Day 4

I was happy to wake up to a tent still standing after a sleep-filled night step out into a cool morning. I'd fallen asleep pretty fast but my camping momma bear instincts woke me up when I felt a real breeze and saw a flicker of light flash. I listened for thunder but only heard what sounded like planes far away on both sides of us. I was just about it dismiss it as something else when the tent walls popped in and out from the wind and I saw another flash. This was definitely a storm on the way!

I leapt out of the tent to grab the rain fly and heard Laney right behind me ready to help. I was looking around prioritizing the things that needed put away before the rain came while we were hooking the rain fly onto the tent. The wind was picking up quick so I decided first to secure the rain fly with stakes and check all the stakes already around the tent. Storms always seem worse inside a tent but this wind was going to be a real pain!

Next I rolled up and secured the bags on our cargo tray then packed up the camping chairs. Laney grabbed our swimming clothes off the clothesline and we tossed everything in the car. Lucky for us it hadn't started raining so I even had time to grab the kids' books and duck back into the tent. I pulled up the weather on my phone and saw were were minutes from the beginning of a monster thunderstorm. There wouldn't be much sleeping for awhile. My weather app said rain only until 1am so I was hopeful for it to be a quickly moving or quickly changing storm.

While the kids read I kept checking the weather and making sure the tent was ok. With each gust of wind the poles would try to flex in which would bring the walls in on Laney. I expected the thunder to jolt us but it seemed to move more around us and within a few minutes I was hearing it on the other side of us. I kept doing the Poltergeist counting to make sure the strong part of the storm was moving away from us and before long we were only left with rain. By 11:30 we were all back fast asleep to the rain on our tent and covered with sleeping bags because it was 75 degrees - yipee!!  And I don't thing I moved until I woke up at 6am.

Our tent looked great so after a trip to the bathroom and spooking about 23 deer, I took some time to write. Deer were eating breakfast and birds were flittering all around me the whole time. I was still hoping to see that little fox again. Grammie stopped by on her walk to tell me she'd seen a pig too!

Once my kids were finally awake we walked to the RV for some fresh biscuits. Camping with Grammie is like staying a resort! With full bellies we packed up our campsite and got on the road for a long drive across more of Texas. There wasn't much to do on this drive so we marked a Walmart stop to pick up a few things and to stretch our legs.
We were barely away from our campsite when the wineries started popping up. I'd noticed about 10 when I started counting them. I had no idea Texas had wine country! By the time we made it to Fredricksburg I'd counted 52 wineries in the span of about 20 miles. Time to plan an adult road trip I suppose!

It was another few hours before we showed up to Davis Mountain State Park. I had originally tried to stay at another park nearby with a natural spring but as we drove by I was very happy we hadn't. The place was packed! I guess that happens when it is over 100 degrees outside.

This place was nestled into the mountains and seemed full of life. There were storms all around us so we helped Grammie get set up first then once the big one seemed to go around us Brayden and I set up the tent. Dinner was already ready for us to dig in by the time we got back! We have been eating like royalty the last week for sure! Tonight was alfredo spinach mushroom ravioli casserole with salad - delicious!

We were all stuffed as we piled into the car to experience the scenic drive. I would have hiked it and had Grammie pick me up I just really wasn't sure what was happening with the weather. There were dark clouds in just about every direction with lightning - definitely not ideal hiking weather on a bare mountain!

The Interpretive Center seemed open so we peeked in to find we had just missed a program about the area's wildlife - bummer. We did stay for awhile checking out the local birds all around the viewing area they had set up. There were all kinds that I don't even know but I did spot a finch, a bunch of hummingbirds and a few pigeons.

Once we got to the top of the mountain we saw the magnitude of the storms. I'd left my camera and phone at the campsite so Laney let me use her phone.  I was a little nervous with all the lightning, but it was far enough away that we took a few minutes to watch the clouds roll around. The temperature had dropped around 20 degrees and the view was spectacular. We visited the summit as well as the CCC trail to two other lookout points. I could imagine on a clear day the sunrise or sunset would be absolutely beautiful.











