Robert's First Camping Trip

We went camping at Huntsville State Park last Sunday. Since we had date night and the walk, we decided to just wait until Sunday to go. We decided to stop off and see 'ol Sam Houston before heading to the park. We lived in Huntsville for four years and our eldest was born there, yet we had never been to see the statue. I wanted to get a picture of Clara in front of him since Huntsville is her birthplace and all, but she wanted nothing to do with Sam. She was terrified of him for some reason. Robert was intrigued though.

Sam is the tallest statue of an American hero (I think that's right). He is 67 feet tall (again, don't quote me on that). He stands right on the side of I45 and you can see him from miles away (I do know this for a fact).

This picture gives you a better perspective on just how tall he is. Clara is clinging to me for dear life just in case Sam up and decided to go for a walk and stretch his legs or something.

On to the park. We just walked around some (but not too much since we were all walked out from the day before) and just let the kids play around the campsite. The previous campers left a log smoldering in the fire pit and for some reason, the smoke was killing me. I had a horrible headache and my throat and eyes were on fire. I don't usually have problems, but I was in pain.

I believe Robert was also in pain because of those teeth. He was a bear all day. He didn't want you to pick him or redirect him, or take something away from him. If you did anything he didn't want you to do, he let loose screaming.

Ok, maybe he was cute for a few minutes here and there.

Clara helped Daddy put up the tent.

That evening, Robert was just acting worse and worse. I had given him Tylenol and then right as it was getting dark, I think I took something away from him and he came unglued! He was screaming and would not calm down. It sounded like we were torturing him. Chris decided to drive him around for a bit and see if he would calm down.

I couldn't even get him in his carseat he was thrashing and screaming so much. Chris had to put him in. I was actually starting to worry it was something more than the teeth. He drove around for a little while and Robert fell asleep. When Chris got back we discussed what we should do. I did not want him waking during the night and doing that and we also didn't know how he would do anyway since this was his first time camping. We decided it would be best for me to take him home and come back the next morning. He slept the whole way home, I gave him some Tylenol and put him down and he slept all night. I'm so glad we didn't attempt to stay the night. That might have scarred me for a very long time.

So Chris and Clara had a little Daddy/daughter camping time. Which is good since they were supposed to go on an adventure guide camping trip this weekend, but we seem to all have a case of the sniffles, so unfortunately camping got cancelled.

We got up early the next morning and drove back to pack up and do a little more walking around. This next picture is blurry but I put it on here because Chris says he looks like a family member on his side. Any guesses?

Clara was soooo excited when she found this feather. Look at her face. She flew around with it for a long time and it ended up coming home with us.

Robert's first camping trip.

And because you all know how much I love a good flashback comparison photo, I give you Clara's first camping trip. Also Huntsville State Park, Thanksgiving weekend 2006.