Category Archives: Camping

Dinosaur Valley State Park ~Glen Rose, TX

This was actually our second trip to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas.

For some reason, my boys did not remember our last visit…

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My oldest on our last trip in 2009.

No clue why they don’t remember.

Kids… adinoDSC_0335 adinoDSC_0348 adinoDSC_0355

Dino Tracks!

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We went to another park nearby called Cleburne State Park and went on the spillway trail.

The trail wound through Juniper bushes and felt like a maze.

It was beautiful.

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I love how peaceful and calm this looks.

Not like I had just tried to wash a toddler’s pants in the bathroom and tried to dry them with the hand dryer(unsuccessfully).

Really should bring a change of clothes…

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There is a view of the spillway and lake from the top.

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Back at Dinosaur Valley.

You have to walk across these rocks to get to the main set of dinosaur tracks.

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Notice anything in the background?

He was waving his arms up and down while running at them.

I was cracking up.

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We went on the overlook trail next.

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I thought it was not too bad but then Nick pointed out this was not the overlook and it kept going up.

Oops

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The river is so pretty.

Clear and blue.

They have a beautiful swimming hole at this park also.


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At the overlook with the half pints.

I try to get in pics when I can.

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Inside our RV.

The layout has worked really well for us.

The twins sleep right next to where Nick and I sleep and the other three sleep on the bunks.

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I have found that I need everyone outside when I cook in here though.

It can get chaotic really fast otherwise.

One twin sleeps on the couch and the other sleeps on the dinette after it is folded down.

We usually just leave it down and the kids eat outside.

They are messy eaters anyway so this works well for cleanup.

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Our bedroom is pretty much just the bed but that works for us.

This looks totally different right now because Nick needed to replace the floor and some of the walls due to rot.

So we are getting a new bed and floor.

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We went across the river near the campground for our last hike.

There is a whole trail system that we had not been on before over there.

The water was a little high and the twins were not sure about crossing on the rocks.

I thought Nick would have to carry them across a couple times.

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We took the Cedar Break Outer Loop to the Buckeye Trail.

Which gave us a nice mangable length loop.

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Beautiful last hike.

As a bonus, the twins made it back across the river!

Although one of them sat on the shore and insisted she was not crossing…

I had to keep reminding her that she had already made it once so the way back would be easy.

 

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Most of the campsite had these beautiful trees all around them.

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These two.

They are always making me smile.

 

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A true picture of what it is like to have little sisters…

She kept petting him and saying he was a cute little baby.

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That smile.

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Our campsite was near the campground and bathroom.

With five kids I have found being close to those super helpful.

Otherwise, instead of camping, I am pretty much walking to the bathroom with kids the whole trip.

Well, I am doing that anyway.

This way it is at least faster so it takes up less of our trip.

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Sometimes being the littlest is just hard.

Like when you can’t get to the top and slide down.

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She wanted to do a flip so much!

Finally got it!

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Camping with 5 kids is hard.

If one is up, everyone is up.

You feel the bad moods more.

And sometimes I hike without Nick and just a couple of the kids because someone can’t hike right then.

Every time I try to pack for our trips I wonder if it is worth it.

Every trip the good outweighs the bad.

Take the trip, take pretty pictures, soak in a sunset, and choose to remember the pretty moments.

Grow from the hard ones but remember the sweet ones.

Here is the video I did of our trip!

McGee State Park ~Atoka, OK

We stopped at an Oklahoma State Park on the way to Dinosaur Valley State Park since the drive straight there was a bit long.

Especially since we leave Friday after Nick is done with work.

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McGee State Park ended up being about halfway and was a beautiful surprise.

Pine forest, beautiful lake, and a lot of hiking nearby.

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She might need to work on her catch.

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Home away from home.

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The boys were determined to build a bridge to the big rock.

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The McGee Creek State Park Natural Scenic Recreation Area is just north of the main park.

You have to get a permit to hike there though.

The permits are available at the office and it was a very easy process.

They do limit the number of permits they give out each day though so keep that in mind if you go during a busy time of the year.

It was pretty empty while we were there.

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We did the nature trail first and it was a nice easy hike.

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We also went on the west branch hike because they recommended it.

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The boys were asking him questions about inventions almost the whole time.

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They have learned quickly that their dad is much better than I at helping them in that area.

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The twins saw Nick blow a raspberry on Little Bit’s cheek and insisted he do it to them.

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My kids are the best camera blockers ever…

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Such adorable expressions.

We left after the hike to head to Dinosaur Valley.

I realized to late that we were supposed to leave right away to make it to the Creation Museum in Glen Rose before it closed!

Oops!

It was only going to be open on that day also so we missed it this trip!

My awesome planning landed us in Dallas at rush hour also…

I am glad I was not driving.

If I was driving we would have been pulling over and waiting for night to fall.

I don’t like traffic.

Especially with a 30ft trailer…

A short video of our time there.

Devil’s Den and Thanksgiving

We went to Devil’s Den for Thanksgiving.

Things I learned;

No matter what holiday, reserve a spot.

People like to camp for Thanksgiving apparently.

Also, if camping here make sure you get there while the office is open.

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We almost did not get a spot!

I figured out we had to check in at the office before trying to find a site and just happened to catch an employee leaving.

My kids were tired and done with being in the vehicle.

It was pretty close to their bedtime and I was not sure we were going to be able to stay!

I was also worried my backup plan would be full and closed also.

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The lady helping us said she had one spot left and gave us the number.

When we got to the campsite it said reserved and had a name on it so we drove back up to the main road to get a cell signal.

I started searching and calling to try and find another place to stay or find out what to do.

I do not do well in these situations.

I was panicking.

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Thankfully right when I was about to lose it the ranger came by and we asked her what to do!

Thankfully she told us we could still have the spot that the person had moved to a different one.

When I went to pay at the office the next morning, someone was reserving spots for next year!

I guess I need to plan better next time.

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The next day was Thanksgiving!

We paid for the site and went for a hike before eating pie…

I mean our meal.

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I just wanted pie.

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My kitchen 😉

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Devils Den Trail.

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We are still working with the twins on how to go down steep hills.

They keep trying to lean forward!

I really don’t want them falling on their face so we are trying to get them to lean back a bit.

It ends up being very awkward looking.

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We like to read any rules posted out loud to the kids during a hike(because then it is not me but the park telling them to not do it).

One had stated that the caves were closed to protect the bats and that you are not allowed to through rocks at bats or other animals.

My oldest daughter saw someone throwing a rock in one of the caves to check how deep it was and got upset and said: “YOU COULD HIT A BAT!”

I will call this a win.

Glad she was listening.

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She was trying to take up the whole seat so her dad could not sit down.

Sweet.

Ha

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This is one of my favorite hikes to do at the park and always a favorite of my kids.

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There was a hawk just sitting on the bank.

You can see it to the left of Nick’s shoulder.

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I am not sure what was wrong with it.

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The kids liked watching it though.

I wished I had brought my telephoto lens…

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We got to mark off another state on our scratch off map!

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I was planning on sharing our whole camping trip in one post but I think that would be a bit long so I will stop on the first day.

Anyone else not do well with last minute planning and changes?

I think reservations were made for people like me…