Family Day Out

Well, both boys made it through the first two days of school without any major issues.  Gavin even came off the bus in the afternoon with a smile on his face.  I figured we would have a quiet weekend at home but by 9:00 am on Saturday morning the boys were already going at each other.  That is when I said, "load up the car we are going underground!"  I think everyone thought I had finally cracked but we climbed in the car and headed to DeSoto Caverns.  I have never been to DeSoto but it was a nice day out.  The grounds were really pretty and the cave was a comfortable 60 degrees.  They have a lot of small attractions at the back of the park that the kids enjoyed.  It was more expensive than I expected but worth it, we had a great time!  Here are the pics...

The mill by the gift shop

Waterfall near the entrance to the park

The cave

Cave again

The above and below picture are of the waterfall in the cave,

I tried a slow shutter speed to make it look more impressive but

as you can see the shot is blurry.  I did not take my tripod and 

could not hold the camera steady enough for the shot.  Below is the 

same fall with a fast shutter.  The fall looks like a slow trickle in that shot! lol

Next three are shots inside the butterfly house

Archery, Robin Hood need not worry we all need practice!

Air guns, both boys would like a set of these for Christmas!

To be honest I would love them myself they were fun.  Danny and Gavin

were on one side and Ethan and I were on the other shooting across at 

each other.

Panning for gold and minerals

Digging for gyms

The boys got a lot of rocks from each activity (the panning and the digging),  I bought a book in the gift shop and we identified their bounty when we got home.  Gavin has a really good eye finding stones and matching them with the pictures.  We got hematite which is a shiny metal looking stone that will streak concrete red when you rub it on its surface.  When I read that to Gavin we all had to head out to the pool to check it out and sure enough it worked!  

The lost maze and squirt gun maze

Paddle boats, they were both soaking wet after this ride.