Camping at Fort Griffin

Truth be told, I am really not a camper. I might be a glamper but even that may be pushing it. Frankly, I'm more of a B&B girl. I like clean bathrooms, nice beds, and climate control. However, I LOVE the outdoors! I just don't like bugs or trying to use the restroom outside! However, I married a man who loves to camp and so on occasion, we will camp or glamp as a family.

Last Fall we went camping for the first time as a family. My husband and I went camping around 11 years ago when we were first married and got rained on. Blue Rock is in Trail Life which is kind of like boy scouts but a Christian scouting group. They had a family camp out last Fall at Fort Griffin. It was fun. We more or less glamped and stayed in the climate controlled shelter rather than in a tent in the 40 degree weather. A good friend of mine glamps there every year and she gave me the heads up and I felt it was fine to try with the two little kids. Blue Rock would love to stay in a tent next time and probably will have lots of fun tent camping experiences with his dad in the future. 

The stars were pretty at night. The night sky brings a lot of people to this area. There is also a nice museum and lots of rich history. We had a great time.

I stayed in the shelter most of the time with Blue Knight and some with Princess while Blue Knight napped. That's the one hard thing about traveling with little kids and babies is how much they need to nap and rest. The car ride was not the most enjoyable experience as Blue Knight does not like the car but we made it and he didn't cry too, too bad. We just stopped more than if he loved the car. 

Blue Rock's favorite part of the camping trip was the campfire and smores. He also enjoyed hiking with the guys. My husband and Princess went hiking with them while I stayed with the baby. Friday night we had smores and let Blue Rock hang out with his troop while we tried to put the little kids to bed. We only stayed one night, instead of two. When we were almost done packing up it started raining. I was really glad we decided to go ahead and head home. We had a packed day on Sunday. 

Blue Rock had an encounter with a barbed wire fence. He's okay, thankfully! His troop also did some community service while they were there. They picked up the trash all around the camp ground. 

I recommend Fort Griffin. It's a smaller campground, you could probably walk around the tent/rv/covered shelter area in about 30 minutes. There are two bathroom facilities with showers and they are clean. There is only one covered shelter. There's a big playground in the middle of the campground. There is also lots of nice hiking around the campground and outside the camping area. That's where most of the hiking took place. We saw some Indian ruins and they have golf carts you can borrow for free to drive around if you have a little kid or are unable to walk it.

It was really nice to get away from the city and unplug from cell service and the internet. I see more camping or family glamping trips in our future. I recommend Fort Griffin and thought it was a nice place to camp in Texas.

His poor nose!

He loved exploring

Our climber!

 

The shelter

We set up two queen air mattresses

 

There was even a picnic table inside

At night

Car ride home. The first and probably only time all three kids will nap at the same time!

Sweet baby!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter. I love Easter. As a child, we didn't put any extra emphasis on Easter and the Passover since we celebrate Christ every day and take the Lord's Supper every Sunday. But as an adult, I'm enjoying adding a little extra fun during Easter and adding some special things that remind of us Jesus' resurrection, so it's more than a fun bunny holiday.

This was Blue Knight's first Easter. He was so cute and is such an awesome baby! Truly a happy and laid back baby. We hosted lunch for my family at my house. Our kids got an Easter basket on Easter morning. The baby was the first up and crawled right to his basket. I was amazed he knew which one was his. Princess was up next. She had two baskets, she really wanted a bunny basket so she got that one too and it had a pink bunny in it. When she saw it, she ask, "is this mine?" I said yes and she said, "Oh thank you!" What a sweet and cute girl I have! Blue Knight was up last, and he liked his basket too.

We did a neighborhood Easter egg hunt that I started a few years ago. I also got smaller plastic baskets for my niece and cousin's daughter who came over for our lunch as well as my kids. So the kids got to go on another Easter egg hunt. Sadly, we didn't make it to the Easter egg hunt at church. We were all worn out. Blue Rock was disappointed but I think he was understanding as well.

I didn't do everything I wanted to do with the kids this year but we did dye eggs, went through the dozen resurrection eggs, I made toddler resurrection eggs, and we read lots of Easter stories, about Christ, the Easter bunny, and spring. I also made an egg sensory bin and Princess did great identifying colors and sorting the eggs. I hope you all had a great Easter!

How to Make Resurrection Eggs for Young Children

As part of our Easter traditions, we go through the resurrection eggs each year. I have a set I bought a few years ago and we're going through that with the kids, but I was wanting something more bite sized for my toddler and something we could use for Blue Knight, next year. Blue Rock also made some resurrection eggs at school yesterday, which are awesome! He and Princess enjoyed going through those last night. However, I still wanted something that was a little shorter and bite sized for the younger kids. These Resurrection Eggs for Toddlers and younger kids are perfect!

This set took me 5 minutes, at the most to make. It uses six eggs, instead of twelve. Blue Rock and Princess were both able to tell me about each egg after going through it one time. It's a great way to really bring home the story of Jesus and tie it in with Easter.  

Start with six different colored plastic eggs. I found these faith-themed eggs at Walmart. Aren't my kids the cutest? 

Egg 1: "Jesus ate dinner with his friends." Luke 22:14-15. Put bread crumbs or a bread shape in this egg. I cut out a bread shape from felt.

Egg 2: "The next day, Jesus died on the cross." John 19:17-18. Put a cross in this egg. I cut out a cross from some felt. 

Egg 3: "He was wrapped in cloth and placed in a tomb." John 19:40. Put a piece of cloth in this egg. I used a piece of white felt. 

Egg 4: "A stone was placed in front of the tomb." Matthew 27:59-60. Find a nice rock and place in the egg.

Egg 5: "Jesus' friends came to teh tomb. The tomb was empty." Luke 24:1-3. Leave this egg empty. 

Egg 6: "Jesus is alive! That's the sweet surprise of Easter." Matthew 28:5-6.