Jenna Bush Hager is happy to be reunited with her kids.
Over the weekend, the TODAY anchor traveled to her home state of Texas to pick up her two daughters at camp, the very same place herself as well as her father George W. Bush spent their summers as children.
In addition to Mila, 13, and Poppy, nine, the bestselling author is also a mom to son Hal, six, all of whom she shares with her husband Henry Hager, who she married in 2008.
© InstagramSpeaking about her reunion with her kids in Texas over the weekend on the Monday, July 27 installment of TODAY with Jenna and Friends, Jenna shared that the last three weeks were "so great" for her girls, and they "had the best time."
"They loved it," she emphasized, as she noted that not only are herself and her father alums of the summer camp, but also fellow Texas native Hilary Duff.
"To see all their friends — that feeling of being away and when Poppy ran up to me she had tears in her eyes," she gushed.
© Instagram"She was so happy [to see me]. That day only, it's one day a year, so you have to cherish it," Jenna then joked, though maintained: "It's so cool to see your kids be independent."
Jenna opened up about the significance of her summer camp and the tradition overall last year, after fellow Texas camp Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp that sits along the Guadalupe River, lost over 20 of their campers and counselors, as well as their director Dick Eastland to intense flooding.
The doting mom, who had dropped off her daughters at their camp the very weekend of the floods, speaking on TODAY at the time about her ties to Camp Mystic, and summer camps in Texas, revealed that her mother Laura Bush, who was born in Midland, was a camp counselor at Camp Mystic.
© Instagram"Many of my friends had their kids there last week," she added, noting that she has grown up with plenty of women who are also Camp Mystic alums.
© InstagramReflecting on the extra tough farewell that came with dropping her kids off at camp that very weekend, she said: "Putting them on the bus, saying goodbye to them… and I know so many parents whose kids are at camp or going to camp feel that way. We send our kids into the world with the faith that they can have happy lives, joyful lives, and as adults we know pain, we hope our kids never face it."
Addressing Texas' and her own history with its camps, she further told her co-hosts: "So many of my friends were raised at this camp. Texas camps are institutions," adding that her home state "has a type of resilience," and: "They're generous people, where people want to reach out … Texas camps are really special because you're thinking about 90º weather, no air conditioning," yet people still yearn to be a part of it all.
