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!

Day 4

I was up with the birds this morning to write about the past 2 days as well as get things ready for a quick morning.  I'd already made us a reservation for a 9am tour of the cave so we'd need to get going relatively early.  It always takes me longer to write than I'd anticipated as my brain always remembered things I'd wanted to include well after I was finished with that day's notes.  Then there is also pictures to edit!

After a quick breakfast of yogurt with fresh blackberries and peaches with a very imaginative game of Story Cubes, we were off.  The kids knew they were to receive their first installment of spending money from Dave so they were itching to spend it at the Visitor's Center.  The majority of the time that money is spent on furry things and today was no different.  After stocking up on postcards, we also walked away with two new pet foxes.

We grabbed junior rangers books and headed out to wait for our tour.  I'd booked the first tour of the day and it seemed like that was everyone else's thinking too as there were at least 75 people on our tour.  We were reminded about 18 times that flash photography was not allowed so I set the camera to "no flash" and frowned as I knew I probably wouldn't get much.  Maybe I could take a picture of one of our postcards!

As we got to the cave entrance you could feel the rush of 50 degree air leaving the cave so my Florida kids immediately grabbed their jackets and bundled up.  Our tour guide was funny and so very knowledgeable - we all learned so much!  The pictures are terrible, but take my word this is an incredible place to visit.  The history here is awesome and the cave is simply breathtaking around each and every turn.  The kids especially loved "Fat Man's Misery" that snaked around skinny turns for about 50 feet.  They also loved reading the old markings from people in the 1800s and early 1900s before the cave became a national park.

After the tour, the kids busily began working on their junior ranger books while I used the quiet to connect to the center's wifi. I hadn't posted anything of our trip yet, so I'm sure there were people considering texting Dave to make sure we were alright. We all took a few minutes to talk to Dave and Laney was able to check her email before we headed outside for a snack and to wait for the afternoon kids program. Lucky for us it was partly a scavenger hunt that was in their books to complete!  So many times we are hiking and talking that we forget to really pay attention to the tiny and camouflaged things around us.  Ryan even found a squirrel digging around deep in the woods that the park ranger couldn't even see until he popped out.

They learned about mama bats and how they care for their young.  They played a fun game showing how the moms find their babies when they are nestled in the cave with hundreds of other bats.  My kids had no clue what film canisters are or film for that matter!

We were all wearing down so we headed back to the campsite for some relaxation and a late lunch.  It showered off and on but we happened to have a beautiful tree on our site that provided the perfect shelter for us.

It didn't look like it would get any better so I took the opportunity to go hit the laundry room. We weren't out of clothes yet, but like showers if laundry facilities are available I try to take advantage of them as I never know what the next campground facilities will be like.


We took a bunch of games and watched out the door as it poured for the next 2 hours.  Chalk one up for mom for a good decision!  The washer and dryers were cheap compared to other places we'd been, but it ended up taking 2 dryer cycles to dry the clothes, so there was a lot of chess and cards played as we waited.

The amphitheater was just a short walk away and the kids were excited about the campfire program as they have always been very entertaining in the past.  Tonight's program about caving definitely did not disappoint!  The ranger doing the program was cracking the kids up while teaching them all about the history, dangers, and necessary equipment required for caving.  The other kids were pretty jealous when Laney was picked as a volunteer!

The ranger told us directly after the program there would be a flag retirement ceremony and the girls' eyes lit up.  I'm not sure what they thought it would be but I guess anything to stay up later?  I think Brayden may have been to one with scouts but he couldn't really remember.  Right before the ceremony about 15 Harleys roared up carrying a bunch of VFW men who joined us to perform the ceremony.

The man included a brief history lesson about Francis Scott Key and the girls learned about the meaning of all the parts of the flag.  I love that we are just about to learn all about this next year for history!  The ceremony was wonderful and the kids seemed to appreciate the words they heard and their country, freedom, and symbols a little bit more.  They were especially impressed that the man leading the ceremony was going to stand at attention by the fire until it burned out.  Even if he had to pee.

