Our Adventure... and Home Again

We are home from our grand adventure and we had a super-duper time!

We visited:
1) Amazing Mammoth Cave! We especially enjoyed and recommend the Historic Tour. We also took the New Entrance Tour but enjoyed the Historic a bit more. Our visit was a neat experience. Even above ground, for those whose knees or aversion to close places won't allow a wander through the cave, is beautiful.
2) Ruby Falls (the highest cave waterfall open to the public in the world, they say), the Incline Railway (a majorly crazy incline... over 70 percent!), and Rock City, with beautiful gardens, a swing bridge over a gapping precipice, and a view of seven states (but also somewhat confusingly addled with kitschy gnomes and fairy tale characters).
3) We also enjoyed a stay with my best friend Barbara in Davenport (near Orlando, FL) for several days. It was wonderful to see where she lives and sips her tea when we chat on the phone. I had imagined, but now I know.
4) We also stayed one night at The Dolphin, a fancy Disney World hotel, with Roxanne my former sister-in-law. It was great to spend time with her amazing children.
5) After another night with Barb and family we headed east and the fastest stop at the ocean which was Cocoa Beach. I quickly determined it wasn't the place to stay but nonetheless we stopped at a public ocean-front beach and took pictures of David taking in the ocean for the first time.
6) We stopped at the Kennedy Space Center. Very cool.
7) After our fun at KSC, we ended up all the way up in St. Augustine. I loved St. Augustine-- its history, and the Atlantic Ocean! So wonderful!
8) We headed home, and on the way we visited the amazing Indianapolis Children's Museum! If you have kids, you MUST, must, must visit! It is the largest children's museum in the world!
Our vacation... our journey, our time together on the road... was a special and sweet time. My dear David was an absolutely wonderful, chatty, fun, sweet and interesting traveling companion. Never once did I hear, "Are we there yet?!" Isn't that dear?
And here we are-- home again, and thankfully so. Our journey was wonderful and our time together was sweet.

My gratitude for the opportunity is deep. Memories have been made.

Mammoth Cave

Mood: a wee bit upset. Okay, more than a wee bit.

Today, going to our second tour at Mammoth Cave I rounded a corner (lots of winding roads). The speed limit had been 40. (Yea, yea, some of you see where this is going...) Well, the speed limit dropped to 35, immediately followed (well, about 30 feet, I'd say. Really!) by a 25mph sign. Dang if a stinkin' copper wasn't driving... YES, driving! in the opposite direction. A short way later, or as they would say in these here parts, just a stone's throw down the road a piece, David said, Hey, Mom, that police is behind you. With his lights on. Dang (or words to that effect).

He said he had me on radar. Radar!? when he was driving in the opposite direction?

We only had five minutes to make our cave tour... but we made it, after I had the $175!!! ticket in hand.

For the rest of the trip, David and I will be eating pb&j a lot more often than planned.

OKAY... (sigh) I am trying to get out of my funk. David asked what a "funk" was. I told him it's how you feel when you've gotten a ticket and it bums you out and you're trying to move beyond it :-p

BUT, David is enjoying the fun of having the hotel pool to himself, I plan to close my laptop and join him, and I promise to have a happier report later.

Mood? Trying to lighten it.

Kentucky

*** Mood: Happy and exhilarated!***

We made it to Kentucky yesterday early evening, after a very fun drive, filled with games and songs and great conversation!

Once we arrived in Cave City and checked into our Comfort Inn we swam in the indoor pool, followed by dinner at the adjacent Cracker Barrel (I felt obligated to get fried chicken livers, greens, and green beans soaked in what can only be described as fat back! I shall not do that again.) After dinner, we went go cart riding. David noticed we were motioned by the old southern fellow running the place to not drive full-out in a zig zag. :-D After, we enjoyed more swimming before we fell asleep content with the first day of our adventure.

Today, Monday: spelunking at Mammoth Cave! We are taking the Historic Tour and the New Entrance Tour.

new ride

It's a Honda CR-V. I do not have the roof rack but it's still a sporty ride. The color is green tea metallic. Isn't that a fun name for a color? I have been telling everyone, Since I didn't go hybrid, at least I went green. And this vehicle should offer about a 40% savings from the jeep in gas consumption. Yay, that!

Our 13-year old jeep went to a very nice family. I took a picture as it was driven away and I waved it out of sight.

David and I are planning a road trip for summer vacation!

the arts

David has his first piano recital on Saturday, May 3. Being the newbie, he will be the first pianist, following the vocalists. After, cookies, cake, and punch will be served.

