What's happening in my world…
As a child, we would always come to the beach and a tradition was to sit on the dock and fish at night time. This trip is a special trip, because we went up to the same place Karen and I went when we were young but now with Katie Beth.
We didn’t catch anything that we had lots of bites and fun.
Katie Beth, Karen, and I donned our pirate costumes after finishing up Katie Beth’s soccer game against Holy Family School (her previous school) and we headed to Krispy Kreme.
They annually give away doughnuts on this “holiday”. Full costume gets you a dozen Original Glazed doughnuts while just talking like a pirate gets you one Original Glazed doughnut.
A lot of Katie Beth’s soccer team joined us for the pure fun of getting doughnuts and talking like a pirate.
We had a long weekend get away to Mammoth Cave National Park. We checked Katie Beth out early on Thursday, at the chagrin of her teacher, so we could get a head start on the drive. The weather was great. Katie Beth thought this was the best cave. She has gone in Ruby Falls, Cathedral Caverns, and other small caves to compare against.
We took the Grand Avenue tour on Friday, which includes the Frozen Niagara route, Domes and Dripstones route and the Snowball route. The gypsum flowers were very cool looking. It is hard to imagine how large the flowers would’ve been before tourism started in the cave and breaking the gypsum off the ceiling.
Our little cabin was nice even if some air conditioning would have been appreciated on some of the nights. But, Katie Beth met other children staying in nearby cabins, which made it fun for her.
On Saturday, we took the simple Mammoth Passage tour into the main entrance of the cave so Katie Beth could get a better understanding of the size of Mammoth Cave and see the saltpeter production artifacts. After the short cave tour, we hiked the River Styx Springs, Echo River Springs, Whites Cave, and Mammoth Dome trails. We saw large numbers of various furry caterpillars along our hike including this Spotted Apatelodes moth caterpillar.
You can see more photos here.
Karen slipped a skeleton under Katie Beth’s covers earlier today. Well, you can see the results as Katie Beth decided to throw the skeleton down the stairs to make a statement of her dissatisfaction.
Isn’t it great being a parent. And, we can afford the therapy that I see in her future.
Katie Beth is growing up fast. The hair is back to being very long and she doesn’t want it cut.
She is enjoying her new school and making many new friends. She is excited to be playing on the school’s soccer team and seeing old classmates on the other teams.
Karen, Katie Beth, and I are ready for Walt Disney World.
Our bags are packed and we are ready to go!
We are looking forward to relaxing.
Katie Beth had a blast with her American Heritage Girl camping trip. It was the end of the year family camping trip with many families attending.
Everyone had a blast. We went to the Von Braun Planetarium on Friday night. Saturday, we went on a hike and had a lot of fun. Everyone had a great time playing on Monte Sano State Park
Katie Beth was excited to have won 1st place in the Diocesan Art Show for 2nd Grade collage category.
Her art teacher was very proud of her.
We had a butterfly house for a bit and today was the release of the Painted Lady Butterflies.
It has been neat watching the crystalline jiggle and shake as the butterflies matured.
You can see more photos here. The username and password are “friends” and “photos”.
Katie Beth requested that her loose tooth be removed with pliers. We decided to oblige her. But, we thought she would have second thoughts at the last second.
So, we decided to surprise her. We said Karen would pull the tooth on the count of three, but she planned to actually pull the tooth on two.
She didn’t even realize the tooth was gone.
It is so much fun being a parent.