Quote of the Day: Ryan - "Bob came with us!" upon being reunited with the roly poly that had taken up camp in her chair for the ride to Kentucky.

Day 3

We were up early and on the road for a long day and drive to our next spot.  The kids help more and more each year so our packing time seems to decrease.  Except for when I add in extra variables.  I bought each of the kids a personal backpacking inflatable sleep pad being the nice concerned mother I am and in hopes they could each handle packing and unpacking their sleep areas.  What I didn't realize is the sheer amount of instruction time it would cost me! Hopefully that will exponentially decrease with each stop.

We'd grabbed a Redbox movie the day before, so with a 4 hour drive ahead of us to our first stop, it was the perfect time for breakfast and a movie!  Brayden opted for the single seat and some alone time.  Perhaps this teenage thing is really upon me.

After a long four hours straight in the car and looping through Georgia and almost to Chattanooga, we arrived at our first stop.  Oh, how I've missed you Trader Joe's!  The kids were grabbing things off the shelves like they were long lost best friends they hadn't seen in years.  I could see Dave shaking his head wondering just how much this was going to cost him!  We walked out of there without too much damage though and headed to our next stop - the Adventure Discovery Science Museum! The kids had been looking foward to this stop all day as they have turned into such science museum snobs able to rate a museum in under 2 hours.

This one did not disappoint them!  At first they were drawn to the 2-story video game and play structure area but then they ended up learning all about genes, hereditary traits, brain disorders, and gender bias.  Wow!  I certainly couldn't have covered all that material in 30 minutes!  This one really intrigued Laney as she realized she categorized babies how they were dressed.  They were actually the same baby!

And here is proof Brayden really is strong as he is lifting a car.  He's been snowballing us all this time saying things were too heavy!

They build a catenary arch!

And then promptly knocked it all down.

Next up was a quick show about severe weather.  On the way the girls learned how to spin plates!  I was a little nervous about this show as we were a traveling in a tent very close to weather right now, but they actually learned quite a bit about lightning and tornado safety.  Plus the experiments were cool!

An F2 tornado simulation - shot a pencil through a piece of wood!  The kids gasped when he told them they have found drinking straws embedded in trees.

Our last section of the museum was all about body functions.  This was certainly going to be gross. The kids learned about blood flow, respiratory function, the digestive system, and even performed an operation.  I'm not sure I would trust the doctor who is more concerned with buttoning her coat!

Next was the "Body Battle" game where we (good guys Laney & mom) battled against the pathogens (bad guys Bray & Ryan) to keep our temperature below 100 degrees.  I'm sure you can guess who won!

Out last stop we spotted as we walked in and Ryan had asked only about 83 times when we were going to do it - the Space Walk.  It was supposed to simulate a walk on the moon.

Brayden was my & Ryan's photographer and he did a great job with Ryan.  Let's just say those harnesses are not even remotely flattering for adults. That and I was blurry in most of the photos too.

But he redeemed himself with this one of Laney!

Laney thought her friend Zoey would love this part of the museum!

Refreshed and bouncing, the kids hopped back in the car for the quick ride to our next stop - Mammoth Cave National Park.  We only had a little more than an hour drive so we would be there with plenty of time to visit the visitor's center and plan our stay there.  Or so I thought.  This was my view for 45 minutes.  A complete stop on the interstate.  Like engines off people out of their cars stop.  In 90 degrees.  With a few thousand of my closest friends.  Wait, was this bad thing #3? Well, at least we had snacks!  And at least it's not raining!

As we arrived the sun was getting low, so we opted for dinner and bedtime.  My planning brain would have to wait until tomorrow.  The kids made a few friends and raced around on their scooters until it was time to eat.  We thought we'd have time for a walk around the campground, but by the time we'd finished all our nightly stuff, it was pretty dark so it was off to bed after a couple chapters of the book.

Quote of the Day: Ryan to Brayden - "Go in there and you can be a fart!"