Stephen Austin

Stephen Austin State Park (San Felipe, TX)
These deer were all in our pathway! It was awesome until
the buck started heading right at us! Some were even rutting...
they didn't even stop with humans near them!

This was the first campgrounds we stayed at when we arrived in Texas.
It was a lot of fun as it had many different aspects of nature (like walking
trails, tree swinging and wild animals including many deer VERY close
to us)!!! The deer were so awesome! They were within probably 15-20 feet
from us!  The scariest part was that when we entered the park, it 
had a sign that said, "Watch Out for Snakes!" Yikes!
 The kids found this treasure during their first trail walk.
 Already making friends! Kristi went right up to the neighbors (in a tent)
and said, "Want to be friends?" And they were friends...LOL 
More friend moments.
Kristi posing!

Playing tic-tac-toe with Anthony!

Daddy carving a walking stick!














Even mommy got a turn!

Anthony and I playing tic-tac-toe




A New Start...

     So our journey just began and we have already had quite the adventure!  We started our journey around 2pm yesterday (Tuesday) with quite a few errands to do before we could leave the Ankeny area. We stopped to say good-bye to some great friends and family, took some books back to the library, grabbed a bite to eat then we were off to our niece's house to drop off a vehicle and say good-bye to them, too.  Next thing we knew, we were 58 miles away and realized that we had to go back to our hometown of Ankeny because my daughter's ($800) retainer was left behind at McDonalds! I will leave that story at that, not a very pretty finding!  Also, not a fun start to the trip! LOL Next, the RV needed new plugs and coil wires so my poor husband was stuck doing that out in the cold!  It seemed like forever when we finally got on the road.  I think we finally made it out of Iowa around 10 or 11pm when we actually started packing up at 9am that day! We stopped around 2am to get some sleep at the wonderful local Walmart store. They so kindly let RVers stay for 1 to 2 nights in exchange for their business.  It was great because Brad was so adorable and said, "We finally get to be one of ~those~ rvers who travel around and once in a while sleep at Walmart!"  LOL It was too funny.  I'm so glad that they do offer that because we were once told to never pull into a RV park after dark because you are unable to know your surroundings and how good or bad the neighborhood might be. 

     Today, daddy awoke around 6:30am and said he was ready to hit the road!  We got a bite to eat from our kitchen (which is awful nice you know) and then we were off to continue down the road. By the way, it's wonderful having a bathroom because it seems like the kids are always going to the bathroom and it's nice that we don't have to stop every five minutes.  As a side note, I feel like singing the Kinney Roger's song, "On the Road Again -- I just can't wait to get on the road again, seeing places that I've never been before, I can't wait to get on the road again."  LOL  Okay, so anyway, we are going down the road and it seems like we are constantly having to go UP hill when we are on our way DOWN to Texas! LOL LOL  LOL We sure know what it feels like to be a truck driver, you have to get a running start UP the hill!  :-) 

     I thought I'd end this post with a picture of the kids looking so adorable, while taking a quick nap with Kit Kat, so they can be ready for the adventure.