Explore // Garner State Park

To celebrate Jacob's 40th Birthday, we took our crew camping at Garner State Park in the Texas Hill Country...and found fall weather and beauty during our stay. The cypress trees that line the Frio River were showing off their rusty hues - my FAVORITE! It rained and drizzled on our first morning, so we woke up and walked over to admire the bit of fog, mist, and MOOD. It was glorious! It drizzled most of the day - and we hiked up the top of Old Baldy only to be in the middle of a slippery, misty cloud. But we still caught a view of the river lined with all the beautiful colored trees! You know it's a good trip when you come home tired, wet, and muddy ;) This new decade of our 40s is going to be full of wonderful and crazy new adventures - bring them on!

Wildflowers in the Spring

Life with five little ones is BUSY. They are growing so fast - so I wanted to pause and capture them this Spring in the field of Wildflowers near our home. Sawyer, 8. Aspen, 7. Hazel, 4. Hudson, 2. And Juniper, 3 months old. 

They are our everything. (And we think they're pretty cute, too!) 

Explore // El Cosmico (Marfa, TX)

  

I don't even remember how or where I heard about El Cosmico...but I did. And I immediately knew I had to go there. So - yet another Christmas "gift of experience" we used Christmas money from my parents and planned our first "glamping" trip!

The vibe was perfect. Truly. Perfect. Maybe we just lucked out - but everyone was SO kind and helpful, especially considering the nearby town of Marfa gave off anything but kid-friendly vibes. So, we unpacked our little (biggish) family into our rather large teepee (I really think we could live in it - just need an outdoor kitchen!) and got settled. We were wowed by the teepee, and then had so much fun looking around at all the colorful, vintage trailers as well as the safari tents set up around the grounds. The kids found "hammock grove" and pretty much thought it was the best! They used the hammocks as swings, or else just hid inside. So fun! 

While we were searching for dinner in Marfa, they started a fire for us and had it all ready when we came back. We had mentioned we wanted to do s'mores that night, and there we had it - all ready for us. We had been gifted a fun "gourmet" s'mores kit and we were excited to try it out, it just seemed fitting to have gourmet s'mores while glamping - yes?

We slept so well in our teepee. Enjoyed the outdoor bathrooms - although I REALLY wanted to take an open-air bath, but the timing just didn't work out quite right (or the weather, it got rather windy and chilly). 

I understand now why people say you can't exactly EXPLAIN it, but El Cosmico has just GOT IT. And, it's true! We loved our time there. If we were to go again, I would probably opt to just pack a big cooler with good food we could cook ourselves at El Cosmico, rather than waste time searching for food in Marfa (where everything seems to be perpetually closed). 

Over all - El Cosmico WINS! We loved it and would highly recommend a visit!