First Trip to DeSoto Caverns (Part I)

This past Saturday we decided to go to DeSoto Caverns.  I’ve seen several billboards for it lately, and the thought of a cave that stays at 70 degrees sounded pretty good this past very hot weekend.  Since it is about an hour from our house, we left pretty early and decided to let Penelope take her morning nap on the way there.  We got the kids up and took turns showering and getting ready and packing up whatever we needed for the drive.  Gary loaded the kids up in the car while I tried to be sure we had everything we needed ready to go.  At some point I realized Gary wasn’t wearing his shoes.  I asked why and he said that he needed some socks.  I said that I’d run in and get them, but he wanted to do it himself.  So, I settled in the front seat with the four kids in the back of the car while Gary went in to get the socks.

And we waited. . . .

It’s not unusual.  Typically, after everyone is loaded up and ready to go, Gary inevitably has to go get something that takes far longer than it should.  This time, however, the kids wanted to discuss it.  Henry started by telling me that he was ready to go.  I explained that we were waiting on Daddy.  Rosemary asked where Daddy was, and I said that Daddy was inside getting his socks.  Piper asked why, and assuming that she was asking why he was STILL inside getting his socks, I told her that he was just slow.  Then all the big kids agreed with me and repeated, “Daddy’s slow,” a few times.  I agreed.  Then Gary showed up and started getting something out of his car.  That took a while.  Again, the kids noted that “Daddy’s slow.”

Then Gary finally got in the car and told me that I didn’t even want to know what took him so long.  For once, after being married to the man for  more than 10 years, I decided that I did want to know.  And this is the story he told me:

Gary went in his closet to get a pair of socks.  {I have NO idea why he would go to his closet to get his socks instead of his sock drawer.}  While Gary was looking for his socks, he saw a Slim Jim packet.  {Again, I have NO idea why there are nasty Slim Jims in his closet.}  He decided that he should eat one, but quickly because we were all in the car waiting on him.  Because Gary was eating so quickly, a piece of the Slim Jim got stuck in his teeth.  So he started looking for some dental floss.  We had no dental floss in the bathroom at all.  {Gary later confirmed that he did not look for dental floss in the bottom drawer in the bathroom where we keep the extra toothbrushes and dental floss.}  So he looked for dental floss in the kitchen.  Because there was no dental floss in the kitchen {imagine that!}, he looked for dental floss in his car.  Then he decided to just suck it up and deal with the Slim Jim wedged in his teeth and got in the car with us.

I cannot imagine all the stories that he has of what he was doing when the kids and I were sitting in the car for 5 minutes while he ran inside to get just one thing.  In a way it’s disturbing, but then it’s also very entertaining.  Maybe I’ll just start asking what was going on each time.  If nothing else, I can probably get some blog material out of it!

Then we left for DeSoto Caverns.  Gary and I really liked that we had that hour drive.  The kids enjoy rides and usually stay pretty quiet, which gives Gary and I some time to just sit and talk.  It may seem a little silly, but we really enjoy that time. 

The kids were excited as soon as we pulled into the parking lot.  While Gary went in to buy our tickets for the tour caves and attractions, the kids and I waited and watched some water.

Henry has worn that hat for days.  He loves it.  I think he looks quite dapper in his hat.  He certainly gets a lot of compliments on it.  It makes me think of my granddaddy who always wore hats.

First, we decided to go on the cave tour.  We got in line . . .

  . . . and went into the cave.

Almost as soon as we walked in, it was dark Rosemary told us that she wanted out.  But she held it together quite well and we stayed for a while.  Not surprisingly, the tour guide wasn’t really doing a great job of keeping the kids’ attention.  Even though they weren’t supposed to climb on anything, the kids had a hard time not climbing on all the great rocks.  Then Penelope started discovering that her singing sounded really great inside that big cave.  After about 20 minutes, we decided to give the other folks on the tour a break and we left.

Despite Rosemary stating that she wanted out the whole time, we left and she immediately announced that she liked the cave.  You have to to love kids.

We grabbed some hot dogs for lunch then had a seat at a picnic table. 

Poor Rosemary fell and busted her lip on the picnic bench, but she was tough despite the fat lip (which she is now quite proud of and shows everyone).

A ride on the choochoo train made her feel better.

To be continued. . . .