Houston Zoo with Kids

June 27, 2023 by Monica Brown in Family, Fun with kids, travel

The Houston Zoo has been on my list for a good while, ever since we made a stop at Hermann Park on the way home from Galveston for Saida to play when she was about a year and a half old. We could see the zoo entrance from where we played and it looked like a pretty legit zoo. Fast forward over 7 years and her 4th grade class took a class trip to Johnson Space Center and we decided to make a weekend out of it, which of course would include the zoo, but just barely because it rained most of the weekend.

Galapagos Exhibit

We happened to show up on day 1 of the Galapagos Exhibit and it was nothing short of incredible. When we exited the exhibit, the kids thought we were done with the zoo because it was just that good and how could there possibly be more things for us to see. That one exhibit is worth the price of admission. It was kind of like we got to do the zoo and an aquarium in one stop.

Houston Zoo Galapagos Island Exhibit, Sea Lion

Houston Zoo Galapagos Island Exhibit, Jelly Fish

Elephant Exhibit

The elephant exhibit was another favorite. I love the way they have this set up. Admittedly my zoo experience is limited, but I felt like Houston Zoo did a really good job of getting you in there and close to the elephants and providing fun/educational photo ops. You could even go into a building that has a window into a stall where you can see the zoo workers caring for the elephants.

Houston Zoo Elephant Exhibit, Elephant Poop

Houston Zoo Elephant Exhibit, Mom and Baby

Big Cats

I’m a sucker for big cats. This tiger put on a show for us while we were there. He paced back and forth giving me all the photo opportunities and he was nothing short of stunning. I think he enjoyed the attention though he tried to play a little hard to get. Typical cat.

The lions were quite literally a snooze fest. Get it?

Ape House (Chimpanzees and Gorillas)

I feel like every part of this was my favorite part, but I grew up a lover of Monkeys and Apes. Jane Goodall was my hero for at least a year in elementary school. My monkey and ape stuffed animal collection was pretty impressive and I’m pretty sure I checked out every book in the library on the topic. When I walked into the Ape House and could have reached out and touched chimps and gorillas if it wasn’t for a plexiglass, I was basically 8 years old again.

Once you come out of the Ape House, you’ll find another little area where you can get a view from lower down in the enclosure. That was 100% my favorite moment of the entire zoo. Henry the Gorilla was a great sport and I think he enjoyed playing along for some photos.

More Moments from the Houston Zoo

Houston Zoo

Where we Stayed

We were tempted to bring the camper for this trip, but opted to just get a hotel room for a couple nights. I had remembered the Medical Center area being pretty decent and it’s close to the zoo so we opted to stay in a brand new Hyatt Place between the medical center and NRG Stadium. It’s not super fancy, but it was clean and nice and the rooftop pool was heated. The kids love a good free continental breakfast too.

Mia’s Table

The kids’ favorite restaurant in Houston was Mia’s Table. Look, I know Houston is full of culinary goodness and we could have literally had any type of food at it’s finest. This place is just ok. There’s something for everyone and you get free soft serve. I wouldn’t choose to eat here without kids, but it’s a great little family spot that’ll make everyone happy when you have picky eaters.

I’ll leave you with this

Get the picture. This is literally the worst quality photo we’ve ever gotten, but I’m still glad we got it. I paid a stupid amount of money just so we could add this to our annual year book come the end of the year. No regrets.

National Play Outside Day - Amazon Favorites

March 31, 2023 by Monica Brown in Amazon, Family, Fun with kids, My Favorite Things, sports

April 1st is National Play Outside Day…

I mean it’s also April Fools Day, but I’m not kidding when I tell you these are some of our favorite outdoor products from Amazon.

for the yard

At the new house, the kids were scared of getting scorpions in their shoes if they left them in the grass. In comes the trampoline shoe bag. Problem solved. This isn’t the exact one we have (it was out of stock), but it’s the same idea.
And the saucer tree swing… that one was really for me. It’s been a dream of mine for years to have a yard with a tree big enough to put a swing in. Better late than never.

3 Pouch Design Trampoline Shoes bag Buy on Amazon

Sorbus Saucer Tree Swing- Kids Outdoor Disc Round Swing - 40" Heavy Duty 220lbs Seat- Easy Install Flying Saucer Web Circle Swing- Perfect for Gift,Playground, Birthday, Xmas, IndoorOutdoor Tire Swing Buy on Amazon

For the pool/beach

If I’m being honest, I’m not really sure how the quality of these microfiber towels compare to others. They’re my only experience so far with microfiber towels, but I will say that I fully appreciate the ability to pack 4 towels in the same amount of space one regular bulky beach towel took up.
This RTIC Soft Cooler gets used more than our regular Yeti. It’s just so easy and convenient. The secret to these things is the zipper lube. Use it and use it often. We broke the zipper on our first one due to not properly maintaining the zipper.

Your Choice Microfiber Beach Towels Set, Sand Free Beach Towels Oversized Clearance, Beach Towels for Adults Quick Dry Travel Towel - Set of 4 Pack - Light Blue, Green, Rose Red, Gray - 67x35 Inch Buy on Amazon

RTIC Soft Cooler 20 Can, Insulated Bag Portable Ice Chest Box for Lunch, Beach, Drink, Beverage, Travel, Camping, Picnic, Car, Trips, Floating Cooler Leak-Proof with Zipper, Tan Buy on Amazon

Sports

Zebco rod and reels are the perfect next step up from that princess or super hero fishing pole your kid has been using and they’re still super affordable.
My mom did all the research on a tee for Corbin when he started playing baseball and I didn’t realize it was something we’d be using long after tee ball just to practice our swing. This one has held up.
We actually have the Walmart version of the practice net, but I think I’d go with the one below if I had to do it again. We really enjoy the GoSports brand of weighted practice balls.

Zebco 33 Spincast Reel and Telescopic Fishing Rod Combo, Extendable 22.5-Inch to 6-Foot E-Glass Fishing Pole, Size 30 Reel, Quickset Anti-Reverse Fishing Reel with Bite Alert, Silver/Black Buy on Amazon

TANNER TEE the Original Batting Tee Premium Pro-Style Baseball/Softball Tee, Adjustable Height: 26 to 43 inches, Patented Hand-Rolled Flextop, Adjustable Height: 26 to 43 inches Buy on Amazon

GoSports 7 ft x 7 ft Baseball & Softball Practice Hitting & Pitching Net with Bow Frame, Carry Bag and Bonus Strike Zone, Great for All Skill Levels Buy on Amazon

Hiking/Camping

You can’t go wrong with affordable binoculars for the kids. Our exact ones aren’t available anymore, but these are more or less the same. I’ve even caught myself using them to bird watch on camping trips.
Smores are always a good idea. They just are and I love that these marshmallow roasting sticks have a bag and that they retract for easy storage.

THINKPEAK Binoculars for Kids - Easter Basket Stuffers - Kids Binoculars - Binoculars for Kids 8-12 - Easter Gifts - Birthday Presents for Kids, Kids Binoculars for 3-12 Years Boys and Girls, Green Buy on Amazon

MalloMe Marshmallow Roasting Sticks - Smores Skewers for Fire Pit Kit - Hot Dog Camping Accessories Campfire Marshmellow 32 Inch Long Fork - 5 Pack Buy on Amazon

Get outside and play. I think it’s actually supposed to be a lovely day. We’re celebrating with a baseball game and a motorcycle ride. Give me all the vitamin D today.

Feel free to share your outdoor Amazon favorites in the comments.

foggy sunrise at Lake Bastrop South Shore Park — Nikon Z6, ISO 100, 35MM, F/2.5, 1/4000 sec

We went back to Lake Bastrop South Shore

January 31, 2023 by Monica Brown in camping, Family, Fun with kids

If you know me at all, you know Lake Bastrop South Shore is our go to campground for when we want to getaway, but we don’t have that much time. It’s just far enough and different enough to feel like you’re somewhere else and if you wake up early enough on the right morning, you get to see this view. It’s like 50% of why we go there.

Here is a link to my original Lake Bastrop South Shore post from the very first time we went there. Give it a click. My kids have grown A LOT.

Original Lake Bastrop south shore post

Where did we stay?

Lake Bastrop South Shore Park (an LCRA Park), but not in one of our regular sites. We stayed in 16 this time with family all around us in the adjacent sites and it was the perfect set up for us. I have a feeling this crew will be booking these sites again in the future. Here is a view from our campsite.

Camping on Lake Bastrop South Shore Park — view from our campsite (Site 16) / Nikon Z6, ISO 400, Lensbaby Edge 35, 1/400 sec

What did we do?

Just the normal camping stuff plus some mini golf. I think this was our 4th or 5th time there, but the first time we’ve ever done mini golf. We’ve rented kayaks before, but it was a little cold on the water for that this go around. It’s always a gamble to book a mid January camping trip, but there’s always a 3 day weekend and a birthday so we do it anyway.

mini golf

It’s cool because you don’t even have to leave the park to play mini golf. Just stop by the office for a putter and a ball and head over to the main day use area.

Hiking

We did the absolute minimum in hiking this trip. I love the Loblolly trails, but we didn’t even make it over there given I’m currently dealing with some chronic foot pain that needs worked out this summer. We did take one short little hike though.

Had a Party

Corbin turned 7 while we were camping so I hit up the H-E-B for a cookie cake and made burgers for dinner.

Camping Birthday — Found this sign down at another campsite. It was technically the day before his birthday.

Lake bastrop south shore Photo Dump

The rest was just chill camping. We just enjoyed each other’s company and the scenery. Photo dump below.

Fishing Lake Bastrop South Shore Park on Kayak — My dad heading out for some early morning fishing. Nikon Z6, ISO 200, Lensbaby Edge 35, 1/400 sec

Fishing Lake Bastrop South Shore Park at Sunrise — I don’t know those people, but I love this picture. Nikon Z6, ISO 100, 35MM, F/4.5, 1/2500 sec

Sunrise at Lake Bastrop South Shore Park — I love this common area in the camping loop sooooo much! Nikon Z6, ISO 200, Lensbaby Edge 35, 1/640 sec

Photographing Lake Bastrop South Shore Park — Learning from mom

Camping at Lake Bastrop South Shore Park — He’s 7!

Even Po the hamster went camping this time. Don’t get judgy, this cage was just for car rides. We had his big one too.

I Can't, We Have Baseball

September 08, 2022 by Monica Brown in Family, parenting, sports

I started this week on the struggle bus. I’ve been looking forward to dance and baseball because I love watching my kids do what they love, but this week marked the start of nearly 2 months of straight crazy.

