Day 5

It is hard to believe we've only been on the road only 5 days as I typed that title!  We have already done so much and we have way more to go!  Tempers were flaring last night as we got back to the campsite, so my goal was to have everyone sleep in as much as possible this morning and have a relaxing day.  I even sleep in until 6am!  Well, there was laundry to be folded and pictures to edit and that is so much easier to do in the morning quiet.  Plus I love the quiet of the birds and trees in the morning all around us.  The campground at this park is just beautiful.

As I started cooking breakfast, the girls sleepily wormed their way out of the tent as they were anxious to play with their foxes.  I'm not sure if Brayden is really sleeping in every day or just acts asleep so the girls will leave him alone.  I made a triple batch of pancakes as they are always gulped down and I knew we'd need some energy today.  We were planning to go on a longer hike and go to several programs in the afternoon.

I surprisingly talked the kids into going to a kids-only caving program I thought they would love so after breakfast we quickly headed to purchase their tickets only to find it was already sold out.  Being here on a summer weekend was especially busy!  The kids decided to just go back to our site and play games for awhile.  The girls painted while Bray and I played chess, I taught Brayden and Ryan solataire, then we had a rousing game of Kings!  I hope to at least turn one of these kids into a solid card player before too long.

Shortly after we were on our way down to Echo Spring.  The hike was so beautiful down a ridge with short cutbacks and huge rocks.  We actually spotted a much-needed chipmunk for their junior ranger scavenger hunt!  As we were going down I made sure to remind them to drink their water slowly as we were going down now but the tough part would be going back up!  Before too long we reached the spring and found the least treacherous route down.  These butterflies were everywhere!  It seemed like a movie set from the 80s movie "Legend"!












Check out the 10yo humor there...Echo...



Laney peeked in this hole to see if she could find something peeking back at her.  She was hoping for a gnome but ended up seeing Brayden's feet on the other side!

They enjoyed skipping rocks, mud-sliding and exploring all around the spring but refused to go in because of the eyeless fish that live in the water in the cave.

I was pretty hot so I stepped in trying my best to be calm but this water was like stepping in a cooler full of ice water!  I stood there for maybe 10 seconds before I started losing feeling in my toes.  Even with this warning, the girls stepped in too but were out in milliseconds!

After a snack we headed back up to the halfway point for a rest and second snack.  Their brains were occupied by a fun animal game and Ryan's ever popular and hilarious antics.  We had a quick break back at our site before we headed up to the kids programs, to turn in junior ranger books, and stamp the kids' park passports.  The kids program ended up being the hike we'd done the day before the kids opted for a/c and wifi to check their email with me until the next program.  This junior ranger experience was different than most others as it was exceptionally easy so I had the kids do more activities than required.  Brayden actually just about finished the whole book! Here are the newest Mammoth Cave Junior Rangers!











The kids played very exciting game of cave bingo at the next kids program where we learned a bunch of interesting facts about the animals in the cave.  Bats are suffering here from white nose syndrome which wakes them during their important hibernation period.  The eyeless beetles eat the eggs of the cave crickets who try to confuse the beetles by digging many holes but only one with eggs in them.  The crickets don't actually eat in the cave, they leave to eat then come back in.

After filling their brains with random facts and their arms with prize stickers, I noticed it was pouring so I took this afternoon storm opportunity to get everyone to the showers.  As we walked out we saw the storm was over - score another one for Mom!  Finally clean, we headed back to the campsite for dinner and time for me to get organized for traveling the next day.

The kids were excited about another campfire program tonight so we headed that way after visiting the Mammoth Cave Railroad cars on display.  The program was a little over the girls' heads discussing myths and mysteries of the underground but Brayden enjoyed it even though it was a little long.  We had a quiet night hike back to our site through the woods full of hundreds of lightning bugs.  One of those moments I don't want to ever forget.

Quote of the day: Contagious laughter after Ryan got he hair stuck in a tent zipper for the third time today!