or call of the crazies?!? The boys had Good Friday off, so with the beautiful spring weather here in Austin, Daniel & I decided to take the kids for our first overnight family camping trip...eeek! We weren't sure if we were being adventurous or slightly insane taking a special needs 4 year old and a not even a week old potty training 2 year old to the great outdoors...
but have no fear, we had very happy campers on our hands!
Daniel & I love camping and Kason has really enjoyed the couple of times he went, so we've decided that camping will most likely be a lot of our "vacation" type get aways. For one, it's super affordable since we have all the gear...but two, what little kid doesn't want to play outside, get dirty, hike, fish, or stay up late sleeping in a tent?
Let's just say the camping trip was a huge success! It definitely had it's bumps in the road, but overall the Clayton Crew had a blast. We decided for our first camping trip to only spend one night, so we reserved a spot at Inks Lake State Park about 45 minutes from home.
After we set up camp for the night and grilled out hot dogs, we set off to explore...
The hill country is absolutely beautiful and Inks Lake didn't disappoint...
We found a spot after a little hike for the kids to fish a bit...
It was pretty mossy where we were at, so we ended up just hiking around for a little before heading back to the campsite. Max isn't as flexible in the evenings as he is in the day time, so he was not as much of a happy camper on Thursday evening. He didn't appreciate us strapping him in to his car seat or the backpack (when hiking), instead he preferred to bloody up his knees and throw rocks...
Only problem was, the little tooter kept getting into unsafe situations. We got him calmed down and he even sat around the fire for a bit before heading to bed...
Max was my main concern for taking this trip. Yes, he is doing so well, but he still has several medical challenges, like his overnight feeds on the pump. Therefore, we had to make some adjustments to make things work...
It is important to our family to balance the typical adventures we would go on if we didn't have any obstacles, while also being sensitive to Max's needs. I'm super excited to say that after a rough evening, my fears were laid to rest once he was in a safe zone with boundaries, he was able to play and even had fun smashing his face into the net :)...
He loved sleeping with me and Zoe, so much so that he partied all night without sleeping very much because he was too excited. Even with little sleep, he woke up a happy camper and had an awesome Friday with us!
I'm thinking we have him hooked on this outdoor fun...especially the caking himself in dirt and chunking rocks :)! After Max went to bed, we let Zoe and Kason stay up way past their bed times to make smores...
look at the stars, play with their flashlights, and take a night hike. I think one of my favorite parts of the adventure was the fit of giggles our little campers had over sleeping in a tent...
Daniel and Kason stayed together, while I slept with Zoe and Max. What I loved so much was that while Max was crawling all over me, Zoe held my hand and kept leaning over to attack me with kisses until she fell asleep. *One of the most precious moments ever!* While the guys passed out quickly, my night owl tent lasted until around midnight...yep, I think we are raising some party animals :). The next morning I made bacon, eggs, and campfire coffee, while Daniel taught the kids how to make biscuits in a dutch oven in the fire...
Yes to what you are thinking right now, Daniel is awesome and we did have so much fun thanks to him! After packing up our gear, we took advantage of the beautiful sunshine and went on a hike... 
I was so, so proud of these kids because they hiked around a mile (and most of it wasn't just flat ground)...
We went to the Devil's Hole where people cliff jump, we found a waterfall...
we hiked up and over large rocks and the kids even did a little rock climbing...
we saw several patches of gorgeous flowers along the trail, even bluebonnets!
The funniest part was when the kids saw a bench towards the end of the trail, they thought they were so completely famished....haha!
Of course once we finished and they saw these amazing live oak trees that were perfect for climbing their energy suddenly reappeared :)...
Before we headed back home, we rented a canoe and took turns with the kids while one of us hung out with Max...
Canoeing was the one thing Kason kept begging us for and I'm so glad we were able to fulfill that adventure for him. Can I just say one more time how much fun we had?!? I'm so glad Daniel & I took the leap of taking this outdoor adventure with the kids (even though they are still pretty young). Max ended up having a great time, our little lady didn't have a single accident, and of course Kason soaked up every moment of roughing it in the great outdoors. The call of the wild is most definitely calling our name again and we will be returning soon for s'more good times!
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