The Great Big, Hot and Wet Outdoors

Thanks Stacey for all of the great camping pics :)

We have had some great weather over the past couple of days. Sunshine and highs in the upper 70's. Who wouldn't want some time outside. But in typical Hill fashion, we don't do things outside in good weather, we have to do it when it's the weekend before great weather.

If you aren't from Texas, you have no idea how weird the weather can be. One day you are sweating and sunburned. The next you are outside on your back porch in 54 degree weather with a blanket and hot coffee.

So, last Friday we had a field trip to the Tiger Creek Refuge. It's a "big cat" rescue about 20 minutes from our house. It has been featured on Animal Planet and overall is a pretty cool place to visit. Even though the temperature was sweltering, we had a great time....

Don't they look thrilled

This is what most of the tigers were doing when we were there. The guide told us that they sleep about 20 hours a day

The only white tiger

The boys in front of Michael Jackson's tiger "Thriller". He never looked very thrilled to be there.

Isaac wanted a picture in front of a tiger named Calvin. He loves Calvin and Hobbes. The tiger was Calvin because his owner had the last name Hobbs :)

Immediately after our field trip, we finished loading up for our first camping trip of the year. In a previous post, I showed you a picture of our super cool pop up. What I haven't told you is that the first time we tried to pop it up at our house to begin cleaning it, a cable snapped in the lifting mechanism and it was broken. So, we didn't get to take it on this camping trip :( But it's all fixed now and we are already planning our next trip! Now, back to our weekend. We love to camp and so our family and four others set out for a new campground. We got there and early and set up camp. We had a great first night full of food, bike riding, birthday cake and late night card game. Next morning...RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN!! So like any good campers, we loaded up 10 adults and 17 kiddos and went to Wal-Mart. Aimee had a great idea of a scavenger hunt for the kids. So we hunted around Wal-Mart for a couple of hours and headed back to camp in a light drizzle. We all expected to have to pack up and go home but suprisingly, most of our campsites were fairly dry and we decided to stay . Only the Eynons had to pack up. Their borrowed camper leaked and all of their bedding was wet. They stayed until late though and we had a fabulous dinner of steak and pork chops!! Overall, the camping trip was actually the most fun we had had! The kids LOVED playing in the rain and the adults had great conversation and time to hang out!! All of the mud and dirt will eventually come out. I hope :)

Isaac loved this spot! If you look closely in the fire ring, you will see our make shift fire. Incredibly, although it was a flood all weekend, we were under a burn ban and couldn't make a fire. Stephanie put a flashlight under some pine needles for at least the "feel" of a campfire. Oddly enough, Kerry still complained of smoke getting in his face :)

Still smiling even after all of the mud. I guess it was all of Carolyn's conspiracy stories she told us

Ethan and Dakota had just met but hit it off right away~

We even had birthday cake thanks to the Cornett's. Happy Bday Jared :)
Don't ya love Abi's gang signs in the back!!