Tuesday, August 12, 2008
There is a large Amish population in western Kentucky, so we passed several buggies on the way.
We started out panning for gemstones, which even Sky and us adults got into. The little boys loved it!!
Kaden & Kaleb were really good about picking out even the tiniest of the gemstones ...
... but Sky preferred the large ones.
Before we went down into the caves, we took a guided tour and were shown one of the blue holes. Kaden read the stone before the tour started... so when our guide asked if anyone knew how deep the hole was believed to be, Kaden was the only one to raise his hand to say 437 feet. The guide explained how a rock was used to measure the depth, and was obviously taken upstream by the current because it was later discovered to only be 15 feet.
Jesse James, the infamous outlaw, was chased into these very caves by the police where he hid for two days.
It is VERY rare I can get my mom to pose for a picture... so of course I was really pleased to see how well it came out. I teased my dad & told him I was going to crop him out, but how could I do that?? :)
After the tour through the caves, we wondered down one of the many trails... and found the butterfly habitat. The lady working there was really nice to the boys, showing them some caterpillars. Kaleb really liked the pond and asked her where the frogs were, and she explained they no longer had frogs in the pond because they were eating the butterflies. She then told me a story about how a little 2-year-old boy walked right through the pond without a flinch earlier that day. Not 5 minutes later, Kaleb tripped and fell into the pond. Good thing it was only about a foot deep... but how did I KNOW that was going to happen??
One of the many caterpillars we saw.
Not only was Kaden interested in the butterflies and caterpillars, but the pretty flowers too... so my dad told him what kind they were.
It had been a long day... but we had a lot of fun!!
On the way home from the cave, we stopped at this monument which was dedicated to Jefferson Davis', the Confederate President, birthplace. Sky is infatuated with history, especially the American wars... so whenever we have a chance to see something new, we always take advantage of it.On Sunday, my Aunt Jayne and my cousins, Amy and Andrew came by after dinner to visit. My cousin, Adam, is a year younger than Sky... so they got to spend the weekend together. Adam even spent the night on Saturday and went to church with us in the morning. On our way home, the boys and I stopped to see my cousin, Michael, his wife, Chrissy, and their children, Abby, Nathan & Sarah. We had such a good time talking after dinner on the patio, while the kids played together, I didn't realize until after we left that I didn't get a picture. They recented moved to Chattanooga, TN, which is only 3 1/2 hours from us, so we made plans to meet in Atlanta soon. Thanks to them and my Aunt Janice & Uncle Don, we had a GREAT weekend!!!!
