I’m sitting here at the dining room table at Jennifer’s house. It’s been raining. A lot. Yesterday we were out in the rain all day with Wyatt at Vintage in Verdi. We had a great time, and if the weather were better it would have been perfect. We left there with some water-logged posters and books and one tired and cold toddler. He played hard all day, it was hard to keep him under a small tent to stay dry. We needed the rain, but this was bad timing.

This week was a big one for us! We took Bluebonnet on her first little trip! We decided that Bandera would be the best place to try our hands at this full-time RVing thing. We pulled into the Twin Elms RV Park in the afternoon and were excited to see that the horses were near by! This is a great place to stay if you want to ride horses, enjoy the river or hang out in nature. It’s also close to town, so it’s a quick drive to the main drag in Bandera where you can go get a great dinner or lunch at the OST or grab a drink at any one of the several bars. You don’t have to have an RV to enjoy Twin Elms either! They have cabins available for rent and great vacation packages that include chuck wagon meals and hay rides.

While I have been to Bandera in the past, I have never spent too much time there looking around. We went to a great lunch at the OST. I had some tasty fried catfish and Rodney had chicken fried steak. But the big news is Wyatt ate his first entire meal here! He ordered chicken nuggets that were shaped like dinosaurs (or dinosaur nuggets) and french fries. He even asked the waitress for more chicken nuggets! Our waitress was adorable and so sweet, not only to us but to all her tables. We ended up getting a big slice of fresh, homemade chocolate meringue pie to celebrate Wyatt eating his entire lunch and seconds for the first time! Well, I probably would have ordered it anyway…but you know, excuses and all..

Wyatt got to pet the horses at Twin Elms Ranch, which he loved. They must have thought we had treats, because slowly one by one they all stopped by the fence to check us out. The sound of a child’s squeal of happiness when they touch a horse ranks up there with some of the greatest things in life, like being with the people you love, coffee, wine, and chocolate. Yesterday in Verdi he actually got to ride a pony, which was so cute!

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So… here are a few first trip out highlights!

• Always check your speakers when you turn on your TV and sound system for the first time, because if you don’t you may find that you were blasting the entire RV park from the outside speakers you didn’t realize you had! Hope everyone enjoyed hearing Ice Age twice in a row!
• Much to my surprise the shower in the RV is not that bad! In fact it gets scalding hot in seconds! Ouch!
• It was great we decided to have tacos that first night, since I realized we didn’t have any silverware. #youdthinkthatwasanobviousthingtopack
• We decided that we were not going to allow food or drinks in our bed… except for water. Rodney calmly explaining this to Wyatt: Look buddy, we can’t eat cookies in bed because it makes a mess. I want to take this to bed but I just can’t, mom says no! (holding a Lone Star Light)
• When we were getting ready to go, Rodney reminded me several times, “Don’t forget anything here!” and “Did you pack the ____” I had to remind him that from now on all our possessions would be following right behind us, and if we manage to forget anything now we have more serious problems to address.

My most favorite moment from the last few days is probably laying in bed listening to Rodney and Wyatt have conversations at the dinner table. I can already tell that they will have some discussions of a lifetime here in this little trailer.

Well, I guess we will head back to the trailer now. It’s imaginary nap time for me. That time where I fantasize about having a nap but don’t actually take one because I have other things to do.