I’m owned by my kids’ activities every single week night between now and the end of October. I definitely need the shirt that says “I can’t, we have baseball (or dance).” And to top it all off, I dropped the ball on night one of children’s activities by showing up at the end of ballet class instead of the beginning. Turns out I saved the time incorrectly in my calendar 2 months ago when we registered. It didn’t go over real well with my little ballerina.

So I’ve been over here this week letting it eat at me. How are we going to get through the next 7 weeks with any level of sanity left to show at the end? No doubt it’ll end in exhaustion for both me and the kids.

But then I remembered something. Yes this is going to be hard for the next 7 weeks and yes it’s okay to acknowledge that and know that it’ll be stressful at times, but these are just small things when all is said and done.

I know that in hindsight I probably won’t even remember the rushing through dinner, homework and showers so we could fit everything in. I won’t remember how I screwed up the first day of dance (unless that one kid never lets me live it down, which is very possible). I won’t remember how I sent my kid to baseball in dirty pants because who has time to wash those things every 2 days. I won’t remember the 3 trips to sporting goods store in 1 week to get all the things I didn’t realize we needed this season and how quickly all those things added up.

Instead I’ll remember that one hit of the season that made my boy feel like a star and put a look of pure joy on his face. I’ll remember the two outs he got in one game that made him want to play short stop forever and ever. I’ll remember leaning forward at my daughter’s recital so nobody saw my tears as I watched my sweet girl dance her heart out and I’ll remember how she watched that recital video over and over again afterwards for weeks.

How absolutely incredible it is that I get to be present for these moments. What a privilege it is to watch them grow.

I kind of feel like the secret to life might just be meeting each struggle with enough gratitude to find and appreciate the beauty hidden in the chaos. Admittedly, that’s sometimes easier said than done, but something I’ve been actively working on for the last 2 years.

See ya in November.

Family Vacation in Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole

August 16, 2022 by Monica Brown in travel, photography, personal, Fun with kids, Family

Don’t worry, I’m going to tell you where/when to find that herd of Bison somewhere in this blog post. It’s kind of unreal.

Here’s a super quick run down of our trip itinerary

Monday: Fly out of Austin to Bozeman, rent a car, hit up Walmart, drive to Canyon Village in Yellowstone via the West Yellowstone Entrance because flooded took out the North Entrance, check in and eat dinner with the extended fam.

Tuesday: Back toward the west side of the park to see Old Faithful and and everything in between Old Faithful and Canyon Village that caught our attention, ate dinner as an extended family again.

Wednesday: North from Canyon Village around the Grand Loop to Mammoth Hot Springs and everywhere in between, out to West Yellowstone for decent food and ice cream, and back to Canyon Village and a little beyond where we finally found those Bison.

Thursday: Grand Canyon of Yellowstone South Rim, Drive to the Lake, Wildlife, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone North Rim, and our last dinner in the park and the first somewhat decent food in the park.

Friday: Drive to Jackson Hole from Yellowstone, go whitewater rafting, eat at two Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives restaurants, explore the square.

Saturday: Jackson Hole back to Bozeman via Idaho, fly back to Austin, but not without plane issues.

Sunday: Drive home from Austin airport. There wasn’t supposed to be a Sunday.

Austin > Denver > Bozeman

Our flights are always way too early. I actually booked a decent flight, but it got cancelled and we got moved to an earlier one so we had the kids up and ready to leave the house at 4AM. Sorry kids, it’s worth it, I promise.

Austin Airport

The Austin Airport is decent by comparison from what I can tell. I love how our eateries are set up. It’s so Austin (in a good way) and it just seems like more of an experience than other airports. The downside is when you leave that early, not a lot of things are open. You can always count on Salt Lick at that time for breakfast tacos though.

TSA has a bad reputation in Austin for taking way too much time, but we got through security pretty quick so I personally can’t complain about that.

Denver Airport

Our view of nothing in Denver

Only one of my children has ever done a layover and she wasn’t even 1 year old yet so she doesn’t remember. This was kind of their first. Luckily it was just enough time to do lunch, play a few games on Kindles and then we were on our way again. The sucky thing is we had a view of flat land from our gate. I was hoping for something a little more Colorado-ish. We could have been anywhere based on the view. We stayed in the same terminal, but I hear it’s kind of a pain to get around if you have to switch. Our terminal seemed nice other than the view.

The Flight from Denver to Bozeman

I prefer the window seat for trips like this, but for the sake of happy children (which is priority number 1 when flying) I didn’t have it. Saida did and once we started seeing some things, she was impressed. We flew over Yellowstone at one point. I pointed out the lake and the Grand Tetons off in the distance. I had no idea we’d see this so well from the plane. She hugged me and thanked me for bringing here there before we could even get back on land. This was the perfect hype flight. I may or may not have been holding back big emotions.

The Bozeman airport is small, but beautiful. It’s got a lodge feel complete with a beautiful gas fire pit. The view didn’t suck either. It’s so small that there are only about 3 options for food. I want to say it’s 14 gates and Southwest only has 2 of them. Things seem to run a little behind here in general, but our baggage claim experience and rental car experience were some of the smoothest we’ve ever had.

Rental Car Tip

Costco. I love Costco for all of the things, but 9 times out of 10 they are my best deal on a rental car. Also be super kind to the counter person so you can casually ask what your options are on cars. They had 3 in our category and we got to choose which one we wanted.

Here’s our rental car at the top of Mount Washburn

How we did Food and Groceries

So the thing about staying at a hotel in Yellowstone National Park is the refrigerator fits almost nothing and there is no microwave. You’re prohibited from cooking anything so as you might imagine, things can get pretty expensive in terms of food, if you let it.

Tips

Check a cooler (or rent one when you get there, but that’s expensive and checking my RTIC soft side {affiliate link} was free on Southwest)
Hit up Walmart or another grocery store before getting to Yellowstone
Buy mostly things that don’t require refrigeration

We weren’t the healthiest on this trip. I’m sure we could have done better, but it’s vacation and we embraced it. I intermittent fast so my lack of breakfast and lunch wasn’t effected.

Also, is that not the nicest looking Walmart you’ve ever seen? It just blends right in with the mountains.

Breakfast: Premade muffins and donut holes from the Walmart Bakery

Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and room temp spaghettios out of the can

Snacks: Chips, beef jerky, squeeze apple sauce and yogurts, mandarin oranges, granola bars, nuts

Other things: Water, wine, wine opener because the screw top red wines were a higher price point and the opener was less than dollar, Gatorade packets, plastic cups, plastic cutlery, ziplock bags, paper towels, trash bags, and other things of that nature.

Dinner: We ate all dinners out.

Bozeman > Yellowstone

Ok, so that once in 500 year flood happened less than 2 months before our trip. Typically when you fly into Bozeman and you’re staying in Canyon Village, you would enter the park via the North Entrance. It was a no go. The road along the Yellowstone River at the North Entrance was destroyed and likely can’t be rebuilt in the same place due to the river now having moved as part of this whole flood process. I have a feeling it’ll be years before that entrance is right.

This meant we would enter though the West Entrance in West Yellowstone and honestly I was excited for the drive. A little research told me we’d be taking Hwy 191 along the Gallatin River through a canyon where the movie A River Runs Through It was filmed. It’s considered a scenic highway and I’m always down for a canyon drive along a beautiful river dotted with fly fisherman and whitewater rafts. It didn’t disappoint. The kids however were exhausted and missed all my favorite parts along the way. I don’t remember exactly how long it took us to get to Canyon Village from Bozeman, but I would say somewhere between 2 and 2 and a half hours. Not bad.

Basically your route is Bozeman to Big Sky to West Yellowstone and then on in to the National Park. I bought our entrance pass for Yellowstone online before we entered the canyon because cell/internet service is pretty spotty once you leave Bozeman. I also saved the pass to my photos because it’s not a whole lot better at the entrance to Yellowstone.

They didn’t even make it out of Bozeman. I guess that’s what happens when you wake up at 4AM.

We may have technically been in a corner of Yellowstone at this point

Favorite picture from day one. Somewhere between the West Entrance and Canyon Village.

Yellowstone National Park

I’m not sure how to break this down in a way that makes the most sense. I think I’ll go day by day and tell you which direction we went from Canyon Village and what we saw. Keep in mind we only had 3 full days so we hit some highlights and felt like we saw what we needed to see, but we could have spent way more time. Let’s start with Canyon Village info first though.

Canyon Village

We stayed in Canyon Village. It’s the largest of all the lodging areas in all of Yellowstone. The lodges we stayed in were built in 2016 so semi new. There is also a campground across the street from where we stayed, a gas station at the corner, and a dining/shopping area adjacent.

Canyon Lodge and Cabins

We booked a Deluxe Porch New Lodge Room. It’s not as fancy as it sounds, trust me, but it did come with a price tag to match the title. It’s not cheap to stay here, but you are in the park. Everything seemed clean, but we slept terrible because there is no A/C. Also as previously mentioned there is no microwave and the mini fridge really is the tiniest kind of mini fridge. There is also no TV, if that’s your thing, but I didn’t miss it. As long as you’re prepared, the only thing that is really an issue is that lack of A/C at night.

Watch out for Canyon Carl. He’s a bison that likes to hang out along the path over to the shopping/dining area and also seems to prefer chilling in the shade of Hayden Lodge in the afternoons.

Let’s talk about the Shopping/Dining situation at Canyon Village. There are a few gift shops, a couple restaurants, a general store, and outdoor store, a visitor center, and a hut for renting bear spray. It’s a great little area. The problem is the food isn’t great.

Canyon Eatery

Let me preface this by saying we were in the park shortly after the flood and they did have supply issues. Canyon Eatery sucks. They have some grab and go options that are just okay and then two different lines you can stand in for food. The first night I had a chili dog which I’m convinced is the best thing on their menu. It’s just hard to mess up a chili dog. Everyone else was super put off by their meal. They next day we tried the other line which leans more Asian in flavors and it was just lacking in flavor and most had beef that was tough and hard to chew. We weren’t expected amazing food in the park, but this one was just not good at all. If you don’t have to eat here, I wouldn’t.

Canyon Fountain and Grill

We would have eaten here every night, but they close at 5pm and we only made it back to Canyon Village on time one night. They have burgers and typical American food including a bison burger. It was actually decent. Turns out it’s ran by a different company than the other and it’s obvious. You won’t be blown away, but you won’t feel like you totally wasted your money and your calories either.

Shops

Each area has it’s own General Store and gift shops. Most of the stuff is the same, but there is a slight variation at each one. I think we went to most of them while we were there.

Day 1 Things including old faithful and grand prismatic spring

Full day number 1 felt like a good day to get in the things we most wanted/felt like we needed to see when in Yellowstone. Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring are pretty close to each other on the west side of the park so we woke up and headed back west for the day.

