It was the Hill Country Camping Society's first (annual?) 2-night camping trip. Enchanted Rock was the lucky park to have us and our abundance of tents, camping chairs and children. We are starting to be of the opinion that it takes SO much work to pull this kind of thing off with 3 kids that two nights is the only way to go - it makes all the prep time on both ends worth it.
Here are our two youngest campers - Maggie and Blair hanging out while we set up camp Friday night. (In all fairness, I have to confess that Melissa and I and the babies stayed at a sweet friend's ranch house a few miles from the park - so Rebecca still holds the record for youngest camper - making her debut overnight stay at 3.5 months.)
I find the first thing people ask when we tell them we went to E-Rock is "did you go to the top?" Of course we did! Rebecca rode in the backpack and Maggie in the ergo (first time on the back) and Owen was a trooper and walked the whole way.
That is the journey ahead...
Once we got to the top (and over the 2-3 false summits - "bummer - there's more!?") we hung out on the backside near the cave entrance (which is now marked, unlike in our Camp Buckner days). It was a lot less windier so we sat in relative peace and quiet and ate our picnic lunch. Kyle reminisced about the good ol' days when he and other CB crazies did the cave without flashlights by memory.
Some of the toddlers even went through part of it (with a couple of dads of course). Owen was content to climb up and over the back side. Here he and Kyle are emerging.
Yea!
Uh...Alison - did you know Rebecca had wondered off and was climbing up to find Kyle and Owen on her own? (She emerges - full of pride in her sneaky accomplishment.) Well, no Kyle, I didn't! Hi Rebecca! Hi Mommy!
Not our BOB (or our kids)...but it exemplifies the sentiment of most when we made it back down. If we had had room in our van for our BOB...this would have been us.
Maggie did surprisingly well all weekend - she even managed to keep to her rough schedule - taking 2 naps a day in the tent! Here she is with Christal giving my back a break at the top of the rock.
Does that camo suit look familiar? Life-saver. Saturday night she passed in Kyle's arms before I could get her loaded up to drive her to the ranch for a proper bedtime. Kyle just hated having to sit and hold her and have people bring him bowls of chili. (In all fairness - I don't think the man sat down for more than .45 nanoseconds all weekend.)
Tuckered out.
Just a little bit later she got passed off to me...and the peaceful sleep ended. We headed out for our little home away from camp shortly after.
I should mention that even though Mel and I didn't have to brave the cold nights, we did have some mishaps along the way - a mysterious water valve that eluded us, a snake (?) during our hunt for said water valve, an unplugged water heater (I know...we were really roughing it), and really comfy beds, couches and a flatscreen tv with DirectTV. I know...rough.
*Owen and Rebecca slept in their own tent, with Kyle in a tent right next to them. And it worked! Brave brave Kyle.
Okay, back to camp. Saturday afternoon, the King of Adventure himself (Mr. Trey), with his Fearless Sidekick (Mr. Kyle), set up 2 top-ropes so the kids could do some real rock climbing. Belay is on! (Or, Blaze on!!!) Here is Kyle getting Owen ready for his debut.
Up he goes.
I had to bail right before he went up (both girls were melting down), so didn't get to watch, but supposedly he wanted to use his knees a lot. Ahem. He gets that from me. Why climb when you can crawl?
Daddy teaching him proper form.
Getting there.
Almost to the top...
Woohoo!!!
Now rappelling back down - with Daddy close behind.
Weeeeeeeeeee!
Meanwhile...back at camp. Have you ever seen a little girl in pink with a dirtier mouth? Seriously, this picture doesn't do it justice...
A little better here? (That's her smile pose - head tilted.)
And when we weren't climbing E-Rock or helping the kids develop other very safe hobbies, there was a playground right at our campsite!
And just lots of bike riding and wondering around. And pretending. With sticks.
Another thing that made the weekend extra special is that it was Blake's 2nd Birthday! Mel made some super delicioso s'more cookie/bars to celebrate. Sweet boy.
The only picture we have (thanks to Mel) of camp...and some men actually sitting down. Seriously, it takes a village to pull this kind of thing off - and even though we planned/brought the food for meals - everyone was sooooooo super hands on and helpful which meant no one ever stayed sitting down for long. From prepping the next meal to cleaning up to chasing after rogue children (usually Rebecca), it was a very successful team effort. Thanks HCCS!
Two nights next fall???
*A couple of fun statistics related to pulling this weekend off: 12 families, 200 eggs, 250 slices of bread, 5 crockpots of chili (we had leftovers), 3 carts at Cost-Co...
Melissa's take on the weekend for those who haven't had enough...
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