Memorial Day Camping Trip

Let me start off by saying YES...you are about to be subjected to a TON of pictures :) But it is SOOO hard for me to pick and choose what I post. And trust me there are 3x more pictures for me to post...but I haven't got that kind of time to wait on blogger to upload them :) Besides, I think pictures tell the BEST stories!!

For Memorial Day we went camping at Mineral Wells State Park. My parents also got to come and that was a lot of fun. It did rain the entire time we were there, but that did stop us. Heck we had a week of London just like that PLUS frigid weather to top it off! Friday evening and Saturday we pretty much just lazed around and watched the on and off rain fall. Cut a few ZZZZ's here and there. It was perfect! Sunday we were ready to explore!!! There were 2 main trails they had marked on the map of the park (there were others but they were a bit to primitive and marshy-like due to all the rain). We got to the area where the trail indicated that there'd be rock climbing. We get there and it's gated off because of the all the rain...guess they didn't want to deal with the whole being liable for someone slipping off the cliff and dying...or something silly like that :) Well that didn't stop us...we slipped under the gate and man am I glad we did!! This place was awesome and I recommend that EVERYONE (if given the chance) go check this out! Now we were forewarned that a group of people had seen a copperhead...but we plugged along (we'd already checked it out once earlier in the day and this was actually our second trip cause we really wanted Mom and Dad to see it). Take a look below and you might be able to understand why...and I see now that pictures just don't do it justice.

Jim took this shot just as you come under the gate this is one of the first sights you see. A bit intimidating to peer over the cliff and see how far down this is...possibly 40-50 foot drop. The kids were stressing me out by how close they were getting to the edge!














This shot might help you see the depth. (That's me holding Brayden.)














There were several caves and crevasses and the shots below show just how big some of them where. Mind you that the walls of these caves/crevasses were lined in several places with zillions of daddy long legs!



















































Matt (being the camera ham that he is) wanted Dad to catch him jumping off this rock embedded in the crevasse)...

**I have a great shot below of Jim and the kids in the rocks...dadgum Blogger erased it and I can't get to reinsert correctly**

Ready



















Set














Jump














Land














...promptly plant butt on ground :)














She really wanted me to take a picture of this huge leaf that she'd found, but as you can see...that was not the natural beauty I was wanting to capture!



















My kids were really wanting to climb some rocks. This one was about a 45 degree angle and was pretty tough!



















Nat really didn't have the proper shoes on, but she didn't care...she wanted in on the action!



















She was bound and determined to go higher than Matt did...shoes or no shoes! ...and she did!!














Matt was pleased nonetheless with his achievement :)














Still in the mood for more they decided to move to the next higher set of rocks...














**I have a shot of Natalie crossing the rocks in the blog below. Blogger's being a real pill tonight and I don't know why it keeps deleting my pictures. So, see below....**

Daddy even joined in on the climb, and I got a great shot of my climbers.















As they made their way down I was being beckoned my the little one to witness his rock climb...














He had his sights set on a rock that he wanted scale!














And with a little help from the Pop Pops...he did it!!














My Ladies Man and his Pop Pop! You'll see Grandma in the pink shirt headed up the stairs. I don't think she was too keen on the idea of the copperhead in the rocks :)

















**Again, please see the blog below for a shot of Brayden with his Grandma horsing around with the faucet while we are down below rock climbing**

The caves above Nat's head are first seen as you descend on the stairs that lead to the ravine. We decided to try an alternate way back to the top...


































On the way back to the campsite the kids wanted to walk thru the spillway (which is at the entrance to all the camp areas). With all the rain it was coming over non-stop. The top of the spillway is at eye level as you drive by. It's kinda odd...

You'll notice that Matt's a bit wet...that was NOT by his own doing. Daddy drove by in the suburban and doused him!!!







































This smile says it all.....it was a GREAT time!