We felt so lucky to see our first bison of the trip as we got closer to Old Faithful. He was just chilling on the side of the road and little did I know this would not be the highlight of my bison seeing. Not even close. More on where to find the herds later.

Old Faithful

We learned that Yellowstone has over 500 geysers in the park (that’s more than half of the geysers in the entire world), however only 6 of them are predictable. Old Faithful got it’s name because they can predict this one down to about 10 minutes based on stats from the previous eruption. Who knew? There’s a visitor’s center / museum at Old Faithful that gives some interactive information and lets you know when to expect the next eruption. You just walk out the back door of the visitor’s center and there she is. People line the boardwalk surrounding the geyser as the predicted time get closer and then they all ooh and awe as it starts to do it’s thing. It’s weird. I find the entire thermal feature aspect of Yellowstone to just be very weird. I guess that’s what happens when you’re standing on a super volcano.

Midway Geyser Basin and Grand Prismatic Spring

How is this place even real? Grand Prismatic Spring just doesn’t seem natural at all. In that first picture you can even see the aqua colored steam rising up. It’s nuts. The best part is watching the light change. As the sun gets brighter, the colors get more vibrant and saturated. Grand Prismatic Spring is a bit mind blowing.

There’s a parking lot on the Old Faithful side of Grand Prismatic Spring. That’s is where you take the trail for the overlook, if you’re wanting to do the overlook. We just did the boardwalk along Grand Prismatic Spring.

Looking across the Firehole River up towards Midway Geyser Basin. You can see aqua colored steam rising from Grand Prismatic Spring.

Opal Pool. This one is actually an unfaithful geyser. Not sure when it last erupted though.

Fountain Paint Pots and Norris Geyser Basin

If we were to start a list of things I never need to see again in Yellowstone, put both Norris Geyser Basin and the Fountain Paint Pots on it. For real. You got this place that’s amazingly beautiful and then there’s this spot (or couple of spots) that just kind of looks like the end of the world. I tried to take some cool pictures of the things that did catch my eye, but basically unless you’re into bubbling pits of mud, it’s just a no. I’m not upset I saw it, I just didn’t need to hang out for more than a quick look.

Day 2 Things including Mount Washburn, Tower Fall, Mammoth Hot Spring. and West Yellowstone

Canyon Village to Mount Washburn

From Canyon Village we headed north on day two. We reached the highest drivable elevation in all of Yellowstone and saw a totally different side of the park (literally and figuratively). The drive north in the early morning light was quite breathtaking. You don’t make it real far before you find awe inspiring overlooks and you kind of want to stop for every single one between Canyon Village and Mount Washburn. I think we stopped at most.

Just a few minutes up the road from Canyon Village

Overlook between Canyon Village and Mount Washburn

Tower Fall

Tower Fall flows into the Yellowstone River. The trail from the fall says there is no river access, but what they really mean is the trail is not maintained all the way to the river. You can absolutely get down there and we did. The walk to the Tower Fall overlook is very accessible. The walk down to the river is steep and a bit more challenging.

The Petrified Tree

I did not photograph this. In fact I was pretty unimpressed with this stop and it was quick because nobody in our group was that interested. We didn’t even get out of the car. After this though, Saida asked me what petrified means. I gave her a quick explanation that was probably terrible and we agreed to look up more information about this tree when we had internet access again. We had lots of time in Las Vegas on the way home due to one of our planes engines experiencing some issues so we looked it up. I learned that this tree was entombed over 50 million years ago. 50 MILLION YEARS! I had a little more respect for that damn tree after reading that. Makes 37 years seem quite small.

Mammoth Hot Springs

The town of Mammoth Hot Springs is interesting. Next to it is an old Army fort which now is used as staff housing and then there are more private residences mixed in with the Mammoth Hot Springs parking areas. I’m pretty sure I’d be pissed if I ended up with the house next to the bathroom parking lot, but that’s just me.

The hot springs themselves have different terraces and we kind of wished we started walking from the upper terrace parking area instead of from down below. We were more interested in the areas where water currently flows and we less impressed with the cooled areas where water flowed in the past.

The kids hit up the General store and gift shop when we were done for some ice cream and on our way we went.

West Yellowstone

THE FOOD IN THE PARK IS TERRIBLE! At this point we felt we were far enough away from Canyon Village and close enough to West Yellowstone (just outside the park) that maybe we could get a decent dinner. West Yellowstone has it’s own section after day 3 things so skip ahead if you want that now or just wait.

Back to Canyon Village and Where we Found That Bison Herd

Our hope on the way back from West Yellowstone was that it would be late enough in the day for wildlife to be moving around a bit more. We stopped for a couple wildlife sightings between West Yellowstone and Canyon Village including this (now unimpressive) Elk sighting turned adorable duck family sighting.

Hayden Valley

From there we made it all the way back to Canyon Village with no wildlife sightings. How disappointing. It was starting to get dark, but we got a tip that if we head south towards the lake a little bit, people often see elk and bison in Hayden Valley. This tip did not disappoint. Actually Hayden Valley needs it’s own section of blog post for all the bison pictures I ended up getting there over the remainder of the trip. But here are a couple from that night until you get there.

Day 3 Things including Yellowstone Lake, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and the Upper and Lower Falls

If you skipped ahead to West Yellowstone then you know we paid to see bears in captivity on day 2. Turns out you just have to pay to see bears in order to actually see one in the wild. Almost as soon as we left our hotel on day three we spotted this little bear on the side of the road. It’s actually a black bear even though it’s not black. They refer to them as cinnamon bears and I think that’s adorable.

I actually had a better angle set up for this shot, but some really horrible man stepped in front of me nearly knocking my camera out of my hands to steal my shot. He was a real gem of a guy. Probably the same kind of dude you’d see blocking himself from danger using a child.

South Rim Upper Falls View

South Rim Artist Point

It’s hard to believe these next two pictures are at the same location at the same time of day, but they are. Look one way and you get the first photo. Look the other way and you get the second. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is gorgeous.

There’s also a trail at Artist Point that goes to Ribbon Lake, but we only walked it for a few minutes. Our agenda for the day felt big and it was time to move on.

Mud Volcano

Add Mud Volcano to the list of places I also never need to see or smell again. The one good thing that came from there was this interesting picture of something beautiful just beyond the awfulness that is Mud Volcano.

Elk Sighting at Bridge Bay Marina

We found two bull elks at a Marina off of Bridge Bay. I got a little adventurous for this shot meaning I got closer than I probably should have, but he’s a beauty.

Lunch at Steamboat Point Picnic Area on Yellowstone Lake

Hell of a picnic spot, don’t you think? This is off of East Entrance Road and it was beautiful. We stopped here for lunch and then headed back to explore the North Rim .

North Rim Brink of Upper Falls

North Rim Lookout Point to Inspiration Point

Wildlife Drive

We did a little more driving around to try to find wildlife after dinner on day three and it was mostly disappointing. Just before we got back to Canyon Village though I got what is probably a once in a lifetime shot of not only one, but two bull elk on top of a hill. We held up traffic and I shot these from the car. At first I only saw the one and the moment Tyler told me there were two and I got them in my frame, I nearly died. I won’t ever forget that moment.

West Yellowstone

I’m really not kidding when I say the food really is terrible in the park. We kind of wanted to do West Yellowstone during the planning phase, but it wasn’t an absolute must. At this point we were like let’s go see if we can find some decent food and maybe guarantee a bear sighting by seeing them in captivity. Also we had a birthday just before vacation and one just after so West Yellowstone was kind of our celebration moment.

Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center

My mother in law really wanted to take the kids to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. It’s pretty small, but nice and they’re currently working on a new bear enclosure. I’m hoping this means future guests will get to see more bears. Currently their bears take turns in the bear enclosure. We had a ton of fun watching them play and maybe one of my favorite things was the ground squirrels. They’re so full of energy and personality and they’re super cute.

The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center is pretty much at the park entrance. Once you hit the light heading out of the park, it’s just to your left. I would definitely recommend it for young kids.

Three Bear Restaurant

Honestly I think I probably ordered the wrong thing, but it wasn’t bad. Everyone seemed to like their meal, but at this point it didn’t take much to improve upon what we’d had for the two nights prior.

My favorite thing is when there is a decent kids menu because I can enjoy almost anything as long as those kids are happy. They were happy. One had the Bison Burger and the other had been dying for pasta that didn’t come out of a can.

Espresso West (Coffee and Ice Cream)

Espresso West is a little coffee and ice cream trailer we found walking around West Yellowstone. The ice cream looked legit and the prices were more than reasonable (probably nearly half the price compared to what they sell if for in the park and it’s the same ice cream). They serve Wilcoxson’s Ice Cream and as someone who is partial to Bluebell, I really really liked it. I’d buy it, if they sold it in Texas next to Bluebell. My Texan card might get suspended for this review actually.

Hayden Valley

The not so secret secret spot we found the bison herd. Turns out the bison come to Hayden Valley for mating season so I think I read that’s July through September maybe. That one bison is definitely putting out the vibe in the first picture. Hayden Valley used to actually be part of the Yellowstone Lake forever ago, but now it’s just prime wildlife viewing ground and I think we were the only ones who didn’t know. Photographers and tourists are lined up at each pull out taking photos and getting entirely too close to the largest native mammal in all of North America. I now understand how all of the bison attacks happen every year. This place is wild.

Jackson Hole

This was not part of our original plan. When Yellowstone flooded we started to get a little more creative with how we wanted to do things. My brother in law and sister in law really wanted to go white water rafting and we kinda did too. We decided to nix our last night in Yellowstone in exchange for a night in Jackson Hole with a little white water rafting and a couple of Diners, Drive-in’s, and Dives restaurants because, let’s face it, we needed some good food.

Where we stayed

The Parkway Inn is just a few blocks from the square in Jackson Hole. It’s was quaint and adorable and I’d definitely stay there again. It’s not cheap, but nothing is in Jackson Hole and it was only a few more dollars than what we were paying in the park. We just had a standard room and my only complaint was the bathroom is a bit small and awkward.

Jackson Hole White Water

Honestly we chose Jackson Hole White Water because we didn’t have to pay adult price for the kids and the rafts were big enough that they wouldn’t have to row. We had a great experience. Our Guide was Eric and he was entertaining and, more importantly, knowledgeable about rafting.

We did the 8 Mile Whitewater trip on the Snake River and we’d definitely do it again. The kids LOVED it.

And let’s take a moment to appreciate the moment we’ll NEVER stop talking about. I don’t know those people, but man I’m so glad there were photographers on the side of the river to capture that one rapid. Thank you Snake River Photo.

Where we ate

From what I can tell Guy Fieri is a big fan of Jackson Hole and we’re kind of fans of Guy Fieri and the Food Network in general. The kids think it’s cool to eat at some of the places they’ve seen on TV and so do I. We did two different Diners, Drive-in’s, and Dives Restaurants while in Jackson Hole.

