to use my mini muffin tins too, but didn't think about it until afterward. These sure made me crave some Reese's peanut butter cups ;)

Springtime Vacation

WARNING - LOTS of pictures ahead!!

Last week was Bryson's spring break at his preschool, so we thought it would be a good time to head out of town for some fun. We decided on heading to San Antonio, because there is a lot to do for the kids there, and it's always fun to stay on the Riverwalk. We headed down on Tuesday, checked into the hotel and played around in the room for a bit. The kids had fun jumping off of the luggage cart for a while before we returned it.


Modeled some sunglasses..


Took some more pictures...




We went and had some dinner as Bryson told us how much he wanted to ride the boats in the river. After dinner we waited to ride the boat...




This is how they spent the ride...



We headed back to the hotel after the boat ride, and picked up some free popcorn the hotel had, and went back to the room to watch Finding Nemo before bedtime.



The next morning we headed to the zoo where we saw bears


and monkeys. They monkeys were SO funny...


Of course her brother was just as funny as the monkeys...



We visited the petting zoo, and Bryson brushed a goat...


...and Mommy chased Finley around while she chased the goats.


Bryson spotted a bald eagle...


Mike and Bryson jumped across the lilly pads...


We saw 2 HUGE turtles...


...before Bryson became one himself.


He chased a duck nearby.


We took a break at a small picnic table and watched some monkeys swing around.



Bryson became a prairie dog.


We watched some BIG fish!




Finley finally fell asleep in my arms, and we walked around for a bit longer before heading back to the riverwalk to eat dinner.


After dinner we headed for a treat at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and Bryson loved this big bear!


The next day we headed to Sea World and went to see Shamu as our first show. Finley watched intently in her usual state....thumb in mouth...


...and decided she really liked it!


We saw a few other shows, and Bryson enjoyed them all. We took a break after a few shows because Bryson wanted to ride the kid roller coaster. He just made the height cut off, and Mike won the war to take him (even though the last time we were around roller coasters I was pregnant and stood with Bryson while he, my sister, and my brother-in-law all got to ride roller coasters, one of my favorite things....but I digress...it was just a kiddy roller coaster after all). They stood in line for 45 minutes to ride a 40 second ride. How do we know it was only 40 seconds long you ask? Mike took a video of the whole thing. Bryson loved it!




We looked at the cute little penguins...






After a long day at Sea World we headed back to the hotel, gave the kids a bath and let them run wild for a bit.


We relaxed for a bit too!


The next morning we headed down to the lobby to meet our friends, the Dunmires who were also staying in the same hotel, and headed to breakfast. I didn't get any pictures at breakfast, but before we headed out of the hotel lobby, Bryson (and his puppy) took a picture with the old car in the lobby. The hotel we stayed in was an old restored bank. It was so fun!


Later that day we headed to the Quadrangle at Fort Sam Houston Army Base where there are animals that wander around and you can feed them right out of your hand.



Finley was still asleep when we got there, but we woke her up shortly, and she loved running after the ducks.






The animals were all really nice, except for the last few minutes right before we left, when one of the ducks bit Finley's arm. She had a little bruise and had a good cry, but she was a tough girl! After we left the Quadrangle we headed to the park near the zoo to have a picnic lunch and then ride the train in the park. Both kids loved riding the train!








The next morning we headed out to the Dunmire's parent's new house they built near New Braunfels and celebrated a birthday. We didn't get any pictures after we left the park near the zoo. We had a really good time on our trip, but the kids were worn out and we were ready to be home and back on a schedule. We hope you enjoyed all the pictures!!