February Vacation

This year the school district scheduled in snow make-up days at the end of February. I thought it was a little odd, but since Kyle couldn’t get spring break off, he was able to take the snow days off. The kids had to go to school on Monday to make up one day, but the rest of the time the kids were home and we could play. We decided to do some things we hadn’t done yet around town. The Muhammad Ali Museum was first on the list. We enjoyed walking around and watching some of his fights as well as trying to box like Ali.

The next day we went to Mammoth Caves for the day. It is about an hour and a half drive south of our house. We were watching our neighbor’s daughters that day, so we took them with us. Celeste loved that they came because they are her friends, so everyone was happy. There are several different hikes we could take within the caves, but we chose the historic cave because it was the easiest for the kids and a mom carrying a baby, but it was still quite the hike. We spent two hours on the tour and both Gordon and Thomas did great the entire time. It was the perfect day for it because it was rainy and cold, so being in an underground cave was a perfect way to spend the day!

  

These caves were mined and then used for slaves during the civil war. The stories that the tour guide told us were incredible. The kids got a little bored when we stopped for too long, but they loved walking through the cave. They loved that they didn’t have to duck when the adults did.

Some of the areas in the cave were only 3 1/2 feet high. I had to duck and at one point I had to go down the stairs on my bottom because I couldn’t bend over with Tommy in the front pack.

There was also a part that was called Fat Man’s Nightmare because it was so narrow. Fortunately the top part was nice and wide, so we just had to watch our steps, but it wasn’t hard to get through, thank goodness! Before the ceiling of this section had been chiseled out, the man who originally went through here had to be on his hands and knees in this tiny section. I couldn’t imagine what a nightmare that really would be.

The other days of the week, we didn’t do anything that was really picture worthy, but we enjoyed being together as a family. Kyle did finally get the opportunity to shoot his new gun at a gun range. Our neighbor took the week off also to be home with his kids, so he went with Kyle to try out the gun. It was a cold day, so their shooting time didn’t last long, but Kyle thinks it shoots straight, even through his shivering!