The week before the girls' Spring Break, we decided we wanted to do something fun but weren't really sure what. Randy took Wednesday and Thursday off from work just so we could plan something, but we still didn't have any ideas. We talked about camping, talked about an overnight in a hotel, several things. Randy started looking at cabins at state parks, and we called and found one available in Bastrop State Park. It was only available for one night, so we booked it and then decided to go ahead and plan another night in a hotel that had an indoor swimming pool. Randy found one in San Marcos, which is about 45 minutes from Bastrop State Park. I was so excited about the trip and couldn't wait to tell the girls. They still get excited about the smallest things, so we knew they would love this.
Friday afternoon, Cooper asked if we could make a banner to welcome Kendall home from school for Spring Break. She is always thinking about that big sister of hers!
We weren't leaving on our trip until Wednesday, so we had Monday and Tuesday at home to plan some fun things around Lake Jackson. Monday we needed to go to the grocery store, get our oil changed, and we also went to the library. At the oil change place, they had free popcorn and drinks, at Kroger, they got their usual free cookie, and then they got to go to the library. I heard Kendall and Cooper in the back of the van say that this was the "best day EVER!" Sweet girls. On Tuesday, we went to the sea center because we heard they had a new grouper named Cooper. When Randy and I moved to LJ, there was a massive grouper named Gordon, and when he died in 2008, it was like a legendary person in our city had died. He weighed 350 lbs! Cooper was so excited about the new grouper sharing her name, so she wanted to find him first. Well...this is him. Not 350 lbs. But, the impressive thing about him is that he lost an eye in a fight with a nurse shark. The nurse shark was then taken to Moody Gardens. The girls loved that bit of info and it was the first thing they told Randy when he got home from work Tuesday.
Cooper and Cooper
Monday afternoon, Kendall also got to go on her birthday date with Michelle to spend her Toys R Us gift cards and to get ice cream. She has been a huge fan of Legos since her birthday, so she picked out a new Lego beach house and immediately went to work building it. Randy and I are so impressed with how well she follows the instructions! It is pretty involved! She was very proud when she finished it Tuesday.
Wednesday we loaded down the van and set off on our adventure! It was about a three and a half hour drive to San Marcos and we got there right at check in time, put our suits on and went straight down to the pool! The girls loved riding the luggage cart back down.
We forgot to take any swimming pictures, but the girls had a blast and the pool was warm. They are ready for summer!
For dinner, we got cleaned up and drove over to Gruene to eat at the Gristmill. This was the part of the vacation Randy and I were most excited about. We told the girls that the restaurant was in a tree house, so they were excited about it too. So good!
We did a little walking around Gruene while we waited for a locksmith to come get our keys out of our car....ahem.
These faces are so cute!
After dinner, the girls asked if we could swim again. Randy said yes, and I'm so glad he did, because when we woke up the next morning to swim more, the pool was being cleaned! Boo. But we did swim a second time that night, and then the girls all slept in the same bed. Well, for about half the night. At some point in the middle of the night, we heard Calli fall off the bed and hit the floor. Poor baby. We put her in bed with us and slept a little less soundly the rest of the night.
Since we ended up leaving a little sooner than we thought the next day with the pool being closed, we found the coolest city park in San Marcos for the girls to play at. It was huge and so so neat.
From there, we ate lunch at Fuego, our favorite College Station Mexican food that we found in San Marcos, and then went to Texas State to take a glass-bottom boat tour of the natural springs. That was super fun and the girls loved it. We walked out on a floating dock on some wetlands, and then rode the boat. So fun!
Mid-afternoon, we drove to Bastrop and the girls all crashed for about an hour. We got groceries and then headed into the park! Our cabin was so cool! It was built in the 1930s, had two rooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen, and the girls loved exploring in, on, and around it. So much fun.
We rode bikes around the park, went to a play ground that was there, and then came back to the cabin for Randy to start a fire and start dinner! We ate outside by the fire, and then the girls got to roast marshmallows and make smores. It was just one of the best days ever and we will always remember how much fun it was.
Daddy the Eagle Scout got to teach the girls lots about camping, fires, and nature. We loved it.
Cooper and Calli shared a bed, Kendall had her own bed, and Randy and I had a bed. This is the best kind of camping!
Check out was at 11 Friday morning, so we packed up and then took the girls fishing there in the park. We didn't catch anything, but it was fun trying!
After that, we rode bikes more, played on the playground more, and then took about a mile-long hike through the park. There were huge forest fires in and around Bastrop back in 2011, and it still looks so sad. The girls were very interested in learning about it though and still had lots of fun on our hike.
Oh! One more picture of our cabin. Kendall is reading her very first "chapter book" to me - a Junie B Jones book. She read the whole thing over Spring Break, and then took an AR test over it when she got back to school. We're so proud of how well she is reading!
We had such a wonderful vacation. It was fun to go somewhere just the five of us, it was fun to watch the girls get excited about the littlest things, and it was just good, restful time to enjoy each other. We are already looking forward to planning another trip again sometime!
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