Second Edition

I just know that you have all been anxiously awaiting the second edition of our caving adventures. (Right? Right?) With no further ado...

This group included Chris, Brenda, Michael, Amanda, me, and Teddy. Teddy got his own seat.


Chris pointed out that we have owned our car--a mountaineer--for a year and a half now, but we had never before taken it off-road. I don't really think of it as an off-road vehicle, but it did well. Go, Merc.

We were...less prepared, let's say, for this adventure than we had been on Saturday. Our flashlights were dying after all their use previously (and Chris stayed up late reading Warbreaker...).


Brenda still had her headlamp, and Michael had his that he graciously let Amanda wear. So, we spent most of the time with five of us (and a dog relying on two headlamps. Climbing was a bit more interesting.


Only one injury--Christopher again. Sad. He hit his head really good on a low-hanging rock.


He had to sit down for quite a while to recover. And we left him. That probably makes me a bad wife. But the cave was one big loop! If we just kept walking, we'd run into him again eventually.


And so we did.


There was another group in the cave at the same time as us--a group with a bunch of kids. The girls were really funny. They asked me if we had seen their lunches. I said we had, near the entrance of the cave. The girl said, "Are you sure they were ours? Were they by lots of big rocks?" Ummm...if rocks are the only identifying feature, we may have a problem. There were a lot of rocks around...

Anyway. We hung back while they ate their lunch. It was nice to just relax and hang out for a while. In a cave.






When we got back to Aberdeen, we celebrated all our adventuring success with pizza. As Jane would say, Tasty.


Megan eats better than Jane, though.


Here are some more shots from our not-adventuring time in Aberdeen.




Thank you again, Janet, for watching our girls. It was nice for me to have a day off and I know that Jane really enjoyed it. I hope they didn't wear you out too much!

I don't think this is Jane's cutest picture ever, but it does illustrate her growing birthmark. She used to be able to open both of her eyes when she smiled.


We are going to take her to a new dermatologist soon, but we are still waiting to get our new insurance cards before I make any appointments.

* * * * *

Would you like a second edition of Discovery Gateway? You would? Well, I'm happy to oblige.

We went to DG again with Lisa and her kids and her friend Jen and her kids. We actually went because of the sales in the gift shop. I bought Megan's birthday present (less than a month!), part of Jane's birthday present, and several Christmas presents. Yay!

But we obviously can't go just to shop. We had to play, too.

Megan was really enjoying the bumblebee car.


She actually managed to push herself...backwards only, but still. She can't walk yet, so this is significant mobility!


Jane spent quite a bit of time inside the police car. The lights on top were convenient for keeping track of her.


Dalton drove, too. Let's keep the car pictures together, shall we?


Jane discovered her enjoyment of cashiering.



Once she had purchased all her groceries, she took them and Dalton home and made dinner. How quaint.


And she built a tower. Busy morning.


Megan wanted to help. Somehow, though, it just wasn't working out.


She liked the chair better.



I'm glad I don't work. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to keep doing things like this all the time.