Pinky G’s Pizzeria

Pinky G’s is near the square so it was a super quick walk from our hotel. It has a super cool garage vibe going on and you just kind of feel cool while you’re there. Guy had The Funky Chicken and even created his own pie during the recording of the show. We stuck with The Funky Chicken since we’re not blue cheese fans though. It was a solid pizza. I can’t complain, but I will say it’s not the best pizza I’ve ever had.

Sidewinders

Sidewinders was super convenient because it was directly across the street from my in-law’s hotel and next-door to where we got on the bus for white water rafting. Guy ate the French onion soup, chicken pot pie, and a pretzel. I ate the chicken pot pie. It was good. Again, maybe not the best pot pie I’ve ever had, but solid.

My Brother-in-law had the pizza at Sidewinders. He’s a pizza guy. He preferred the pizza at Sidewinders to the pizza he had at Pinky G’s.

On the square

I’m guessing no trip to Jackson Hole is complete without a little stroll around the square. We ate, we shopped, and then we stopped for ice cream. We wanted to get ice cream at Moo’s Gourmet Ice Cream, but the line was out the door and we were pushing it on getting the kids to bed. We just did the Haagen Dazs instead. Corbin found a bison he could actually touch and hug (because we kept thinking those poor misunderstood bison could probably use a hug). It was a great evening and the perfect way to end out trip.

Jackson Hole > Bozeman

I’m not real sure actually, but I think that’s Jackson Hole down there in this first picture. Driving back to Bozeman from Jackson Hole to catch a plane isn’t ideal (I mean it’s 4 hours in addition to your airport/plane time), but I don’t regret this decision. We didn’t drive back through the park. We opted to go the Idaho route instead. It’s faster and we were curious.

Idaho is a mixed bag though. It’s like one minute it just looks like Wyoming or Montana and the next minute you are fairly certain the Teletubbies are popping out around the next bend.

We never saw any Teletubbies, but I’m pretty sure that show was based on Idaho.

We also drove through a town called Driggs and it really got us thinking about what people do for a living there. I still don’t know the answer to that question, but we looked at the MLS and I was ready to move (but I don’t have enough money). Anyway, if you’re bored and want to go down a rabbit hole of looking at random properties for sale in a place you are never buying a house, look at Driggs, Idaho. It’s impressive.

Rehashing the rest of the trip probably isn’t helpful to anyone really so I’ll gloss over it.

Bozeman > Vegas > Austin

Bozeman to Vegas was fine. Got to see Salt Lake and The Strip. I’ve never been to Las Vegas so I didn’t know The Strip and the Airport are basically on top of each other. Unfortunately our next plane had engine issues that we found out about before we took off so we were de-boarded… eventually… and then caught a different plane back home. That part was a bit stressful, but the kids handled it well.

Takeaways from this trip

It’s worth taking
My kids’ ages are good ages for Yellowstone and Jackson Hole (Ages 6 and nearly 9)
Rent/Bring a cooler
Rent a big enough car to carry that cooler, luggage, and groceries
Don’t forget a wine opener
Definitely do Hayden Valley
July is a good time to go whitewater rafting
Buy the whitewater rafting photo because it’s hilarious
The restaurants Guy goes to on Diner Drive-ins, and Dives are good, but maybe not as good as you think
Definitely borrow your friend’s long lens if you don’t have one
Eat ice cream every chance you get
Try not to eat at Canyon Eatery if you don’t have to
Always try local beer
Don’t pet (or hug) the fluffy cows
Let you kid have the window seat

Tennessee with Kids (Nashville & Gatlinburg)

October 19, 2020 by Monica Brown in Family, Fun with kids, travel

I always thought I was a beach girl. That's what I knew because my parents are definitely beach people. Turns out I’m a “I’ll take a cabin in the mountains with a hot tub because I don’t like cold” kind of girl. I just need some tall trees and a view and maybe a little two bedroom A frame, but I’m not picky. I’ll take a stream or something too though because I’m still drawn to the water no matter where I go.

Nashville

Okay so Nashville isn’t exactly the obvious choice to fly into when you’re making a trip to Gatlinburg, but we’re kind of die hard Southwest Airlines people and they don’t do Knoxville. The moment they do though, we’re in trouble. I will give them all of my money to keep taking me back to the mountains.

Nashville is a good 4 hour drive and one time change away from Gatlinburg, but I loved the drive. We were only in Nashville for one night before making the drive east.

Where we stayed

We stayed at the Hyatt Place Nashville Downtown. The location was super convenient to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was on my list, the pedestrian bridge, and Broadway. I’m finally finishing this post two years after visiting so I can only speak to the hotel during October 2020. It was perfect for our needs. Continental breakfast is always a win with kids and it was clean. I would consider staying here again on my next trip, if I was in the market for an affordable stay in downtown Nashville.

What we did

We weren’t in Nashville for long and the kids were tired after getting up early. We started with just finding out hotel, taking a minute to pull ourselves back together, and then heading out for lunch. We found a little pizza joint next to our hotel with the coolest vibe and outdoor eating area that was perfect for lunch. Unfortunately it has since closed, but it made for my favorite Nashville photo. I kinda hope this ordering window still exists. It’s at 311 3rd Avenue, if you want to see for yourself. It’s basically at the bottom of the Hyatt Place.

Country Music Hall of Fame

After lunch we walked to the Country Music Hall of Fame. I wore the wrong shoes and the kids were just at the right age and tiredness for not appreciating the walk one bit. It’s really not far. It was cool. I think this kids would appreciate it more now than they did then, but they were honestly just tired and not into it. It finally won Saida over at the end when she found the Kasey Musgraves exhibit. She couldn’t get enough of the dresses even though she had no clue who Kasey Musgraves was. We spent the 4 hour drive to Gatlinburg (and back) getting a little Kasey Musgraves education via Amazon music and we’re still fans (even if the latest album isn’t really our jam). I have no pictures from the museum and I regret it.

Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge

The pedestrian bridge takes you from downtown over the Cumberland River to Nissan Stadium (where the Titans play). I find pedestrian bridges to be cool so I knew I wanted the kids to be able to run around here and just be kids. They were still all sorts of moody though so it didn’t last long. It’s a great photo op though if you want the city in behind you. This was our pre dinner adventure and they did warm up to it eventually, but as per usual Corbin was hungry and ready to eat. Shocking, I know.

Rock Bottom Brewery and Restaurant

We ate dinner at yet another restaurant that no longer exists. It’s too bad because I think we all enjoyed it and it was actually my second time there. Tyler and I stopped in for a beer on a previous trip. It was on Broadway across from Hard Rock Cafe. Saida loved it because she could watch all the girls in fancy outfits walking down Broadway. I googled it and apparently it had been there for 25 years before shutting down. RIP Rock Bottom Brewery. There’s an obvious joke here, but it sucks when people go out of business so I’ll leave it alone.

This concluded the Nashville portion of our trip. Off to Gatlinburg.

Gatlinburg

I love Gatlinburg. We’re going back one day and hopefully more than once. I’ll also do Asheville or something, but that part of the country is where it’s at for me.

Getting there

Getting to Gatlinburg from Nashville takes about 4 hours via car. It wasn’t ideal and the weather was iffy some of the way, but my kids are pretty decent at 4 hour drives so it wasn’t too bad. It was Texas/OU weekend so I pretty much just watched the game on my phone the whole way and enjoyed the scenery. You’re basically just on I-40 the majority of the way until you’re to a new time zone, through Knoxville, and then you head south through Sevierville and on to Gatlinburg either through Pigeon Forge or you can go a little further and come around Gatlinburg on the other side and miss the Pigeon Forge traffic. We came in the opposite side from Pigeon Forge because that’s where we were staying. Unfortunately (or fortunately) our room wasn’t ready so we had to find something to do for a little bit before we could check in.

Where we stayed

We stayed at Bent Creek Golf Village in Pittman Center (birthplace of the one and only Dolly Parton). It was part of a timeshare thing where we were supposed to sit through a timeshare presentation while we were there, but they decided they weren’t getting our business pretty quick (I brought my kids with me and set a timer for the amount of time we promised) and decided to let us just get on with vacation. We were back in our room 30 minutes from the time we left it, attended the presentation, and then walked back to our room. We had a one bedroom condo basically with a full kitchen and a balcony overlooking the golf course. It was perfect for our needs and it took about 20 minutes to get to downtown Gatlinburg. Unfortunately the traffic in town was awful so I’d recommend staying in town, if you don’t want to deal with the driving. I don’t have a picture to share, but it totally looks like the pictures on the web link.

What we did

Roaring Fork Motor Trail

I’m going to start with the first thing we did and my absolute favorite part of the trip. Roaring Fork Motor Trail! This is a one way motor trail through a portion of the National Park. There are places to pull over along the way so you can get out and explore or even go on a legit hike. We explored several stops along the way and it was my heaven. I think everything I ever though I wanted changed along that trail. I wanted to be in those tall trees with those streams and all the moss and ferns. The kids loved it too. No crazy hikes, just quick in and outs of the car with fun things to explore along the way.

The urge to go back there is strong. I think the only thing keeping me from moving is there’s no H-E-B (iykyk) and/or decent Tex-Mex.

Clingman’s Dome

Don’t be like us and go when it’s cloudy. That’s hard though because they’re called the Smoky Mountains for a reason, am I right? They say you can see for 100 miles on a clear day at the top of Clingman’s Dome. We saw this far…

I don’t regret the trip up there because the drive was intriguing in such crazy fog. Photographing things in fog was totally on my bucket list and this next picture is one that just blows my mind every time I see it again. We’ll just have to try again one day. I’ve got lots of excuses to go back. Plus we added another state to the list because Clingmans’s Dome is actually in North Carolina.

Newfound Gap

We stopped at Newfound Gap on the way back down from Clingman’s Dome. The view is everything you think of when you think of the Smoky Mountains. We walked the Appalachian trail for a little bit and then headed back to the car.

Downtown Gatlinburg & Nantahala outdoor center

I mean you gotta do it right? My honest opinion is that most of the shops in Downtown Gatlinburg aren’t worth your effort. We found an old school candy store on the main drag though which was how we bribed the children to not whine though that fiasco. The place we found and fell in love with was Nantahala Outdoor Center. That’s where you go for actual nice souvenirs, t-shirts, and outdoor gear. I’d love to go in that place again someday. I inadvertently ended up throwing away a vinyl sticker that I bought there and I’d like to get another one and also sign up for white water rafting.

