lake tawakoni

When we realized that the kids had a long weekend in October, Kevin quickly arranged to take a Personal Day!  He started looking into State Parks and trying to make a reservation, but we literally couldn't find ANY reservations!  He finally found one open slot at Lake Tawakoni, and we were thrilled!  Since they have biking trails throughout the park, we loaded up the bikes as well. 

Our car was chock full of stuff, but Colby didn't actually fall asleep since it was only about an hour and 20 minute drive.

As soon as we entered the park. we saw the most adorable group of fawns grazing in a grassy area.  The kids were dying at how cute they were, and we were all just eager to find our site and get settled in. 

One quick pic before we started the unloading process...

We had just enough sunlight to set up camp and go exploring on our bikes!

I tried to follow the kids down to the beach, and as I went over the edge of the crest, my seat tipped backwards and I nearly fell off my bike, haha.  I tried to adjust it back to its original position, but it wouldn't stay put, and since we didn't have any tools with us, I couldn't use my seat the whole way back to our campsite.  My legs were burning and I couldn't stay laughing!  Especially when Kevin started taking a video and said, "Katie, why don't you sit down?" I'm honestly lucky I didn't pee my pants, haha. 

As I stopped to take pictures of the beautiful sunset, Colby asked for a picture with me.  I just adore this sweet boy!

We were having pizza for dinner, and since we had two crusts, I let each kid customize a pizza.  

Colby went with a smiley face theme...

And Brooke went with a bullseye...

They were both delicious, but Kevin definitely cooked the second one better than the first.  Cooking over coals is definitely not an easy art!

And no campfire is complete without an evening s'more!  As we sat around the fire, we heard rustling off in the trees.  Our tent neighbors had already warned us about the excessive raccoons in the area, but as I shined my light off towards the sound, I saw beady little eyes staring back at me.  Brooke was immediately freaked out and wanted to go in the tent, but I assured her (half-certainly) that the raccoon wouldn't come over to where we were sitting. 

Kevin started cracking jokes about how the raccoons just wanted to join our pizza party, and he was somewhat successful in lightening the mood.  Later that night, as Colby tripped over the tent stake, Kevin made some joke about Colby getting tripped by a raccoon booby-trap.  The whole raccoon thing was becoming quite the family joke, so when Colby said our goodnight prayer, he said "Please help the raccoons to leave us alone, and if they come close to us, Daddy will give 'em a whoopin'."  We all busted up laughing, first of all that Colby would say something like that because we definitely don't talk about "giving something a whoopin'", but secondly because it was just so funny that it was on his mind. 

Well, the raccoons didn't bother us during the night, but there was a dog that kept me up for hours! It sounded like he was right on the street near our site, but I had no idea why someone wouldn't make him quiet down.  Thankfully, it didn't wake Kevin or the kids. 

I laughed when I saw Colby completely off his thermarest because he tried very hard to convince me that he NEEDED a super comfy mat like the one I ordered for myself.  After our last campout, I vowed that I would not be camping again until I upgraded.  The good news: I was super comfortable, which was good news since we were staying two nights. 

Colby was the first one up the next morning, so he asked me to take him to the bathroom.  When we got back, we climbed into my double sleeping bag to snuggle.  Moments later, he asked if we could go make the fire.  I wasn't ready to get that started yet, so I suggested that we wait for Daddy to wake up.  He confidently said, "Mom, I know exactly what to do.  Seriously!"  I was fairly certain that he actually did, but we still waited a bit and then I sent Kevin outside with him :)

                                                      

Colby then kept himself entertained by drawing on a rock with a hot stick...

 

Brooke was a little sleeping beauty...

She finally woke up and started the morning with some hot cocoa and hammock snuggles...

One thing I have really loved about camping is cooking all the food together.  It's definitely a process when you're cooking over fire and coals, but since the whole family is involved, it makes the work more fun.  

Brooke needed sunglasses to shield her eyes from all the smoke, haha. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the scrambled eggs and sausage!

Then it was off to fishing!  We were all pretty excited about this quaint little fishing pond, but we didn't catch a single fish.  Well, technically Colby caught a tiny fish, but he must not have been on the hook because as Colby pulled the line out of the water, the little fish jumped off.  We also think some turtles nibbled the worms off a few hooks.

Kevin rebaited all the hooks after the turtles stole our worms...

Colby waited patently to catch something, but it just wasn't his day!

I had no idea the park had so many bike trails, but we covered nearly 4 miles of trails that first day!  Brooke and I have beach cruisers, so I'm sure we were quite the sight. At least her bike has gears!  But I'm so proud that we carried on despite all the large roots covering the trails.  Needless to say, the ride was VERY bumpy!  I found multiple videos on my phone as it was being jostled to and fro in my bike basket, haha. 

The lake was stunning and incredibly calm!  

I loved watching my family explore a new place, but around this time, Colby started getting tired.  Neither one of us have gears, so I understood his frustration!  And then I saw his seat, and realized just how bumpy it had been for my little dude...

But he pressed through until we did almost all of the trails.

We headed back to camp to get the coals ready for dinner, but since I had promised to let Colby swim that afternoon, him and I headed to the lake while Brooke and Kevin manned the fire.  It was incredibly squishy, just like I warned him, but at least I kept my word.  I got my feet in, but the muck was too much for me!  

When we made it back to our site, Colby warmed his toes by the coals.

I can't remember what we cooked that night, but I think it was steaks, followed by a cinnamon/sugar pull-apart bread in the dutch oven.  A raccoon ran through our campsite and Colby yelled something about "using a flashlight to take a selfie."  That kids is nuts! As we sat around the fire, we reminisced about old trips, talked about our day of adventure, and listened to our Harry Potter audiobook.  

We all slept well, and this time, Colby actually stayed on his sleeping mat :) Probably because he was so exhausted, haha. 

It was such a beautiful, peaceful morning and I felt so grateful for this time away from the cares of the world.  Our cell reception was pretty terrible, but in this situation, it felt like a blessing in disguise. 

And nothing says camping more than eating chips before breakfast, haha.  Her rationale:  "Well, I didn't eat chips yesterday when you offered them to me, so can I just have them now?"

We made pancakes together, then packed up camp before heading out on one last adventure. 

Oh, and Colby asked that I document his dirt pile, so here it is in all its glory!  

Kevin really wanted to ride the last (and longest: about 2 miles) trail that we skipped the day before, so that's exactly what we did. 

There were several steep sections with huge tree roots, so Brooke opted to walk her bike instead. 

We even saw some guys pull their boat out of the water and over to a fish prepping station, so we stopped for a quick lesson.  The man in the blue shirt offered to have his father-in-law teach the kids how to cut out the gill cage, but our kids politely declined. 

Lastly, after lots of begging from Colby, we let the kids attempt to fish ONE last time! Again, we were unsuccessful, but I did find a tiny snake and pinned him down with a stick!

Much to Colby's dismay, I didn't let him hold the snake, but since my cell service was nonexistent, I couldn't fact check my assumption that the snake was harmless. 

And that's a wrap on our trip!  Sometimes you just need to get away from it all...