Saturday, May 17, 2008

A Moaning Cavern Mama

After our visit to Frogtown, we tried something a bit more adventureous and toured Moaning Cavern. It started out just fine: no crowds, happy kids and cooler temperatures at the opening of the cave. Waiting for our tour to start, however, provided just enough anxiety to drop Donovan and I out of the pack. TANTRUM CITY! I think our biggest mistake was watching two women rappel down the shaft....and well, Donovan thought THAT was the way to go and would have nothing to do with it. He was HORRIFIED. After many attempts to calm him down and telling him we weren't going to go down that way, we scurried to find resolve to our plan of action - Donovan and I backed out of the tour (having to refund our tickets), while Rudy, his mom, Dominic and even Devin made the 165-foot descent. (I had planned to stay out with Donovan and Devin from the beginning, but Rudy insisted the entire family could go! He learned today that Mom knows best!)

Can you picture it? (you have to, I didn't take any pictures with all the commotion going on) Rudy went into this cavern with Devin in the Snugli and his diaper backpack on his back! What a workout going down 234 steps and then climbing back up them. We nearly lost Rudy's mom at this point. Climbing back up to the top left her legs trembling to find balance and stamina to keep going. She has vowed to never make that trip again! We will pray hard for her recovery when we go to church on Sunday. Poor Grandma! Dominic, on the other hand, was a trooper and was hard to keep nearby, as he was always ahead of the pack! Surprisingly, he had a great time.

Here, we launched the kids off a 1500-foot zip line... JUST KIDDING!!! (This will be our next adventure!)

The tour lasted 45-minutes, which is just enough time for Donovan to start getting antsy. He did quite well waiting for everyone. He must've known all the trouble he caused and knew not to push any more buttons during that time.

...and I thought they called it "Moaning Cavern" because of the moans you heard upon tourists' ascent back to the top of the cavern's entrance!

2 comments:

Kristie said...

I Heard Devin and Dominic had a great time in the cavern. Sorry to hear that Donovan wanted no part of it...

I wonder how Sydney and Peyton would be.. They probably would have wanted me to carry them both.... or Peyton would have wanted to keep Donovan company.

I love the capes the boys got... very cool. I'm sure that is Dominic's favorite thing now...

We'll have to take an adult trip and do the zip lines

Charity Donovan said...

OMG...I'm exhausted just reading this post! lol! I can't wait until my kiddos are old enough that we can go on family adventures again. It's so tiring but so worth it in the end!!! Fun memories! =)