worrell summer camp

July 2012 - Our dear friends in College Station sent their son, Lane, to spend a few days with us this summer.  Lane LOVES the outdoors and just couldn't wait to get here.  His sister was at 4-H camp while he was here so he said he was at camp too!  

Lane is a few years older than Pecos but they still have fun together and get along great.  Pecos kind of looks up to Lane and has been wearing his hand me downs all his life so he thinks it is pretty neat any time he gets to hang out with him!

First on our list of to-dos was a scavenger hunt.  Here's some of the loot that was part of their scavenger hunt.  

Here's the directions and map that Casey made:

With a quick lesson on how to use a compass they were on their way to find treasure:

Brazos didn't really know what was going on, he just liked following the boys around and getting a prize at every stop along the way.  

I let the boys roast hot dogs for dinner one night:

S'mores for dessert:

Turkey hunting every evening.  They stalked the flock of turkey hens and babies that roost in our trees just off our hill.  Sling shot was their weapon but thankfully no turkey was harmed.

We climbed Enchanted Rock.  When we drove up the boys were saying that didn't look hard and they wanted a challenge.  They thought we were going to climb a mountain and were disappointed that it didn't look too tall.  They were so wrong.  

They were off to a fast start.

But had to take a break just a few minutes in to their hike.

But they made it to the top!

Taking a break before heading back down.

Here they are after our trek back down Enchanted Rock.  Not so boastful anymore and they said it was definitely a challenge!

We found time to go to the water park in Bandera. 

Lane loved the obstacle course the best.  

We needed a break from swimming and Pecos insisted we do mini-golf.

Mini-golf with Brazos is always an adventure.

Pecos taught Lane all about geocaching.  These boys sure like to look for treasure.

As much as the boys loved hunting turkeys, hiking, swimming and building Legos, Lane said his favorite thing he did at Worrell Camp was visiting Cascade Caverns and taking a tour of the cave.

As we were driving to meet Vicki to drop Lane off Casey said he couldn't wait until next summer for Lane to come back.  Lane quickly replied, "A whole year?!  What about Worrell Camp during Christmas holidays or Spring Break?!"  I think he had a good time.

swimmer

July 2012- Pecos learned to swim this summer.  He's taken swimming lessons before and I always thought it just never really clicked for him but the missing link was his want to do it.  Sure he would get in and splash around, blow bubbles and dunk under the water if my bribe was good enough.  But he would never just play around or jump in and really "swim".  

But this year he took lessons with Ms. Jennifer and she was able to work with him and get him to let go of the side, swim under the water, and even run and jump into the pool.  I'm convinced she has magical powers.  

Brazos took lessons too, but in true Brazos style he only participated in the lessons to the extent that he wanted to.  Then he was done and that was the end of it.  As for swimming, if he is in the mood to do it he'll get in the pool with a life jacket on and kick his way around but don't you dare touch him- he doesn't want any help because he can do it himself!  Other days we'll hang out at the pool for a few hours and he never gets in the water, just plays with rocks in the landscape and throws anything he can find into the pool.  

While we don't have a Michael Phelps on our hands, it does make going to the pool a bit more fun!

west texas vacay

  

June 2011- Sum-Sum-Summertime!  With a long hard spring season of work behind him, Casey was ready for some family fun and relaxation.  We decided to rent a travel trailer and head west to the refreshing Balmorhea State Park with its natural spring fed 2-acre pool.  And we had promised our Pecos that we would take him to the annual rodeo in Pecos, TX.

It was 110°F or more each day.  The poor A/C unit in our little travel trailer ran non-stop all day just to keep it bearable.  So glad we decided to stay at a place with a refreshing pool.  The park itself doesn't have a whole lot to offer but the pool makes up for it.  The campsites are minimal with not much shade but beautiful views.

fun exploring the state park

san solomon spring, providing a refreshing 72 degree pool

view from our campsite

making s'mores

The pool has probably one of the last outdoor high dive boards anywhere.  Casey did his best to show us his Olympic diving skills.  

cannon ball!

can opener...not sure they have that in the Olympics

Have you ever seen it so hot it could curl up a Croc?  We left these outside of the travel trailer one day and they curled up like a Frito.  We never could get them to straighten back out!

Pecos spent 3 days "swimming" on the steps

With all these signs to point the way we didn't get lost.  At one point Pecos said "Can you believe it?  My name is on everything around here!"

Did I mention how HOT it was?  It was so hot the pavement in Pecos was melting.

Howdy- from Pecos in Pecos!

I tried to talk Casey and Pecos into shaping their hats this way.

classic rodeo entertainment

brazos got a little hot waiting for the rodeo to begin

Pecos wanted to see a cave (but was a bit worried it would have bears in it).  On our way through Sonora we stopped at Caverns of Sonora.  Unfortunately they don't have any self-guided tours and the only group tour they offer is 2 1/2 hours long and we had just missed it.  Don't think that length of a tour would have worked out for us having to hold Brazos.  So we opted to take a drive one day to Carlsbad, NM to visit Carlsbad Caverns.  It was well worth the trip even though we kind of rushed through the self-guided tour...Pecos was cold and Brazos was un-interested after the first 5 minutes.  Plus we didn't dress warm enough for the cool 55°F temperature of the cave. I highly recommend a trip to the Caverns if you are in the area...and even if you are not in the area, you should make a detour for it.

A fire had burned a large portion of the park about 2 weeks before we were there.  On the drive up to the visitor center we could see where fire retardant had been dropped from helicopters.  This photo was taken at the entrance to the visitor center.

matching smiles!

all that cave exploration wiped him out and made for a peaceful ride back to the campground

pecos was allowed to pick 2 things at the gift shop.  this is one of them.

His other gift shop selection- a dinosaur fossil excavation kit, which kept him very busy back at the campground.

It took 2 days to pack and load the travel trailer, but only 20 minutes to unload this mess!