Anakeesta

We were tired the day we did Anakeesta. It was our last day before driving back to Nashville to catch a plane home. I’d never been on a lift before so the trip up the mountain to the park was exciting for me. It’s kind of the part I was looking most forward to and the suspension bridges through the trees.

We paid extra for the kids to do panning for gems and arrowheads and they thought that was pretty cool. They also would have spent most of their time on the playground because it’s awesome.

We were confused about the Rail Runner coaster and so we didn’t get signed up in enough time to actually do it. If that’s something want to do while you’re there, I suggest checking into that first. We were just so tired and ready to move on.

We did eat lunch at Anakeesta (burgers) and my honest opinion is that it was just okay. Definitely not worth a trip to the top for the food, but it’s good if you’re already up there and need a meal. Now the view can’t be beat.

No way jose’s Mexican cantina

This restaurant is right in the heart of downtown Gatlinburg right near the aquarium. We weren’t super impressed with any meal we ate in Gatlinburg, but it was good. I’d probably eat there again.

Three Jimmy’s Good Time Eatery

This place was supposed to be where all the locals eat. It had wonderful reviews and I was pretty excited about going there. It really just wasn’t good. We had a hard time saying one good thing about the food. We just weren’t impressed at all. I wish I had positive recommendations for anyone going to Gatlinburg, but unfortunately I have to say don’t waste your time here.

I guess some places just aren’t known for their food. There are entire vacations you could plan around good food. East Tennessee is just not one of those places.

takeaways from this trip

I am now a mountain girl. Please take me back.
Kasey Musgraves is cool
Don’t expect amazing food in East Tennessee
Do the good eating in Nashville
Sign up early for the Rail Runner thing at Anakeesta
Roaring Fork Motor Trail is my happy place
Bring your kids and set a timer at Timeshare presentations (trust me on this)

Mother Neff State Park

March 18, 2020 by Monica Brown in camping, Family, Fun with kids, photography

We aren’t the “thou shalt not poop in the camper” kind of people (I mean, I didn’t pay what I did for a second home on wheels to not poop in my own toilet), but even I was curious about these bathrooms at Mother Neff State Park that every Texas camper on social media was raving about. Apparently they’re basically the Buc-ee’s of State Park bathrooms and you can find them southwest of Waco, Texas just outside a little town called McGregor.

Side Note: If you’re not from here and you don’t know what a Buc-ee’s is, may I suggest you stop at one if you ever come to Texas. It’s a gas station, yes, but it’s so much more than that. It’s one of those things you really can’t prepare someone for. They just have to experience it for themselves. A pee break will cost a minimum of $40 so just be prepared to be distracted by all the things and to go home with some of it.

So we decided to make Mother Neff State Park our January camping trip. I swear we didn’t choose it for the bathrooms, but rather for the availability, nice concrete parking pads, and full hookups. It’s also technically only 2 hours from the house, but in reality with traffic, weather, and bathroom breaks, it took us about 4 hours to get there. It may have been more actually, but I’m trying to forget that particular experience. It’s just lovely when you’re stuck in rush hour traffic on I35 in downtown Austin and your kid announces they really need to go to the bathroom.

Sorry y’all, but all this bathroom talk has me thinking it’s the perfect time to share what might be my favorite photo from the whole trip.

So were the bathrooms everything the internet promised?

It wasn’t until after we were hooked back up and ready to go home that I actually went in them and I’ve got to say, they are most definitely the nicest Texas State Park Bathrooms I have ever seen.

Would I still wear flip flops in the shower?

Yes, absolutely. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Did I take any pics?

No. That’s weird.

Mother Neff in a Nutshell

Clean, small, partially closed due to flooding, very nice campsites, full hookups, very easy to approaching moderate trails, great playgrounds, and overall just very kid friendly. There’s also a dog. Nobody lost him so don’t try to find his owner. He’s friendly and basically their mascot now.

Site Info

We stayed in site 15. It’s pretty private and backs up to those really nice bathrooms I was talking about. There’s a spacious crushed granite area with a picnic table and firepit and the parking pad was extra wide. I’d stay in that spot again, but I think we also want to try site 12 in the future. 12 is a really long pull through site that also looked pretty private. All sites have full hookups but some definitely seem more exposed than others. The in-laws stayed in 16 and I’d also recommend that one and site 14 as well.

Site 15. Firepit is just out of frame over to the left and you can kind of see the bathrooms through the trees.

The Trails

Let’s just be really real for a sec. This isn’t the kind of park we’re used to when it comes to scenery. The “scenic overlooks” were pretty anticlimactic (we legit had to look at the map to make sure we’d actually made it to the scenic overlook), but the upside is that the trails were super easy. The kids (age 4 and 6) had zero issues getting around and the only complaints while on the trails were regarding hunger (from Corbin obviously) and when we were going to get to the playground (both kids). About half the trails are pretty exposed and the other half are through treed areas.

The Playgrounds

We don’t go camping for the playgrounds, but I’ve got to admit, we love having them at parks. Mother Neff had two that were equally awesome in very different ways. The first was a Nature Playscape near the camping loop. I loved this concept which included a slide built into the hill, tic tac toe from wood, logs for climbing, and things of that nature. Get it? Nature, lol. The second was a regular ole old school playground which was just a couple minute walk from the other. This was my favorite for photographing the kids and is where most of my favorite photos from this trip came from.

What’s that noise?

It’s SpaceX. You can read about it over by the bathrooms, but I guess they do engine testing there. We actually didn’t experience anything other than a couple not so crazy booms, but it’s my understanding that if you’re not aware SpaceX is just right down the road, the booms can sometimes be quite alarming. It’s not like they’re keeping you up all night so it’s really not much of a bother, but something worth noting.

Other Pics From Our Stay

Have any questions about our experience at the park? Let me know.

-Monica

A Week At Padre Balli RV Park in Corpus Christi Texas

July 20, 2019 by Monica Brown in camping, Family, Fun with kids, personal, travel

I cannot express to you how good it actually felt to be in our camper again. It had definitely been way too long since we’d made a trip (3 months). I let it slide though because I knew we’d be staying for a week this time and I have a certain amount of nights I insist we spend in the camper each year to make paying the price worth our while.

This wasn’t really a traditional camping trip for us. It was one of those situations where the camper is basically a condo on wheels and an affordable way for us spend an entire week at the beach. We showered regularly, went souvenir shopping, ate some dinners out at restraunts, and civilization was at our doorstep… or close enough (Thank goodness because we needed it to be on Thursday night).

Why We Chose Padre Balli Park For This Trip

Morning walk on the beach before the crowds showed up

The main reason we chose Padre Balli Park was for the proximity to people we were going to the beach with. Yes there are nicer RV parks within 30 minutes of where we stayed, but those parks weren’t a 5 minute car ride to the family we were spending time with at the beach. Also we knew we weren’t going to spend a lot of time at the park so paying a higher price for one of those other nicer parks just didn’t make any sense. My parents ended up tagging on to the end of this vacation so we did end up driving 15-20 minutes each way to hang at the beach in front of their beach rental too, but we still weren’t hanging out at the RV Park so paying the price for a “nicer” one just didn’t make sense. In this way Padre Balli Park definitely seemed like a good choice.

My Thoughts on Padre Balli Park

Pros:

Park is on the Beach
There is a restaurant and gift shop on the fishing pier at the park
Easy drive to Dollar General, Gas Stations, and Restaurants
50 Amp area is new
Shower Houses and Laundry onsite
Full Hookups in 50 AMP area
Concrete pads in new section
Friendly staff
Affordable (we paid $275 for an entire week in the 50 AMP area with full hookups and it’s on the beach. The 30 AMP area is $150 a week and doesn’t have sewer. There is a dump station.)

Cons:

No pool
Basic sites (not too close together, but not too far and zero landscaping)
Quiet hours not enforced and people like to party. Thank goodness for AC units being so loud.
Old 30 AMP area is run down and cramped (pot hole parking lot with hookups)
The beach at the park is very crowded
Lots of trash left behind on beach and at the campsites and the park doesn’t seem to prioritize cleaning it up.

Notes:

They do things a little differently than most. They don’t actually take any payments from you until you show up. When you call to book, you get a reservation confirmation number and that’s basically it. Write it down and hang on to it. You don’t hear from them again until about a week before your trip when they call to confirm your stay. It was my first time experiencing this and it honestly made me a little nervous that we might not have somewhere to stay when it was time to show up. Fortunately that wasn’t the case. They seemed to have it together in this department.

Would I stay at Padre Balli Park again?

Yes, absolutely. We definitely want to try out Gulf Waters sometime in the future too, but we want to do that when we plan to stay there and not rush off each day to go see other people staying in other places. When we pay the price to stay at Gulf Waters, we want to take advantage of their scenery, pool, and easy access to a beach that’s clean and beautiful. Padre Balli Park is absolutely a great go to for situations similar to this trip we just had. And honestly, if you’re not a little beach spoiled like me and you want to save a few dollars, Padre Balli Park is really a great choice even if you plan on taking advantage of the beach without driving elsewhere.

The highlighted site is site 16 which is the site we stayed in.

What I Learned on This Trip

More than I was prepared to learn, that’s what. But seriously though, Tyler had to go back to work for a couple days so we spent night 2 with just me and the kids in the camper. I was laying in bed about 10 PM that night thinking it had all gone so smoothly without him when the power goes out in the camper. It’s July in Texas and I like AC. Saida is already passed out and Corbin is making every excuse to stay up just a little longer, but I finally have him laying down in Tyler’s spot in my bed when this all goes down. I check to make sure we didn’t trip the breaker, but the entire Park is out. Turns out a transformer blew and the estimated time of restoration is 3 AM. YES 3 AM. If we don’t get the generator going, we’re going to be hot as hell and lose the food in the fridge and we’re one of the lucky ones with a generator. Unfortunately there isn’t any gas in it so that means I’m hauling kids out of bed at 10:30 at night to go buy gas cans and gas so we can get through these next few hours in comfort. All of these things were new for me, but a momma’s gotta do what a momma’s got to do and I wanted AC for my kids and to save the milk I just bought for them that evening.

Once the transformer was fixed, they blew another one and the new estimated time of restoration was 5 AM. I didn’t buy that much gas so I dropped us down to 1 of 3 ACs and everyone still managed to sleep comfortably. Power was back on by 3 AM anyway and we still had enough gas to get us through another power outage (this time for the entire island) that happend a couple days later.

We’re buying a nice gas can and taking some with us on every trip going forward for situations like this. The other option is our camper does have a fuel station and we could keep some gas in there with a stabilizer to make it last a little longer. And I’m happy to say I now know how to start the generator and keep things going when things don’t go as expected.

I really hate to wake sleeping kids, but they did an awesome job hanging with me and holding the flashlight while I filled the generator.

