Last year for Memorial Day weekend, our family started a new tradition! We went camping at Palo Duro with my side of the family and had a blast. SO much so that we decided to make it a yearly thing. This year, we chose to visit Lake Tawakoni State Park. Growing up, we went to Lake Tawakoni most summers so it was fun to revisit.
We arrived on Thursday around lunchtime, hoping to be able to snag a good spot. We were very lucky– we got an awesome spot! It was nestled in the trees so we had plenty of shade…
AND we had our very own trail down to the lake. Dad brought his boat, so this was perfect for him to be able to pull the boat up and leave it when we weren’t using it. It was also fun for the kids to explore and fish off the banks with Chris.
Dad, Valerie, and Jim didn’t arrive until Friday, so most of Thursday was spent getting the campsite set up and then just hanging out together.
We took the kids to the sandy beach area to swim. It was so hot and humid– it was great to splash around in the water.
The campground was full of kids. Built in playmates was kind of awesome!
On Friday, we were hanging out in the campsite waiting for Dad to show up when he called and told us that there was a bad storm headed our way. We didn’t have very good reception at the campsite so we didn’t get any internet connection. We were lucky he called when he did. It gave us just enough time to get stuff put away before the storm hit.
He hung out in the trailer playing Sleeping Queens and Legos while it rained. Then right as the storm was ending, Gramps, Gram, and Jim showed up!
This picture was taken by Logan, my little budding photographer:
Once we got our campsite set back up, we played a little game of Washers.
Gramps and Chris snuck away on the boat to do a little fishing. Logan caught wind that they were gone and waited on the banks for them to come back.
I think campfires are the best part of camping.
The next morning Dad and I made breakfast for everyone. Bacon and eggs while camping are the best. And they were made even better by the amazing cinnamon rolls that Gram brought along. Yum!!
Lorelei mean mugging the world, as usual.
We took the boat out for a little fishing. This was my first time on a boat in years!
Dad was an excellent fishing guide. We caught so many fish! Usually I get bored with fishing and want to quit if we aren’t catching anything. It was actually fun this time!
Double fisting…
She was scared of a little fishy.
We found a bryozoan! We had no idea what it was– we just found it floating in the lake. Jim did a little googling (he somehow had enough internet to make it work!) and figured out what it was. A Bryozoan is a colony of tiny aquatic creatures that filter the water. Super cool!
Atticus was obsessed with the worms we bought for bait.
Logan was pretty anxious about going out in the boat. He felt that Gramps went a little too fast the day before and thought that the boat was going to flip over.
Lorelei was loving every minute of it.
He’s holding onto Atticus for dear life.
You can see the anxiety on his sweet little face. Gramps was reminding him that the boat wasn’t going to flip over.
Goose caught a fish too!
Logan was also nervous that Lorelei was going to fall overboard. I caught him protecting her. <3
The next day, Logan felt much better about going on a boat ride.
He even asked Gramps to go faster! Woohoo!
We got to do a little fishing with Gram too!
On our last day, the boys were really sad to leave their new friends.
Yay! Another great trip in the books. Thanks family for being so awesome– we love y’all!