I had Grammie check the weather on our way down to make sure we would be alright in the tent for the night. Amazingly, the storm was to go completely around us and the overnight temperature was to be 67 degrees. I couldn't believe it. I was so excited about actually getting IN my sleeping bag!

Once we got back it was bedtime so I took Laney and Brayden with me. We read for about 10 minutes until I had read the same sentence about 27 times and still didn't know what it said.  After lights out the three of us laid there relishing the cool breeze.

Day 41

I do believe once we made it into Missouri, we also made it past the invisible line of humidity. We were all pretty warm all night and I have moved all the cold weather clothes back up into the roof cargo carrier and exchanged them for tank tops and short pjs.

I woke up this morning and immediately got on my phone to check out the riot situation. There were a couple dozen arrests and there wasn't any news of anything happening this morning, so I chatted with the other adults and we decided to go into the city.  Ever since our first trip in 2012 I wanted to go to this museum but I knew there was no way I would be able to do it by myself with 3 kids. Now each kid had an adult and I was just hoping we could keep up!

We arrived at City Museum a few minutes after they opened and were in awe of everything we saw. We decided to go outside first in the cooler part of the day to climb and explore.  Our first stop was a giant ball pit!

Ryan was my partner for the first few hours and she must of lost me about 43 times.

I found Laney climbing toward me and Grammie and Brayden climbing above me!

We found a bunch of slides and things to climb through. After all the adults started complaining of painful tunnels Dave found easier ways around just about all the fun stuff.  We were all sweating within about 45 minutes so we headed inside to explore.

The girls were the most adventurous taking Grammie on underground tunnels and exploring above us in the ceiling.  Brayden found Laney, Ryan, and Grammie in the tunnel underneath him!

We decided to head to the roof next for more slides, the ferris wheel, and the bus hanging off the side of the roof!

All three kids even opened the door of the bus to look out! Although I'm not sure Brayden actually looked out.

 

This was by far my favorite slide!

Next we went to what looked like an indoor skate park where the kids tried a 9-foot version of a warp wall. All of them made it up after quite a bit of frustration and practice!

By this point the kids all needed a break so Dave found a fascinating little room where people were cutting extremely intricate snowflakes. Every year the kids decorate our house with at least 100 snowflakes so this was right up their alley. 

By the time they were finished we were all starving. Fortunately on the way into the museum we noticed a pizza and beer place just across the street so we headed there to refuel and catch some college football. Dave and I added a few beers in hopes it would numb our already throbbing knees! The vegetarian pizza there was outstanding and one more thing to add to our list to make once we got back home. 

We had about 45 minutes until the next project from the snowflake lady - this time native american dolls with real bows, arrows, and birchbark quivers - so we all switched partners and explored a bit more. Brayden and I headed back outside for my other favorite slide and what became his favorite slide once he actually tried it. My slide was the long one, his was the deceptively short but crazy fast one!

We spent about an hour crafting then we switched partners once again for the last 45 minutes. I had planned 3-4 hours here and already we'd been there 6!  My partner this time was Laney and we headed back up to the roof! We found a new slide that was super fast and rode the ferris wheel again. I may have also made her go down favorite slide one more time!  Here are her feet on the ferris wheel and a fun selfie to see the city behing us!

We met everyone in the gift shop for post cards and t-shirts. The kids were exhausted so you know the adults were about to pass out! I was incredibly impressed with Grammie's perseverance to hang with each of her partners all day! I do believe the kids would have stayed until closing, but there was no way these adults would make it to midnight!

We made it known we would be attending the nocturnal animals program at the campground that evening. Once we made it back to the campground, we had a quick dinner and joined everyone for the program. The naturalist speaking appeared very young so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was seriously impressed with her animal knowledge. All the kids at the program enjoyed it and we all learned at least a few things!

We watched a little bit more football they retired for the night. I wouldn't recommend sleeping on the ground after a day at City Museum. It was going to be a long night of flipping and flopping with all our emerging bruises! Ouch.