Camping in Hunstville State Park

We decided to head to Huntsville Texas for our latest camping adventure.  It was a great park.  Near the Huntsville State Prison.  They offer prison tours.  We declined.  It would've been too tempting to "accidently" leave a kid or 2 behind.

Jacob gave cooking over the fire a whirl...

Jared brought his trusty sidekick.  We had to warn him that there are alligators in the lake.  He wasn't so keen on letting the dog explore on his own after that.  The dog wasn't too keen on the thought of alligators either.

The park had a great loop that was perfect for bike riding.  I think Carlie logged 100 miles on that loop.   She also took a dip and a twirl in the bike trailer.  Ooops..maybe Jake can't pull the bike trailer and the dog leash at the same time.  This is a happy innocent picture...2 seconds later....mayhem.

The woods were great for exploring.  We headed down by the lake..but not TOO close. 

Patrick came over on his bike.  For whatever reason they all think they fit on his bike.

The most hilarious memory of this trip had to be Josh.  He wanted me to get a photo of him posing on his bike.  He was very serious about it.  A photo of just him.  I am so glad I got this on film and I die laughing every time I see it.

Josh is sweetly posing on his bike when Jacob the mad photo bomber strikes.

I holler at Jacob to get out of the way and Josh tries again to pose for me.  Like sharks smelling blood in the water all of my photo bomber children emerge.

At this point we are all laughing hysterically...except Josh.  He was determined to have his photo.  His siblings were equally determined to ruin this moment for him.  I couldn't help but laugh. This is Christmas card gold.  So we try again.

Josh is NOT amused.  I have no idea what Carlie is doing.  For some reason she thinks funny poses involve poking out your booty.  We'll have to work on that before she goes public.

Finally I was able to get a few shots of Josh alone...after he threw down his bike and stormed off.  Evil siblings! Poor kid. With his siblings he never gets any slack.  NEVER.   I'll be sure to show the above photos to his future therapist.  (His siblings can pick up the tab on that one).

After we got the Christmas photos completed we were off for some sight seeing.  Driving down the freeway we happened across this.

Is that a giant statue????

Yes, yes it is a ginormous statue off the side of the freeway. WHAT the heck?  This is a serious driving distraction.

"Can we go see it??"  Er...sure..whatever it is.  "It's Sam Houston" says the Texan.  What?  You have giant statues of these guys on the side of the road???  That's Texas.


Half of the car feels like this at seeing the statue:

The other half:

Josh is armed..in case it happens to be a transformer and not a statue.  Hey - it could happen.
So we head over to the giant statue visitor center.

Oh look...a giant practice round of his head.

 I love Jacob's expression...it echos my thoughts which were "WHAT THE HECK????"

 

 You knew this was moment coming right? Admit it..you were curious too.

And out to the grand statue itself:

Yeah...it is THAT big. 

And one more picture to go in the "what's wacky about Texas" file....

Yeah...Texas shaped sun glasses.