Camping with a Bug, a Hailey Bug

Last November, our church hosted a Father/Daughter camping weekend at Camp Penial.  When I was registering for that trip with the church I decided that it should be for Grace and I.  I wasn't sure that there would be much for Hailey to do, since she was only 3.  All in all, it was the right choice.  Grace and I had a blast, and it was a special weekend for just her and I.  We camped in a tent, we rode a zip line and shot a .22, and she also mastered the rock wall.  Truthfully, there really wasn't much that Hailey would have gotten to do.  But it was obvious that her feelings were hurt that she didn't get to go.  I finally appeased her by promising her that she and I would go on our own camping adventure on another weekend.

As we got into the holiday season, and the weather got colder, we ran out of weekends to go camping.  Then we had some issues with our camper, and countless other reasons came up that kept me from keeping my promise.  Hailey cornered me about a month ago and reminded me that I promised that she and I would go camping, just the 2 of us.  This weekend, I got to keep my promise.

On Friday afternoon, we loaded the trailer, hitched up and headed out for Bastrop State Park.  It was just Hailey, myself and Daisy.  Daisy loves to go camping, and Hailey decided that it could still be a Daddy/Daughter camp-out if Daisy came too.

Bastrop State Park has been on my list of places to check out for quite awhile, and it definitely moved up the list after the devastating fires last year.  I felt it was more important now than ever before to support this state park in a time when state budgets are shrinking and costs are rising.  The park is about an hour away from our house, making it still close enough for a quick escape for a weekend.  On a side-note, we are incredibly blessed to be so close to tons of great state parks here in Central Texas.  Inks Lake (our reining favorite), Pedernales, McKinney Falls, Bastrop and Buescher State Parks are all within about an hour.

Hailey had input on planning our meals, and I promised her that she would get to decide on what activities we did.  The only request I had to veto was canoeing in the lake.  The water was just too cold, and with no swimwear, I wasn't risking an unplanned water landing! The biggest hit of the park for an almost 4 year old was definitely the playground.  This thing was massive, with 7 slides.

Another favorite was hiking on the trails.  While she isn't able to read the map, I did show her where we were, and taught her how to read the trail markers.  She was so excited to find the trail intersections and to tell me which way we should go.  It was definitely an introduction into orienteering.  I think she did amazing.  She was even able to point out on the map to Mommy and Grace which trails we took when we got home.  You may notice in our pictures that she is wearing 2 toilet paper rolls around her neck.  Those are the binoculars she made in her preschool class.  These were a "must have" when we were ready to hit the trails.

Her other favorite was the campfire and looking at the stars.  I never imagined that she would be able to pick out constellations at such a young age, but she saw the big dipper as soon as I pointed it out.  I asked her if she could see the upside down spoon, and she found it immediately, telling me that it looked like a backwards "5".  Love that kid.  Love her heart for adventure.  I love seeing this world through such young, new eyes.

I am excited beyond words at the thought of showing my girls the great big world we live in.  And I hope both them continue to love camping.  There is just no better way to experience some of the most beautiful places in our country than looking out the window of a camper.