Girls weekend

I sent Daniel and Doug to three days at Splash Camp, a water-focused overnight camp at Sea Base in Galveston for Cub Scouts. I asked Lia what she wanted to do while the boys were at camp. Her immediate, very decisive response? "Go camping!" So go camping we did.

Tuesday morning after breakfast, she and I dropped the dogs off with my folks and hit the road for Blanco State Park.

#gonecamping #dontcall #donttext #offthegrid

We spent the next 36ish hours doing what Lia wanted to do. Because Daniel has such a strong personality, she gets run over a lot. Letting her call the shots and guide the conversation was a real treat for both of us. We ate Alvin Ord's with cousins and aunts, which was so super nice. These beauties are off to college in the fall and it is such a joy to see the wonderful things they're doing with their lives.

Next up, we shopped for our groceries at HEB (where she was allowed to pick anything in the entire store she wanted for breakfast and she chose Chex cereal).  Another hour on the road and we arrived! The only memory I have of the Blanco River was when it didn't have any water in it and all I could see were the rocks and the trees, which were pretty enough. The water? Holy moley. It's green and clear and beautiful and I was SO grateful that we chose this park.  Lia helped me "pitch up our tent" for our home-away-from-home. She was actually a very big helper and we had the tent up in no time.

We spent the next couple of  hours in the river splashing, swimming, and letting fish nibble our fingers and our toes. Lia would hold her hands out oh-so still and wait oh-so patiently for them to nibble her and then she would throw her head and laugh and laugh and laugh. It was almost my favorite part of the whole trip.

Sadly, I bought charcoal that I thought was quick start (which obviously was not...) and we had cold hot dogs and cold s'mores for dinner. Whoops. Before we left, I bought a bottle of head-to-toe baby wash for showers. We headed to the shower and stood in the cold, cold water for as long as we could stand it (the heat index was 97 after the sun set - yikes). We came out smelling like clean babies and headed for bed.

Can I tell you just how magical that night was? Holding my little one in my arms, smelling those sweet, nostalgic baby smells, listening to nature's lullaby, and watching the fireflies through our tent window will go down in my memories as a top-five moment. I knew we needed a break. I knew we needed to slow down. I knew we needed to spend some time away. But not until this moment, when my heart was swollen to the brim with love and contentedness, did I realize just how much I ached to unplug and just be. It was so soothing to turn off the news and the chatter of the world and just listen to the river and the wind and to my baby.

I didn't sleep worth a flip, but I woke up with this little snuggle bug and all was right with the world. After her Chex breakfast and a quick cup of cold brew, we were off to "splore."

We hiked a little ways along the river and found seashells (seashells?!) and talked to lots of people out riding bikes and walking dogs.

We crossed under a bridge and tiptoed through the shallows to get to the "money shot." This was the photo of the park that sold me on Blanco and I was SO glad we made the effort to trudge down for this photo. It was so neat to see the water running over this dam and see the fish jumping under the bridge.

Shortly after this, Lia stepped in an algae-laden puddle and declared it was time to go home. After breaking camp, we visited with our neighbors for a bit and headed back east. It was such a good trip and it was so good for both of us to get away and just be together for a while. Daniel and Doug got home the next morning and we all resumed our normal activities. So thankful Lia asked to go camping and so grateful for the adventurous spirit that led me to brave a tent, the woods, and all that goes with it with just "us girls."