Places We Ate

Snoopy’s

13313 South Padre Island Drive

Corpus Christi, TX78418

A family favorite on Padre Island at the JFK Causeway. We’ve been going here for years and fish is always fried to perfection and the view is great. The secret is out though so go early or be prepared to wait in line to order.

A La Mode Gelateria

14254 S Padre Island Dr Ste 101

Corpus Christi, Texas 78418

Our friends introduced us to this place. It’s also on Padre Island and Saida and Tyler are obsessed with the banana pudding gelato. The staff is super friendly and welcoming and it’s definitely a new tradition for us.

La Playa Mexican grille

222 Beach Ave.

Port Aransas, TX 78373

Cash only in Port Aransas and this one isn’t a secret anymore either. The restaurant itself is super tiny so there is almost always a wait and then we show up with 16 people. I love it here because they actually know how to make a fish taco. I love cheese, but you don’t put cheese on fish tacos, you don’t put fruit salsa on fish tacos (IMO), and you don’t use flour tortillas on fish tacos. They do none of those things, thank goodness.

Brooklyn Pie Co.

15326 S Padre Island

Corpus Christi, TX 78418

We were first timers here. I wanted to just walk over to Mikel Mays on the pier at Padre Balli Park the night it was just me and the kids, but Saida insisted on Pizza and we had seen this place just up the road at the next stop light. We ordered their large cheese pizza, went and roamed around at ACE Hardware for about 15 minutes and then came back to pick up our pizza to go. The kids loved it and it came with one of those little plastic barbie tables… I mean pizza savers… which the kids have never seen before and Saida is excited to use it as a barbie table (as it was obviously meant to be).

Favorite Camping Hack of the Trip

I stole this hack idea from one of the RV Camping Facebook pages I’m on. As soon as I saw it I was on Amazon ordering these suction cup hooks to hang our beach towels and swimsuits on the outside of the camper. It was a great solution for not having to bring our wet and sandy towels into the camper.

Disclaimer: The link to Amazon below is an affiliate link. If you purhase from Amazon after clicking this link, I will receive a super teeny tiny commission at no additional cost to you. Also if you purchase these after clicking this link, THANK YOU! You doing this allows me to keep creating quality content for my readers and I think that’s pretty awesome.

Buy on Amazon

Drink of the Trip

Overall this trip was a family success, just not without drama because who would even know what that looks like. Lots of margaritas were had; spicy grapefruit ones. Click below to see the recipe I found on Pinterest. They were delicious. and I used lime juice from a bottle, HEB’s Rio Red Grapefruit juice, Espolon Silver tequila, and didn’t bother with garnish because we were taking it out to the beach.

Jalapeno Grapefruit Margarita Recipe by Eatwell101

Pictures From Our Trip Because I’m a Photographer

On Mustang Island near my parents’ beach rental

Mustang Island near my parents’ beach rental

That’s how I feel about ice cream too. Shout out HEB.

Iphone Picture edited with Lightroom Mobile @ Padre Balli Park

Iphone photo unedited @ Port Aransas, Texas

Iphone Photo edited with Lightroom Mobile @ DQ in Pleasanton on the way home

Share with Me

As usual I have no idea how to wrap all of this up. That was all kind of random, but that’s just kind of our life right now so… it is what it is.

Feel free to share your favorite restaurants in the area in the comments, tell me where you’ve found fish tacos that don’t suck, or let me know if you tried that margarita recipe. Seriously they are so delicious, especially if you’re into spicy alcoholic beverages.

Happy Camping,

Monica

24 Rainy Day Camping Activities for Kids

May 23, 2019 by Monica Brown in camping, Amazon, Family, Fun with kids, travel

I know I’ve talked about it before, but I’ve got a knack for planning camping trips on rainy or poor weather weekends. My talent for doing this is incredible actually. Just ask my family. You want to know when it’s going to rain? Just ask me for my camping schedule and you’ve got the answer. We’re headed to the coast in July and I’m already planning for hurricane weather because that would be my luck. You can bet I’ll be keeping a real close eye on the forcast during that time.

So since it’s obviously going to be raining for my next camping trip and the one after that and the one after that, here is the big question. What kind of rainy day activities can we do to keep the kids busy in the camper? I mean, we’ve watched every single movie in our camper at least 5 times and we haven’t even been camping for all that long. There are only so many times you can watch Sing or the Minions Movie over and over again. I’ve seen this question asked over and over again on camping forums so I’ve compiled the ultimate list of rainy day camping activities for your young kids.

The Ultimate List of Rainy Day Camping Activities For Your Kids

Watch Movies - Yes it’s screen time and that’s not what camping is about, but for me camping is family time so if we’re all enjoying a movie together with a little popcorn, then I’m cool with that. Our camper favorites lately seem to be Sing, Minions, and The Lorax.
Play Board Games - Candy Land, Monopoly, Guess Who, Battle Ship, Connect 4, Chutes and Ladders, Sorry, Trouble, Checkers, or any board game you already have hiding in a closet somewhere will do.
Play Card Games - A whole family activiite sure to please. We love Uno and Go Fish. My almost 6 year old daughter would probably play all day. Don’t forget about games like Skip-Bo, Old Maid, War, Apples to Apples, Crazy 8, or Charades for Kids.
Color - We prefer a couple of coloring books and some markers that stay in our camper. Both of my kids love to color. Crayons can melt if they get too hot so I wouldn’t suggest keeping them in the camper if it gets hot in storage.
Paint - I’ve seen suggestions of painting rocks which looks like a ton of fun. Some people have also mentioned leaving them behind for the next set of campers to discover. I love that idea. Seems like a fun way to put a smile on someone’s face. Also some old school water colors and paper are easy to pack and always a fun activity for kids.
Play outside (if it’s safe to do so) - Just make sure you have a couple of kid size ponchos on hand (or swimsuits if it’s warm enough) and pack their rain boots (or crocs) and you’re good to go for a little rainy day outdoor adventure. Of course if there is lightening near by or dangerous wind, don’t do this. Use common sense folks, but have fun.
Play-Doh - cheap and easy to bring along.
Fort Making in the Bunks - If you have bunks that is and plenty of blankets or sleeping bags, pillows or just anything that can be used for a fort. I haven’t met a kid that didn’t enjoy fort making yet.
Learn Origami - Keep a stash of paper around and maybe grab an inexpensive book off Amazon for learning origami.
Make Slime - You can buy a slime kit or just have the ingredients you need on hand. There are endless recipes for slime on the internet. Just google it and choose a recipe that looks interesting or easy or whatever you want it to be.
Bake Cookies - Our favorite ones to make come from the Magnolia Cookbook. Oddly they’re better after they cool off which is unlike any cookie recipe I’ve ever tried. A premade dough works just fine as well, but from scratch will give you more to do and can be a great family activity for a rainy day.
Legos - Bring a tub or just a small set. You’re never too old for legos.
Read - Grab some books that your kids can read on their own or bring along some to read to them. I went to college to be an elementary school teacher so I’m a fan of reading to kids anytime, not just when it’s raining.
Seek and Find Books - Think Where’s Waldo or the I Spy books. Both of my kids love these.
Puzzles - I love that this can also be an individual thing or a family thing. Bring along all kinds of puzzles ranging from 24 pieces all the way to 500 pieces (depending on how rainy it’ll be or on ages and number of participants).
Jenga - Because this one also never gets old.
Tic-tac-toe - This is our go to at restaurants, but why not on a rainy day in the camper too.
Visit Local Indoor Attractions in nearby city- Museums, Children’s Museums, Aquariums, Kid friendly brewery or winery, trampoline parks, bowling, etc. Just google indoor activities for whatever city you are near and get out and explore.
Craft Kits - you can create your own kit or buy one ready to go. This can be as simple as beads and string or that super cool dream catcher kit in my Amazon list for rainy day activities.
Science Experiments - Honestly even I’d have to just google this one. I wouldn’t know where to start, but I’ve seen it mentioned in forums so I thought I’d include it here.
Dominos - I haven’t played dominos in years and would totally have to figure it all out again, but I do remember having fun. Seems like a great game for kids and adults alike.
Paper Doll Books - I’ve never done paper dolls with my daughter, but I’d bet if I pulled this out on a rainy day, she’d be in heaven.
Joke Books - This is for when you’re desperate and everyone is getting on each other’s last nerve. Hopefully a joke or two will get everyone smiling again.
Magnatiles - We don’t have magnatiles, buy I’ve almost invested in them several times. Everyone who has them swears they’ll keep their kids busy creating for hours.

Just after the sun came back out, looking at birds on the water.

Get everything you need to entertain your kiddos on a rainy day in the RV on Amazon. Click the button below to go to my Rainy Day Shopping List created specifically for this blog post.

Rainy Day Activitiy Shopping List on Amazon

This link is an affiliate link and I may receive a small commission for any items purchased by clicking this link. If you choose to click and purchase, Thank you! This is how I can continue to bring you quality content on a regular basis.

A cold day spent inside at Moody Gardens Rain Forest Pyramid while camping in Galveston.

Do you camp? What are some of your favorite rainy day camping activities? Share them with me in the comments for others to see.

Thanks for reading my post!

-Monica

Want to see more of my posts for beginner RV campers? Click the links below.

What to do about that terrible rv mattress

DIY Essential Oil Mosquito Repellent

Best Coffee Maker for the RV

As Seen in Issue 11 of the Magnolia Journal

May 15, 2019 by Monica Brown in Beauty, Cooking, Family, Home, Home Decor, Product Review

Issue No. 11 of the Magnolia Journal surrounds the idea of Freedom and inspires you to celebrate freedom in a number of ways. Maybe you celebrate freedom by choosing a path for you instead of what was expected, maybe it’s letting go of comforts to allow room for growth, maybe it’s packing out your kids into the car and living life on the road, or maybe it’s simply running through the grass barefoot on a summer day with literally nothing else to do. There’s even a summer bucket list that will inspire you to make this the best summer ever and live like you’re a kid again. If this sounds like your jam or you just want some of the grilled flatbread recipes (because they look freaking delicious and easy to make), go get it. If you just want to find a few Joanna Gaines approved items you can buy online, well then, I can help you with that. Just keep scrolling.

Backpack by Walker Family Goods

There’s an entire article about the Walker Family in this issue. They sound kind of amazing and I want to be them for like a week (likely I’d change my mind after 1 day in the car with my kids). Plus I’m just loving the vintage vibe of this bag.

Chemical Free Sunscreen

Look, I use the bad stuff on my kids too because it works. I’m trying to do better though and this one caught my eye.

Straw Circle Tote Bag

Green Scarf

Lucy Shoe Rack

Bovill Hall Tree

English Elm Wood Coat Hook

Coconut Milk Roll On Perfume

There’s a seaweed + sea salt one I really want to try. I haven’t used perfume in years, but this makes me want to try.

