Choke Canyon State Park

We went camping with our friends the Allen's this last weekend, to Choke Canyon State Park. I thought I would be brave and take the kids up Thursday night without Jake and just have fun with the Allen's. It actually wasn't too bad. They helped me with the tent and other than that, our kids just had so much fun playing together that it was enjoyable. Jake wasn't able to join us until dinner time on Friday. We were there until Saturday and the majority of the time was spent swimming in the lake. Here are a few of the pictures that Jason took. These kids are so darn cute!Madison is the blonde in the pink and she is in Gage's Pre-K class. Gage LOVES Madison. Totally in a friend way though... atleast we hope so for now. This pic was in front of the alligator lake called "75 Acre Lake". For some reason we were not allowed to swim here... go figure. No, unfortunately, the alligators were hiding from us the whole time!

Maddy has an older sister named Samantha. However, one time she was complaining that she was thirsty. She said,"I'm thirsty!"

I said,"Nice to meet you Thirsty." And from then on, I've been calling her thirsty. She even started reminding me to call her that when I would forget. She was so funny.
Here's our little camp group. If we weren't swimming, we were staying in the shade. Thursday and Friday, it was 99 degrees!!






These two kids are sooooo darn cute! Secretly, I wouldn't mind if Gage married Madison someday. They were so funny together. They just laughed and laughed. It's funny because there is another boy in their class named Brett who wears cologne to school for Madison. For Christmas, he gave her some jewelry AND his mom has even said she would be happy to take them on a date! At 5-years-old! So, Julie (Maddy's mom) and I always joke about how Brett is going to be jealous when he finds out what good friends Gage and Maddy are. I love this age!

Molli definitely won the "dirtiest bug in a rug" award! She was covered in dirt, coal, food,... you name it.

When Jake came up on Friday, he asked if I had been having fun with the kids, camping without him. I said, "I'm not having fun, but I'm not having a bad time either. I'm just going through the motions and surviving, while hoping they are having fun." Since Daxlee's been born, I haven't really breathed yet so I go through the motions alot lately. Especially since Jake hasn't been home alot. However, in hind sight, I look back on this trip and I would definitely do it again. I really did have fun, even when Jake wasn't there to help. It was nice to just be there and not feel like I should be cleaning or scheduling something. I'm finding it's important to just drop what I'm doing, finished or not, and play with the kids. It's sad that I have to remind myself to do that but I'm just treading water right now until I can get us back into a groove. This weekend was a great breather and break from life.