Boyer/Wallace Camp-out!

This weekend my sister, Kate, and her family joined our family for a camping trip to Lake Tawakoni State Park. We spent 2 nights enjoying our joining campsites and being surrounded by God's beautiful creation.
 

Boyer family

Wallace family

The kids had a blast catching frogs, looking for other critters, playing in the dirt and swimming in the lake. The big boys had fun fishing on Uncle Dustin's new boat, and playing with fire. The Momma's enjoyed a few moments of relaxing, and a chance to spend quality time with our families. All eight of us enjoyed sitting around the fire, listening to the frogs sing at night, and eating some delicious camp meals.

silly cousins...these two LOVE eachother

happy little fisherman

We brought enough s'mores fixins for both nights and the kids, oh heck, all of us were happy to chow down on one of the best parts of camping around the camp fire each evening. Levi and Nora are actually old enough to roast marshmallows fairly well on their own, and had a blast!

 

The best way to get away from the heat while camping is to enjoy the lake. Even though this park did not have a well maintained beach, we all enjoyed some time relaxing by the water. The kids didn't even seem to notice that the water was muddy and the shore line was very squishy and weedy. Nora and Levi could have lived in the water the whole visit. Asher LOVED playing the in the mud and splashing around on the edge. Joel mostly hung out on the shore occasionally dipping his feet in.

The first night the kids spotted a very small baby raccoon near the base of one of the trees in our camp site. It seemed to be sleeping and possibly injured. The next morning we noticed it had not moved and was still seeming ill. We told one of the rangers and they said they would come check it out. Meanwhile, Kate found another baby raccoon that looked like it could be a litter mate. When the ranger came to check on the first baby he asked if there were any others. Luckily the other little one was still near by and he was able to pick them both up to take them to a safe place and take care of them. He said they were so young they should still be living in a nest, and that we probably saved their lives. It was a very fun experience for the kids and adults alike. They sure were cute!

My parents were able to join us for dinner on Saturday night, which was a special treat. Nora and Levi put on a show for us that involved Levi singing while riding a bike and then a very well planned, rehearsed and  executed "fan dance" by Nora. Nora even made us all personalized fans. It was quite the show, we were so captivated we didn't get any pictures :)

On Sunday morning we woke up to a cooler and very overcast day. Both Kate and I noticed many people we in a hurry to pack up and head home, but neither of us thought of checking the weather. Well, while we were making our yummy breakfast of bacon and egg breakfast burritos it started to sprinkle. By the time we were trying to eat it was starting to pour down rain, so we scrambled to get everything packed up (luckily the guys already had a great start on this before the rain hit) and ended up eating standing under trees and using the one umbrella we had. It was an adventure to say the least, and I think Levi was the only one to really enjoy the experience. He was soaking wet and grinning ear to ear as we pulled out of the camp site. The other kids were whiny and none to pleased about getting rained on. I couldn't really blame them! Crazy weather, but led to family memories for sure! The photos don't do the rain justice...we were all soaked!

All and all it was a wonderful trip and I look forward to more Boyer/Wallace camping adventures in the future. Both of our families love to camp, and I think it will be such a fun way for us to spend time together and for the cousins to build strong relationships. This beautiful world and our families are, in my opinion, two of God's greatest gifts...so how could family camping trips be anything but a great idea :).