Jeffrey and his family were supposed to visit for Spring Break, but then they all got Covid. We were disappointed, but Brooke was especially devastated. So we tried to cheer ourselves up with a quick campout in Dinosaur Valley State Park.
I am training Brooke well because she wanted to take pictures of us setting up camp. The kids are so incredibly helpful in the process, which makes camping a whole lot easier.
The kids were all snuggled up in the hammock, but as soon as I tried to get a picture, they pretended to sleep.
We did a bit of exploring after dinner and ended the night with s'mores and "stick-mallows." We all ate way too much, but we had the best time around the campfire together. We started talking about past camping trips and Kevin's epic hammock fail came up. We were all seriously cracking up and I just wanted to freeze that moment. Family time is the best time!!
We slept well in our tent, but it was pretty chilly the next morning. Thank goodness for hot chocolate!
Colby was back at the wood chopping after getting the fire was going. He's a natural camper :)
After breakfast, we studied the map and had a plan to stop at all the major dinosaur track sites.
Hardly anyone was around, which made the whole experience so peaceful and serene. Just look at those clouds!
Having these experiences as a family are seriously so important to me. Sometimes the kids (or Kevin) suggest inviting friends with us, but I really want to keep it as sacred family time, so I'm pretty hesitant to agree. I love being with friends as well, but it would change the whole experience and I feel like I crave this time away, just the four of us.
We stopped at a ranch to see the horses and I think we'll definitely be back for a horseback ride through the beautiful park.
The trails were all fairly easy, which was a welcome surprise.
This was just what our family needed. I'm so glad that Kevin was able to take the day off work and spend it with us! And Kevin was especially glad that I brought two beanies since he accidentally forgot his at home, which is VERY unlike him.
It was such a beautiful day to be out and about, but that water was FREEZING! My legs were numb from wading through the Paluxy River, so there was no way I was going to submerge myself into the waters of the Blue Hole. Colby, on the other hand, was crazy enough to jump in! He almost didn't do it because he didn't want to have to wear his ear plugs, but he did it! It was only 46 degrees outside, so he was most definitely the only one in there.
We walked hand-in-hand through the river until it was too deep for our liking, then hit the trail over to the main track site.
These are the Sauropod tracks, which were large elephant-like tracks. The therapod tracks, believed to be made by the Acrocanthosaurus, were the smaller ones with the distinct three-toed pattern.
It was incredibly mossy this year, which I think has something to do with the fact that the river was super dry all last summer and the water wasn't flowing. But it looked super cool and Colby was intrigued by the chunk of dried up moss he found.
What a great adventure! Let's do it again soon, my little family.
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