Time In A Cave...

We weren't sure what we were going to do this weekend, other than painting projects around the house (man is it nice to see a color in the downstairs bathroom!!!) We headed towards the Blue Ridge Parkway and decided to go to Linville Caverns in NC. I spent several years living in Virginia and often went to caves---both ones open to the public and ones not open (now that is different--and I would not advise that at all!!) So, we got quite excited when we found this one (the one only in NC open to the public too).

The girls were very excited about this adventure. We had quite a wait seeing that it is a holiday weekend the place was quite crowded. It was worth waiting though.

There was a stream that comes from underground and the water was crystal clear--it was beautiful.

It is also a great time to go to a cave when it is very hot out since it is so cool down there! Our very Southern girls kept saying they were cold :)

Trying to get a three year old to not touch the rocks is not as easy as it sounds :) She did very well though, and Lucy was great!

The girls did a lot of cuddling down in the cave for body heat :) At one point when we were deep in the cave the guide turned off all the lights so we could experience complete darkness. The girls were not sure what to think of that and held on for dare life, but didn't scream or freak out so that was good! There was also a part that gets very narrow and you have to stand in there while the guide is talking about the bottomless pool below you (we were walking on a grate) and it was a prime time to freak, but the girls did not at all which is great!

We made it out, back into the sunlight and heat :) We got a really great (and thankfully cheap) Caves and Caverns for Kids book which has lessons and puzzles and games in it that we can now use for school.

We have been doing a lot of science here lately which is very cool. We have some slime mold in the mulch and so we checked a book out of the library on mold and fungi and it has been fascinating learning about that! God also gave us mushrooms in the backyard and we went on a mushroom hunt so we can do mushroom spore prints. We have to let the mushrooms mature a bit more though and then we will pick them for that project---fun, fun!! Mike had to laugh because the girls and I are so excited about our slime mold and mushrooms. They are harmless and fun to study, but when he found some more we all got very excited and he just laughed and shock his head :) We never claimed to be "normal" :)