But seriously, this issue has me saying all the yeses and I’m really anxious to try the spinach + artichoke flatbread and the tomato + basil flatbread. There’s even a recipe for chimichurri with avocado that sounds amazing too and since our outdoor kitchen is finally up and running, you can bet we might just be trying that one very soon with whatever steak I can get Tyler to cook. I don’t grill so if you know what an appropriate cut of mean for a chimichurri is, feel free to share.

So yeah, if you’re asking my opinion, I’d totally recommend issue no. 11 of the Magnolia Journal.

-Monica

Spring Break at Inks Lake State Park

March 21, 2019 by Monica Brown in camping, Family, Fun with kids, photography, travel

You know what Saida and I fought about just before heading out with the camper to Inks Lake State Park? She didn’t want to go and and kept telling me we should just stay home. Homegirl junior. Not that she cares, but I had to pull the “well mommy and daddy don’t spend too much money a month on this camper to not go anywhere so do you think we should go camping or do you want to sell the camper?”

Obviously we went camping. I won’t say she didn’t cry about it for an hour and half on the way there though because she totally did.

Where’d we go?

Inks Lake State Park (and Longhorn Cavern State Park for a couple hours)

Site number?

West Loop, Site 43. I’d highly recommend this site especially if you like being right on the water and you like having the park store nearby with boat rentals and such. It is very close to the park store though and when they did fishing with a park ranger, there was a lot of foot traffic on the trail between 42 and 43. We didn’t mind, but if you do, consider a different site. And also fair warning, someone did mention to me on the Texas RV Camping Facebook page that they had seen a rattlesnake and some water moccasins in this particular area. We kept and eye out, but never saw anything.

What we did while we were there

Camped, hiked, paddle boated, made memories with family, made s’mores and hamburgers, watched movies in the camper (we’re real people), fished, hit up the park store for ice cream, made a quick trip to Longhorn Cavern State Park to take a cave tour.

Other Things you can do there

They have at least 2 playgrounds, a Kona Ice truck, kayaks, canoes, more hiking trails, swimming in the lake & events depending on the day. Also I had my eye on a winery up Park Road 4 called Perissos Vinyard and Winery, but we didn’t actually go there.

Around the campsite

Campsite 43. You can see the canoes from the park store behind the camper.

Golden hour behind our campsite looking towards the park store.

From our campsite (43) looking out over the cove.

Camping at Inks Lake State Park in Texas

Hiking

My kids aren’t exactly experienced hikers so when picking out a hike, we went for something that appeared manageable. We chose Lower and Upper Fisherman’s Trail and essentially made a loop. We ended up on the dark green trail for a few minutes so we walked a little further than originally anticipated, but overall this was a great trail for them. They got to climb a little, see the lake, and it wasn’t too long or challenging for them (ages 3 and 5). Corbin fell a few times, but that’s mainly because he’s a little more clumsy than your average 3 year old.

Lower Fisherman’s Trail and they were only climbing because the wanted to. This is actually just above the trail.

Paddle Boats

Anyone curious what happens when I ask my kids to stand next to each other for a picture? THIS! This is what happens. This is why I don’t ask them to do it. Also the only reason I have this sad image is because we were about to buy ice cream and they weren’t taking a chance of not getting it. Also this was after getting off the paddle boats which ended up being a disaster because everyone was tired and both kids (who couldn’t even really reach the peddles) wanted to be able to peddle at the same time. We didn’t even use our full hour and then when I asked Saida what her favorite part of camping was after we’d been home a few days, she said the paddle boats. Blew my mind. I’m like you mean that thing we did where everyone whined the whole time. They really did have a great camping trip overall though.

Longhorn Cavern State Park

Camping at Inks Lake State Park in Texas and Longhorn Cavern

Longhorn Cavern State Park really wasn’t on our list of things to do on this trip, but when we realized it was literally down the street from Inks Lake State Park, we decided why not. To be honest I really wasn’t sure what we were getting into. I thought we could explore a cave on our own for like 20 minute and then go hit some trails (because from what I can tell they have some super easy and kid friendly trails), but turns out this cavern is much more expansive than I originally thought and it’s only accessible by a 90 minute guided tour. Obviously we took the tour and decided against any hiking trails since we were well into nap time by the time we finished. The kids absolutely loved it. Corbin was a litte over it about an hour in (because it was nap time) but overall he did really well (thank goodness).

We’re only three camping trips in, but so far we’ve really enjoyed each one. I think the kids are anxious to come back here again sometime soon. My final thought is that it’s a fantastic park for families and next time we look forward to bringing bikes for the kids as well. Maybe I’ll even hit up that winery and report back.

-Monica

Parabo Press For The Win + Free Square Prints + $10 Off

March 04, 2019 by Monica Brown in Family, Fun with kids, Home Decor, My Favorite Things, parenting, personal, photography, Product Review

I don’t have quite as much control over things when it comes to Saida anymore. She has her own style, her own likes, wants to decorate her room according to her own taste, and all that good business. I’m hanging on to as much control as I can, but I’m also kind of a believer in letting her explore and letting her take charge of some of those things within reason.

Putting up these super cute (AND FREE because we got the smaller ones which are always free) square prints from Parabo Press is a fun way for me to let her make her own decisions while winning the battle over her room decor. She got to pick each photo she wanted to display. Nevermind that we’re still wearing Christmas pajamas with unbrushed hair (and it’s the afternoon). Scroll down for a coupon code at the bottom of this post for $10 off your first order from Parabo Press. Or if you’d rather, just order the free prints and just pay shipping. Such a fun way to have your kids interact with photographs.

order from Parabo Press

Code for $10 off your first order from Parabo Press: MNEHAE

Galveston Island Camping Trip: More of My Happy

February 22, 2019 by Monica Brown in camping, Family, Fun with kids, motherhood, personal, photography, travel

If you’ve known me for more than 5 minutes, you probably know that the beach/bay is the place my soul craves. Our latest camping trip to Galveston Island State Park was gloomy, windy, and cold. I didn’t care. It rained all weekend at home so gloomy, windy, and cold with a bay view seemed just fine to me. The sun came out on our last morning just as it was about time to start packing up. We decided to spend just 30 more minutes exploring before we had to leave and the dunes on the beach side of the island is where we ended up. They called it their mountain. They were in thier own kind of heaven and I can’t even explain to you how overwhelmingly happy and at peace I was in this moment. It’s the kind of happy and peaceful you forget exists until it sneaks up on you. There isn’t a worry or a care in the world because in that moment nothing else matters except being present and completely soaking it in and storing it in a place to keep you content until that feeling sneaks up on you again.

Beachside at Galveston Island State Park

Leaving was the hardest thing. Nobody wanted to go.

More of my favorites from our trip below.

Galveston Island State Park Hiking Trail

Saki Monkeys inside the Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens

Outside Moody Gardens Rainforest Pryramid

Walkways over the intercoastal at Galveston Island State Park

We stayed with our RV at Galveston Island State Park on the bayside in site 55. I feel like sites 58-64 would be ideal in terms of a killer view of the bay. That’s my goal for next time. I think I acutally prefer the bayside to the beachside. The bay has a sense of calm that is totally my jam so I think I’d do that again.

We try to keep things simple. This was a quick trip so Moody Gardens Rainforest Pyramid is the only attraction we spent money on. We did things like drive by port on Saturday while two ships were in and the kids thought that was cool. We didn’t take the ferry this time, but kids also love that and it’s free. Just do it when it’s not crowded. In the past we’ve done the offshore oil rig museum which is pretty cool and affordable and just right there by the cruise ships, just with the wind we skipped it this time. I think Corbin would love it though so I want to take him to do that someday. What I really wanted to do was the oil rig museum at 4pm when the ships left so we could wave to the cruisers on deck as it passed by. That would have been cool, but our go with the flow attitude meant we weren’t around for that. Exploring the park and connecting with nature was priority for me even though we made time for fun in town too.

Looking for an RV Park or Resort on the Texas Coast? I’ve got a list of more than 60 Parks just waiting for you to book. Click the button below to see the list.

60 + Rv parks and resorts on the Texas coast

The Picture That Sums up Why we Bought a Camper / Our Trip to McKinney Falls State Park

January 24, 2019 by Monica Brown in camping, Family, Fun with kids, My Favorite Things, parenting, personal, photography, travel

I promised myself I’d start blogging about our camping trips once we actually started taking them. I wasn’t sure what these blog posts would be exactly. I’m pretty sure I was thinking at some point I would become some sort of camping expert and people would flock to my blog to hear about our trips and what cool things I did/cooked that they too need to be doing, but I’m not sure this is where that is going. Big dreams, huh? I feel inspired for like 5 minutes and then it’s gone so…. Also, like, I’m never going to be that person. EVER. I don’t have my shit nearly enough together for that.

This morning I edited a picture from our trip that basically sums up our reason for buying a camper and trying to take a camping trip every month. Do you want to see it? Not that your answer matters because I’m going to show it to you whether you want to or not.

Here it is…

You: But Monica, that’s just a blurry photo of your child swinging on her hammock. How could that possibly sum up your reasons for buying a camper?

Me: Um no, it’s not. That photo right there is a feeling.

But for real, the out of focus element of this image is giving me this out of body experience where time has slowed significantly and I’m just exactly where I’m supposed to be. It’s that thing I was reaching for when we bought our camper. It’s that thing I’ve wasted the past 6 months or so of my life anxiously awaiting. It’s that thing we’ve been missing in this life that doesn’t ever seem to slow down. It just goes faster and faster and faster and we were afraid that before we knew it we’d wake up and our kids would be grown and we would have let the opportunity for these kinds of experiences pass us up.

It’s easy to skip these things over. It’s easy to say, “Well, life is just to damn busy to stop right now.” We live in a world where we have to intentionally schedule time to slow down and so that’s what we’re doing.

Me: You wanna see more of my favorites from this trip to McKinney Falls State Park?

You: Yes, Monica. I can’t think of anything I’d love more.

Where we stayed: McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, Texas

Campsite: 18, (1 of 12 50 amp sites with water and electric). Very large pull through campsite with one site very close by (worked out fine because they never came out of their camper) and next to the bathrooms which turned out to not be a big deal at all. In fact when Corbin pooped in his pull up we were just thankful there was a dumpster nearby.

Just a Little Personal Work

November 09, 2018 by Monica Brown in Family, personal, photography

So what do I do when I’m not photographing lifestyle family and newborn sessions for all of these amazing Central Texas and Austin area families?

I have impromptu mini sessions with my kids in sweet light and then swoon over them for a bit and oh my goodness does it make my heart happy.

