⛺ 15 CAMPING ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS - PART 2 ⛺

I recently shared 15 activities to do with kids while camping. And I wanted to share 15 more. We love camping and finding new things to do with Mason each time. Camping is one of our favorite things to do as a family. It's such a great bonding time!!

{Hall Around Texas Family Fall Traditions}

Traditions. Oh, how I love traditions. They are my jam, for real. Something to look forward each year and such great memories to look back on! In our family, we have all kinds of traditions for each season. I think our Fall and Winter traditions are by far my favorite, though! Below are some of my favorite Fall-time traditions we do as a family...

{Weekend Wrap-up // College football, Projects, Grandparent's Day}

Happy Monday!! We had such a good weekend mixed with just the perfect balance of going and doing and staying at home. Friday evening we had supper with one of my best friends since the 2nd grade and it was so good for my soul. I ran a few errands on Saturday morning and then we stayed home the rest of the day tackling cleaning and home projects. It felt good to get crafty for a bit. Sunday was Grandparent's Day so we spent the first half of the day with family and the second half at home. Monday came all too fast, but we are ready for a new week. Here's a look at our weekend wrap-up. 

{Five on Friday // Mustache, dove hunting, Grand Friends, On Target Time}

Happy Friday! It's always the short weeks that seem to feel the longest. Am I right? I'm just glad it's Friday!! We have a busy, but good weekend ahead of us and I'm ready to get it started. I love spending time with the ones I love most! But for now, a little Five on Friday...

{Annual camping at Mason, TX // Labor Day weekend}

This past weekend was our 5th annual camping trip to Mason, TX for Labor Day weekend. We have been going every Memorial Day and Labor Day with the same group (plus new additions along the way) since Mason was just four years old. And with each trip, we love it more and more. This trip was a little more special because Nate's best friend (& his family) since he was just five years old was able to join us!! They recently bought a camper and Mason TX wasn't too far from them! We were so ecstatic they were able to join us and hope this was just the first trip of many!

{Currently // September edition}

It's time to link up with Anne in Residence for Currently. This month we are sharing what we are currently making, taking, discovering, consuming, and saving. 

{Our first Texas Ranger game of the 2019 season}

The Friday before last a family friend gifted us two tickets to the Ranger game. We hadn't had a chance to attend a game yet and knew we wanted to go to a game since it's the last season at this ballpark! It was the perfect opportunity to do so! Our plan was to go and buy Mason a cheap child's ticket because we didn't think we would sit much anyhow. But, we ended up sitting the entire game and had a blast!!

{A morning spent at Burger's Lake}

Two Saturdays ago was our last one before school started and we knew we wanted to do something special with Mason. One last summer hurrah if you will! We had seen pictures posted by a friend of a placed called Burger's Lake and we knew that would be perfect! Mason is such a water kid and can't get enough!

{First day of FOURTH Grade!!!}

Yesterday was Mason's first day of FOURTH grade! I am still in a bit of denial that 1.) summer is over and 2.) that my sweet little baby is in the 4th grade. Fourth. Mason is at a different campus this year, so we are navigating new waters and learning our new normal. And because of that, I would be lying if I said I wasn't feeling nervous/anxious about this day. BUT? It went off without a hitch!! Like, it was pretty perfect.

{FOURTH GRADE MEET THE TEACHER}

Monday evening we had our annual meet the teacher night. Up until lunchtime on Monday we had no clue who our teacher would be. It wasn't posted online anywhere at all. And then I thought to look at the new app our district is using this year and low and behold I saw we were added to "Mrs. Snow's" homeroom! We got the teacher we requested! What a blessing that is. We've heard nothing but amazing things about her and we are so grateful to have a year in her class! I should also mention that Mason is at a different campus this year. His last school was only first through third and this campus is fourth & fifth. So, this was all new territory for us to navigate. Mason sort of knew his way around because he would bus to this campus once a week for the gifted and talented program, but he had only seen certain areas of the school.

{Back to school // post round-up}

Every time I scrolled Instagram over the last few weeks I found myself amazed at how many "first day of school" posts I saw. So many districts start back so early! Like August 1st early. And here I am wallowing in my own self-pity that we start back on the 21st, which I feel is way too soon. Long live summer! Since I work at home I get to keep Mason here with me during the summer and I just enjoy my days with him too much to share him with school! But, it's inevitable that school has to start. And because of that, I've rounded up some of my favorite back to school posts.

{Five on Friday // last full week before school}

As much as I tried to pump the breaks on this week, it still flew by in a flash. It was our last full week before school starts and I just wanted it to go by slowly. That didn't happen. But man oh man, we sure did enjoy it. We didn't do a whole lot of anything, but we sure did get in some quality family time. And that? That's my favorite!! Here's a little bit of what we've been up to this week.

{⛺ 15 CAMPING ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS ⛺}

It's no secret that we love to go camping around here. I thought since we are basically seasoned pros by now (and I use that term loosely because we are still learning all the camping hacks) I would share some tips here. I've been camping with Nathan's family for almost 23 years now and we've been camping with Mason for 9 years. I figured I would start by compiling a list of camping activities for kids. These are just some of the things we love to do.

{2019 Summer Bucketlist // Update}

Now that school is looming over our heads (next Wednesday for Mason) I figured it was time to do a 2019 Summer Bucketlist update. We had an amazing summer adventuring all over the place and making the best memories! I know there is still a lot of summer left to live here in Texas, so I'm sure I will have another update soon. Here's what we have done so far.

{Hill Country Weekend Getaway}

School may be starting next Wednesday, but we are far from being done with summering!! I mean, technically summer lasts about 6 months in Texas so there is still lots of time for adventures! Yesterday I shared our Hill Country weekend getaway in numbers and today I will share the details.  It was totally last minute, so finding somewhere to camp was quite the chore. But, Nate's parents found us a nice campground only about 25 miles from where we were going to tube the river. And the campgrounds were less than 3 hours from home. Not bad at all!

{Hill Country Weekend Getaway // In Numbers}

This past weekend we decided to have a little weekend getaway to the Texas Hill Country to camp and float the Comal river! And as always with most of our trips, I like to recap in numbers. So, here's our weekend getaway in numbers.

{FREEPORT BEACH // SUMMER VACATION DAY 5 RECAP}

This is the last and final recap of our beach trip...day five, our last full day at the beach. 6 days is all our family could spare this summer when it came to vacation due to work and school schedules.  We chose to go somewhere fairly close so we could make the most of that time. And that we did! Day five was packed to the gills with nothing but goodness. And, it's safe to say that day five was easily Mason's favorite day of the trip! Keep reading to find out why.

{FREEPORT BEACH // SUMMER VACATION DAYS 3 & 4}

In efforts to get my vacation recaps wrapped up, I am combining days 3 & 4! Both days were amazing vacation days!! Here is a look at days three and four of our vacation.

{Currently // August 2019 edition}

I've missed a couple of these, but I'm happy to joining back in with Anne in Residence for Currently. This month we are sharing what we are currently ordering, watching, cooking, wondering, and savoring. 

{FREEPORT BEACH // SUMMER VACATION DAY 2 RECAP}

I'm back to recap day 2 of our summer beach vacation! Again, it was another day of heavy picture taking so I will only share day two today. We all slept in until 9ish and it was glorious. Isn't that what vacation is all about? Staying up late and sleeping in? One of my favorite parts. We knew that we wanted to do some shopping and figured a weekday would be better than a weekend as far as crowds go so we got ready and headed to The Strand (downtown shopping district in Galveston).