Garner State Park

I saw pictures of this place on a friend's blog and knew that I had to go. And soon. I don't have a lot of time to waste this summer with a baby coming and all...so we went today and it was just as wonderful as I  imagined it would be. The water was refreshing - not too cold but definitely not luke warm. just right. The shore is lined with massive trees that keep the beach shaded and we found the perfect little spot where the shore gradually disappears into the river so Shrimp could run in and out as he pleased. 

 Texas can be quite pretty when it wants to be.

 Shrimp is turning into a little water baby. He loves baths but wasn't too keen on large bodies of water at first. Now he just charges right in. It definitely makes me more nervous but I'm glad he's not afraid.

 He turned around and waved to me - melt my heart.

 Terry was showing off his impressive rock-skipping skills and naturally caught Shrimp's attention. If Dad was doing it, then he had to do it too - you can even see the his rock mid-flight. Mad action shots courtesy of the fatty on the shore (me). He then spent a good 30 minutes picking up rocks and throwing them as hard as he could back into the water. What a great new trick...

This is also a new trick - cheesy smiles for the camera. He scrunches his nose up really tight so that a ball of skin bulges between his eyebrows. I sent my sisters a text with his cheesy grin and they responded wanting to know how he got the massive goose egg on his forehead...we need to work on that if every time he smiles someone thinks he's recovering from a massive fall...

 Wearing Dad's hat. Can you see how beautiful and green the water is behind them?

31 weeks! Despite what it looks like, I did get out of the chair and go swimming for a little bit and sat at the water's edge with Shrimp for the rest of the day. I'm not completely useless yet! Give me another...5 weeks and then I might just lie around the house like a slug but come on. Give me some credit.

We definitely took notes on what to do/bring next time we come. I really enjoyed watching the guy 15 feet away bring a blow-up sofa (full size! 3 "cushions" long!), plop himself down and take a 2 hour nap on the shore. That's my kind of beach day. And check out the photo below - these women brought their camp chairs right into the water and sat down. Genius. We even saw a group stick a big beach umbrella in the water and put their chairs underneath it. Apparently only the most creative lazy people go to Garner. I have a lot to learn. Next time we are definitely doing the chair thing. And renting a paddle boat. 

I can just tell that we will be making some great memories here in the future.