Think of Someplace Warm

October 15, 2018 by Monica Brown in Family, Fun with kids, personal, travel, camping

So I love yoga partly because I sometimes get to have these day dreamy moments at the instruction of my yoga teacher and nobody gets to ruin them by asking for fruit snacks or milk. It’s not every time I go, but I hadn’t actually been in over two weeks and my body and mind were screaming for some me time on the mat.

It was 90 degrees yesterday. It’s 45 degrees today so during a pre-class child’s pose Maria (my yoga instructor) asked us to think of someplace warm. 10 times out of 10 when you ask me to think of someplace warm, I’m going to think of my toes in the sand, the sun on my face, and gentle waves slowly lulling me to sleep. It’s my go to. I tried to go there today and you know what? I didn’t want to be there.

Who am I? Why do I not want to be at the beach? What other warm place could I possibly want to go?

And then I had my most favorite day dream of someplace warm to date. It was cold outside in this day dream (much like today), but I was snuggled in close on the couch in our new to us camper in front of the TV and space heater fireplace with the three people who mean the most to me in all the world. Wrapped in blankets we’re happy and warm and just soaking in all the goodness that is family confined to a small space. We’re drinking hot chocolate, the kids are laughing (I can actually hear Corbin laughing in my head and it makes me smile), Tyler and I are beaming with pride for the family we created, and I literally can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.

I can’t wait to start sharing our camping adventures with you. I love that we’re calling them adventures. I was showing Saida all the places we’d go and instead of asking where we’d camp next, she asked me to tell her what the next adventure would be. It was painful actually signing the paperwork for the second most expensive thing we currently own, but hearing her put it that way makes me realize I would have gladly paid even more to make these adventures her reality. These are the moments we were absolutely meant to live together and I’m glad we get to start sooner rather than later.

Stay tuned.

- Monica

Why We Invested In Memories Over Real Estate

October 11, 2018 by Monica Brown in Family, Fun with kids, parenting, personal, travel

There was this brief moment a few weeks ago where Tyler and I seriously considered buying a house. As seriously as we’ve done anything we were planning renovations for each room and really trying to understand the layout and falling in love with the sweet lot the house sat on. We’d only seen it in pictures and it just hit the market and literally every single room was going to need renovations. I’m down for renovations, don’t get me wrong, but there wasn’t going to be any money left for renovations.

That morning we’d been camper shopping so we were thrown for a loop when we saw this property pop up. Our options were camper or house, but not both. We already have a house so it’s not like we don’t have a place to be, but real estate is always a good investment, right? Campers just depreciate over time and all that.

Sooooo, we passed up a super awesome real estate opportunity and decided to buy a camper. It wasn’t quite that simple, but it’s what we did. Here is what it came down to for me.

Real Estate vs. Memories

We got stuck in one of those time share presentations back in April in Sedona. We had no intention of buying, but there we were trying to collect the $100 promised to us for sitting through it. Side note: Don’t ever sit through one of these things for only $100. Ask them for the world before you show up and negotiate something much better than $100. Anyway, they ask you all these questions trying to guilt you into buying a timeshare because if you don’t, you obvioulsy don’t love your kids or your mother-in-law. Legit this is what the dude working for Diamond Resorts more or less told me. I wish I was kidding. The thing that made sense from that presentation was investing in memories. We’re not timeshare people, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to start making the kinds of memories I cherish from my childhood with my own children. So we bought a camper and invested in moments and memories for our family. We can buy an new house with more land later after we handle some more things financially, but I’d prefer to start making the memories now. Each day is a gift and it would sure be a shame if we let these years pass us by with regret. Something tells me we’ll never regret a single day spent with our kiddos exploring nature and making s’mores.

First Day of Kindergarten

August 27, 2018 by Monica Brown in Family, parenting, personal

I only have to survive 40 more minutes before I get the oldest child back from her very first day of Kindergarten!!!

Y'all I made it a whole day with her in the care of someone she isn't related to and I didn't even cry once. I got close like two times, but it was because I was so proud of her and because her teacher added photos to the class Facebook page.

I talked about this on Facebook and Instagram this morning. I love watching my kids reach these milestones. I try not to rush things, but I genuinely love watching them them grow and learn and do the things kids are supposed to do. I don't want my babies to be babies forever. There are definitely some ages and stages I miss, but I also wouldn't trade them for the stages we're in now. We've been there, we've done that and now we're going to do this other thing and it too is going to be awesome (and maybe awful all at the same time, idk).

We tried to do the obligatory first day of school sign photos this morning. I'm not sure we're cut out for this. I could have spent more time forcing them into standing still and things, but somehow this one seems to fit the day and the attitudes of the day perfectly. Plus also of course my kid is the one that managed to bust up her face two days before the first day of school. I feel like we're being judged already.

I'm so anxious to see if she's as excited this afternoon as she was this morning and I pretty sure I need a hug. Time to go find my shoes and walk the couple blocks to school.

Galveston 2018

August 23, 2018 by Monica Brown in Family, Fun with kids, motherhood, personal, photography

Just sitting here pushing refresh from time to time of the parent portal for your school district. In just under 20 minutes we find out who Saida's Kindergarten teacher is. Back to school night is tonight and I'm just hoping I'm not a hot mess of tears for the whole thing. So to distract me from constantly checking the damn thing for the next 20 minutes or so, I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos from our Galveston beach trip because I still haven't done that.

The McKenna Children's Museum

August 10, 2018 by Monica Brown in Family, parenting, travel, Fun with kids

So if you keep up with my blog you know that we were supposed to be in Galveston until today, but family issues resulted in us coming home early. This means we're home, Tyler has time off, and with Saida getting ready to start Kindergarten, we want make the most of this little bit of "vacation" time we have/had left.

We really didn't know what we wanted to do with this time though. We just knew that we wanted to do it together. After putting out an SOS to a local moms group on Facebook, we had a few suggestions to fill our time. We chose to head down to New Braunfels (about 35 minutes away) to the McKenna Children's Museum. We actually have a children's museum in Austin too that's technically closer, but we like to avoid the Austin traffic whenever possible.

Why we chose The McKenna Children's Museum for our Day Trip

35 minutes is a cinch. I hear the children's museum in San Antonio is great, but we left later than I would have liked and adding on an extra 30 minutes each way to the trip is just something we didn't have time for today.
It was cost effective. We paid $7.50/person to get in. The Thinkery in Austin would have been $12/person and The Doseum in San Antonio would have been $14/person. I'm feeling like we definitely got our money's worth.
It's inside (mostly). I thought about going to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, but it's hot. Texas is sitting at a whopping 100 degress today and wasn't about to go spend nearly $60 to hang out in the sun. Yes you get to drive your car around, but I still have to wonder if the animals would even be out moving. We'll save that idea for cooler weather.
Our kids really just seem like the ideal ages for a children's museum. Saida just turned 5 and Corbin is 2 and a half. Children's museums are a safe place for them to run and play without limits and we love just watching them do it.
It gets rave reviews from just about every mom who has ever taken their kids there.

What we found at the McKenna Children's Museum

The Grocery Store Exhibit

I'm going to be honest, I haven't been to a children's museum since I was a kid and I don't really remember much about it. Actually the only thing I sort of remember from that experience was the grocery store exhibit. I remember thinking this is what it feels like to be a grown up when in that exhibit. Oh to be that naive again. But anyway, the grocery store exhibit didn't disappoint. I especially loved seeing the things they picked out on their own shopping experience. Corbin basically filled his cart with cheese. If there was ever any doubt he was his mother's child, I think that doubt is gone now.

The Wonder Shop Exhibit

The Wonder Shop was something Saida was looking forward to. I showed her Instagram photos of the museum before we went and she's just always down for a good painting session. I imagined this exhibit a little more out in the open. I was happy to find it in a room separate from the chaos of the main space of the children's museum.

I'm not always that mom that's going to hand Corbin some paints and let him go at it. He's a two and half year old boy which means things almost never go according to plan and I'm typically not in the mood to clean up after what went wrong. I love that he got to paint next to his sister. His sister is still upset that he added green to her paper where she didn't want it, but this moment made me happy.

Helpful Tip: Do this early enough in your visit to allow more time for your paintings to dry. We did it about half way through and as liberal as my kids are with paint, they were still wet when we put them in the car. Fortunatley my cargo space was pretty clear and we had room to set them down flat on the way home.

The Great Outdoors Exhibit

The main attraction outside is the water. It's basically the ultimate water table full of fishing (for toy fish), waterslide racing (for toys), and a bunch of other educational ways to interact with the water. My kids loved this area and we sat there and watched them while silently thanking the McKenna folks for having this space under cover. August in Texas is hot.

Helpful Tip: Bring a change of clothes just in case. My kids can be pretty timid so they really didn't get wet, but I could see how it would be easy to leave this area a bit covered in water. Chances are you know if your kid is one of those fun loving kids who may walk away wet.

Also outside was a music area. Honestly I felt like the music area could have been a little cooler, but my kids still thought it was pretty cool and I guess that is what matters most. The xylophone was definitely thier favorite instrument to play.

There are also opportunities to climb and build outside so basically this area has a little bit of something for everyone (including benches for mom and dad).

I knew this would be one of our favorite spots and I purposely saved it for last in our visit because... water.... and kids.

Hill Country Campground Exhibit

This was a suuuuuper cute area. I'm kind of a sucker for a vintage inspired play camper and tent. The photographer in me also loved it because it was close to a wall of windows and natural light is kind of like my very best friend. Also we went and looked at campers after this so this is just where I am in life right now anyway. This area also included a little cave with bat wings to put on the kiddos. My kids probably would have taken those bat wings home. I smell a diy project sometime in the future maybe.

Destination Space Exhibit

I hope my kids explore this one a little more next time. Saida actually really loved walking through the outter space room which is basically a pitch black room with stars. I couldn't even see the walkway it was so dark. For a kid who insists on a night light, I was super shocked she loved it so much. Corbin hated it. There was so much more in that area though that they never touched so maybe next time.

Other exhibits not mentioned that they also really enjoyed are the Amazing Airways Exhibit, The Town Square, and The Kids Clinic.

I mean really this whole place is super adorable and so inviting for play. A steal for $7.50 per person. The bottom line is that if we lived even 15 minutes closer, we'd have a family membership. A family of 4 can buy a membership for only $125 a year. It would pay for itself in about 5 visits.

So my recommendation is YES, DEFINITELY GO!!! And if you live close, DEFINITELY PAY FOR A MEMBERSHIP!!!

For more information on the McKenna Children's Museum in New Braunfels, click the button below.

The McKenna Children's Museum

This is just to add another level of cuteness to the post. Also yes, he is wearing Tito's Vodka Sunglasses. They're his favorite.