The Hughes Zoo: Camping at Jellystone Park!

Our first family adventure. ADVENTURE! We have never taken the kids on a trip before where we weren’t staying with our own family! We drove about 30 minutes down the road to Waller, home of Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park. I can’t really put into words how I feel about this trip we took together. To sum it up, at the end of the trip I looked over at Marc and said that I think this is one of my favorite memories with our kids. It was just the five of us, camping, for 4 days. We had this cute little brown wooden cabin (the kids called it “the brown house”). I packed food, snacks, and everything I thought we would need for 4 days. It was quite a load, but we really did have everything we needed, and had a WONDERFUL time! We arrived on my birthday, and stayed through Thursday. We spent time driving around on the campground in the golf cart, swimming, sliding, roasting hot dogs, having campfires, running around a big field with glow sticks, sitting in our camping chairs, finding walking sticks, playing with LOTS of dirt and rocks, chasing squirrels, eating cheese dip, wearing cowboy hats, more swimming, meeting Yogi Bear, dancing at Yogi’s karaoke stage, shopping at the general store, having smores (the kids just wanted the marshmellows), and just having fun being a KID. This was the very first time that the kids slept together in one big bed (as opposed to their pack ‘n plays, which we brought but never used). They slept together on this big futon, and LOVED it! They are such a joy to Marc and I, and we look forward to many more ADVENTURES!

Here are some pictures of our family trip:

We had Minnie loaded down, including an Elmo potty seat. It's a thrill a minute, people!

Marc LOVES to tie things to the roof. So of course, he was overjoyed :)

We get to Jellystone, and the first thing Celia does is find the dirt! And had quite a good time in it.

Who knew dixie cups would be so ingenious?

Dirt Princess #2

Jellystone!

Wyatt & Daddy

Annalee & Daddy

Celia & Daddy

Annalee goofing off with Mommy, while Celia gazes at her recent purchase from The General Store.

Ok, we know we're in the right place now! Phew...

Annalee "befriends" a squirrel.

Wyatt joins in on the fun...

And now Celia is fully engaged... We followed him around for QUITE some time...

The squirrel wins! Sorry, kids.

We meet Yogi! Annalee was a little nervous :)

Bye, Yogi! See you tomorrow at the flagpole to say The Pledge of Allegiance!

Waiting to rent our golf cart - very excited!

Chillin' in our camp chairs

Silly girl!

"SHHHHH!" Apparently, I was being loud.

Daddy kickin' back!

This might be the saddest cowboy ever.

Glowsticks + dusk + 2 yr olds + a big field = SERIOUS FUN

Celia playing "hide and seek" (or rather, I'll stand by this tree and count while you stand by a different tree and "hide" - then we'll change places and do it all over again. And again.

Surprise!

What is it with kids and shoes anyways?

We had a blast at the pool, and spent every chance we could there!

Wyatt blowing bubbles!

Sunbathing Beauties!

Little Annalee

Daddy even found some time to "relax" with the help of Celia's puddle jumper!

Mommy & Celia go down the big red slide!

Wyatt gets brave too!

Wyatt got so brave, he wanted to go up the stairs to the slide "all by myself" and had a little mishap. Good thing kisses & bandaids make everything better :)

The golf cart ride on the way back to our cabin, post-pool. Exhausted is an understatement!

Snuggling in a big bed together for the very first time, and totally tuckered out :)

Karaoke! Celia was feeling a little brave. We put her on stage and then she started crying :( LOL

The girls are going on a picnic with Yogi!

Wyatt did NOT want to go on the picnic.
But in true family-vacation-we-take-pictures-no-matter-how-they-turn-out style, we had to capture the moment :)