Caddo Lake State Park

We visited 3 state parks on this RV trip - Caddo, Martin Creek Lake, & Purtis Creek.  We started with Caddo State Park, which is on a portion of Caddo Lake, the only natural lake in the entire state of Texas.  The areas of the lake that are thick with bald cypress trees are especially fascinating.  We hiked the few trails at state park, but our greatest endeavor was completing a 9 mile canoe trail (Hells Half Acre Paddling Trail).

Brady at the state park store.

Hmm . . . meditative balancing??

Hiking

We had to hike up lots of stone steps to get to this nice little stone wall.

Air Brady!

Before taking a picture of Dawson and me, he had to take a selfie.

At the CCC rec hall.

One of the docks at the lake.

A common site when we are camping - Dawson sitting in his camp chair, reading.

Brady tired of the pictures already!

Sitting at our pretty campsite.

Brady and Randy in their canoe.

Dawson was my canoe buddy and he was excellent!

We were a good team.  We only ran into 1 tree, which is pretty impressive considering how thick the trees were in the lake.

At the paddling trail turnaround, there was a primitive campground, where we got out to stretch our legs and have a picnic lunch.

Our canoes beached at the campground.

Heading back to the state park.  The whole 9 mile paddling trail took us about 5 hours (including our lunch break).

Martin Creek Lake State Park

Martin Creek Lake State Park is a small state park with a small-ish lake and a few hiking trails.  We had an awesome campsite here - it was at the top of a hill overlooking the lake and it was a huge site with lots of room.  We hiked all of the trails here, but weren't able to go out on the lake because it was so windy and choppy.  We had campfires both nights and some really great cooked-over-the-fire food.  We also enjoyed a family movie night - RV with Robin Williams, which had the boys laughing out loud.  Good times!

Family selfie in front of the sign at the entrance.

A picture on the bridge that goes to the island trail.

Crossing the lake to hike the island trail (where they also have primitive campsites).

Such a tempting tree to climb.

Hiking along.

Me & Dawson.  If I stand on my toes, I'm as tall as him.  ;-)

Randy found a pair of Oakley sunglasses on the trail.

Brady always, always, always likes swinging.  And also leaping off the swings.

Brady's perfect hammock spot.  When we were at the campsite, he was often in his hammock.

Sitting on a bridge along one of the hiking trails.

Yea, a picture with my boys!

Purtis Creek State Park

We really liked Purtis Creek State Park.  The campsites are great - woody and secluded.  And we had a campsite with a private trail down to the lake where we could easily put in our kayak and paddleboard.  There weren't many trails, but we did them all.  We also biked, kayaked, and paddleboarded.  We saw lots of wildlife at this state park - wild hogs (running through the edge of our campground, and then again while we were hiking on one of the trails), deer, snakes, and blue herons.  

They are so cute!  And so kind to continuously pose for me.  :-)

A great picture of Randy and the boys.

Heading back to our campsite after kayaking on the lake.

A heron perched in one of the MANY trees out in the lake.

We paddled pretty close before he flew away.

Taking a picture of Brady taking a picture of a dead milk snake.

When I tell the boys I want to take a picture and Brady pulls out his ipod to take a selfie.

So silly!  But he does make us smile and laugh.

We found the perfect sitting tree.

While riding bikes, Brady saw this heron and wanted to get a closer look.

Again, got pretty close before the heron took off.

Oh, Brady.  He is a big sweater just like me.  It looks like he dumped water on himself, but it's all sweat.  Eew!

Dawson & Randy coming back from kayaking.

Resting after a full day of hiking, biking, and kayaking.

Papa Johns Picnic at the Duck Pond

H2O End of School Bash

This year was the best End of School Bash that H2O has ever had!  That's because it was at Carolina Creek!  One of our families works at the camp and was able to reserve The Wild for our group.  The kids enjoyed the pool / waterpark area, jumped on the bouncy pillows, played gaga ball, and had lunch in the dining hall.  It was so much fun!

Brady and his good friend, Everett, waiting for swim time.

Brady and Everett in the pool.

Dawson and friends in the pool.

Brady and Everett post-swimming.