It was worth it to hear her voice and every now and then hear a coo from her little dude.
So this year we snagged a spot at the Texas Springs camp ground (first come, first serve) and set things up for the night. It wasn’t the best spot though, right where two roads meet. So the next morning, with a little wheeling and dealing by Daddy-O, we got a much better site.
The boys had a great time ‘mining’ and filling the dump truck with rocks and dirt. E had a good time making a hop-scotch board and playing with the chalk. Fifi either chilled in the pack and play perfecting her baby-push ups and plank pose, or in the backpack while we made dinner or hung out around camp. The big kids also enjoyed riding around on their bikes and it confirmed that O is pretty darn ready to get on the scoot bike we got him for Christmas.

The first couple of nights were pretty crazy with the wind. On Thursday night you could have seen me out in my under-roos and t-shirt holding down the shade structure of our tent as HUGE gusts of wind came ripping through camp and Daddy-O worked to take it down so that we wouldn’t all blow away. It was pretty wild. O doesn’t like the wind much and it had him in tears a few times.
He finally asked to sit in the car where he snacked and just sat by himself, he also found the tent to be a good place to hide out… I found him in there raiding the cereal box right before dinner one night. By Friday the winds calmed down, the sun came out and it was finally warm, exactly why we go down there each year.
This year we didn’t do much site seeing. Actually, we didn’t do any site seeing at all until we were leaving the park on the ride home. Our days consisted of breakfast making, pool time at Furnace Creek and lunch and play ground time.
The wind on the first couple of nights kept us from making a campfire and doing smores, much to the kids’ disappointment. Friday and Saturday night allowed us to get the fire going and O perfected his roasting skills. I was amazed at his patience and his ability to not burn the little orbs of sugar to a black crisp, his came out a perfect golden brown.
On our last night, I broke out the glow sticks and had all the kids put the bracelets around their ankles and wrists. This was partly so that we could spot them as they ran around camp and across the way, partly so other campers could see them and partly for the fun of seeing our little Death Valley aliens run around like crazy.
I love this photo that I was able to capture of the beautiful starry sky, our tent and them running back and forth to me from the road.
Really, we just hung out around camp and it was nice- like a super relaxing vacation. We had fun little hikes right by the campsite if we wanted to stretch our legs or get in a good view of the sunset/sunrise.
We took our sweet time leaving on Sunday. Daddy-O and I actually tossed around the idea of staying one more night. Instead, we took one more dip in the pool, got snacks for lunch and then made our way out of the park and to Scotty’s Castle where we had a picnic lunch and leg stretch.
O was so pooped-out on our way there that he fell asleep mid-Cheeto crunching.
I shot a roll of film with my old Pentax at Scotty’s and let Daddy-O have the digital to play with. Here are some of his shots from our little wandering around.
It was a great trip and I am so glad we made time to do it again this year.
wow, what a great trip! i haven’t camped in ages, but you have me wanting to sleep under the stars.
@painted fish studio get out there and do it! nothing like smelling like a campfire and star gazing…
wow, you got some great shots! i need to get out camping!!! ♥
Looks like a great trip. Lovin the desert shots.
Did you guys get out there when the wildflowers were bloomin’ like crazy and there was a lake in the middle of the valley? It was so amazing.
@kyndale_pease thank you! get out there!!!! We had such a good time.
@Dawn There were some wildflowers, but not a ton and I do think there was a bit of water in the playa, though like I said, we didn’t get out site seeing too much this year…
So awesome! It’s been years since I’ve been; maybe next spring break…
Wow! Looks like you guys had a ton of fun. Love the pictures, and now I want to get out and do some camping. Too bad it’s freakin’ snowing all the time here!
@Ani It really is a great spot to visit, especially to break up the winter.
@simplycaitlinthe snow was the exact reason we took this trip!