Also, a drawing/painting David did of a poinsettia plant has been chosen for his school district's K-12 District Art Show. We will even attend an artist's reception! How fun.

Can you imagine the pride I am feeling for my boy?

which makes me remember...

Interesting. see my previous "Santa" post

Before my previous post, and a couple of weeks ago, David said a friend of his must be a REALLY good person. I wondered why. David said, "He got a wii and ds-lite for Christmas. So he must be really good."

Unfortunately, my boy thinks he is not so very wonderful because Santa only brought him a couple of books. What was I thinking?!

Santa, redux

We were in the car.

David: I have a question I have been wondering about ALL my life.

I looked in the rear view mirror.

David: Is Santa real?

I looked ahead, wondering... checking the traffic, thinking, thinking.

David: Do they tell you in college?

-pause-

Or do you know when you grow up?

Mom: Well, I think you just know when you grow up.

David: Yea, it's when you grow up. You don't get a present for your kid, and then Santa does, and then you know.

old as the hills. seriously.

I have Entourage on my computer.

It keeps track of our scheduled commitments-- family amd friend's b-days; early, before-school meetings; after-school meetings and practices, from piano to swimming; and then play-dates, and so forth.

So, today an alert came up regarding a date for tomorrow, February 15th... it says, "Me: OLD AS THE HILLS. "

No doubt.

Santa

Actually, I was never going to do the "Santa thing" with David but he picked it up from daycare when he was about three and hasn't let go of it since. That year, the night before Christmas, actually, he excitedly wondered what Santa would bring him the next day. I looked at him... like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. Santa? Santa! I can't quite remember what I did, whether I wrapped an unread book or rewrapped a long-forgotten toy, but I do recall scrambling a bit. Ever since, although I don't talk about Santa, I have continued to give him a small something or other from the jolly old elf.

Just this month however David, quite pointedly, and out of no where, asked me, "Mom, is there really a Santa?" I was taken off guard. True, I had never initiated his belief or ever expounded on the fairy tale but his child-like belief was, I have to admit, somewhat endearing. So when David asked me the question, and after I recovered, I, in turn, looked adoringly (and with a wisp of melancholy) at my little boy, poised at the edge of childhood when magic and wonder are often replaced by cold hard facts, delivered via mocking jeers by in-the-know classmates and I did the only thing I could do. I opened the computer and pulled up, Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.

Oh, you should have been there. I read it ever so eloquently, pausing just the right number of beats at the most precise moments to add an extra dollop of drama and emphasized critical words and phrases with flourish. Yes, it was a pivotal moment in mommydom. My contribution to David being able to hold on to his child-like wonder for just a moment longer. And at the end of the essay, feeling all wise and toasty inside, I glanced at my curly-haired cherub. Content, I smiled a sweet and knowing half-smile, nodded my head and asked, "Okay?"

He looked at me, "Ummm, yea, Mom, but... IS there a Santa Claus?"

David's Pokemon b-day party

David recently had his eighth birthday party. That's right. Eight. Eight years old.

Unbelievable.

David wanted a Pokemon-theme party and sleep-over. We invited seven of his best buds (from school, the neighborhood, and cousins) so, including the birthday boy, we had eight Pokemon Trainers attend his party, in honor of his eighth birthday. (Okay, when he is 14 and there are 14 boys here please tell me this precedent might not have been the best idea. Well, actually, right after I suggested the number of guests to reflect the number of years he is on his b-day, I thought, Uh-oh! Maybe not a good idea.) :-)

Anyway, it was a fun time with pizza, fun presents for the birthday boy, grab bags for the attendees, a cool Pikachu cake made by mom, serious Pokemon card trading, Pokemon activities such as Find the Hidden Pokemon Card and Pokemon in the Forest at twilight with flashlights, a Pokemon video, and lots of fun throughout the evening. And, the Pokemon Trainers, tired from all the fun, fell asleep at a reasonable hour.

The next morning, a big breakfast was served to cheerful boys with hearty appetites.

It was a fun time and I loved all the energy in the house.

I have always enjoyed planning David's birthday parties. It has been a joy helping David realize his dreams and ideas for a fun and memorable birthday party. I trust these birthday parties will be memorable.

The only downside, after planning each passing b-day party, as a mom, is that after each fun party I realize David is growing up way more quickly than I ever thought imaginable.

And I reckon his nine year birthday party... is but a blink away.