It's that time of summer for scout stuff

Tonight, I get the computer to myself while Liam and Kella watch Netflix on the Wii controller and Marcus watches television.  Kinley is sleeping.  It is 9:30 at night.  I also will add that there are 5-6 kids playing in my backyard.  None of them live with us.

Where are the rest of the fam? They are enjoying nature at Cub Scout camp.  Andy was able to take Ewan (his 2nd year) and Cale (his 3rd or 4th year) to Cary Camp along with 2 other scouts and another scout leader.  That is pretty cool because for the past 2 years it has just been Andy and our boys representing our Pack at the camp.  I love the idea of more kids getting involved in scout camping.  (and a random parent just came by to shoo the children to their homes 9:35)

Marcus just got back from southern Indiana and a caving campout.  The troop camped out on the park grounds and then did a couple walking tours of the caves and did some crawling about in some tunnels-called the Masher.  Marcus had a blast. I love that he is excited to do these scout activities and that they are with a different set of kids than who he sees at school.  A wider circle of friends.  He gets a week at home before going to his Boy Scout camp.

The Boy Scouts.  Good luck finding Marcus, I can see his head between 2 guys in the front row.  

And, another cave pose.  Marcus is easier to find this time since he is wearing orange socks and is in the front row.

And, here is our crew for Cub Scout camp.  I know one of the campers looks unhappy, but I know he will have fun.  They all will.

So, I get to hold down the fort.  Me verses 4 kids, which might sound frightening to some, but isn't bad.  We are enjoying late night tv watching and wearing our jammies all morning

.  It's as awesome as it sounds.  

Va-cay Day 3: Marengo Cave and some more time at Holiday World

It was raining when we woke up the Wednesday of our vacation.  Now, I have been told that that is the best time to go to Holiday World because the rides are all open and there are hardly any lines.  And, if you're going on the water rides anyway, you're going to be wet.  I wasn't sure how Liam would handle being in the rain, so we did something different.

A friend at church had recommended Marengo Cave as a place to go see.  Why not? We would be inside and the kids had never been in a cave before.  

It took us about 45-50 minutes to get there.  By then the kids needed a snack and Kinley was starting to get grumpy (surprise, surprise).  We got our tickets, snacks and souvenirs.  We were hoping to carry Kinners in the hiking backpack, but there's some rule against that.  So, Andy got the privilege to carry Kinley through the tour.  

This cave was discovered by siblings who thought it would be a great idea to crawl into a sinkhole entrance with two candles and go exploring.  I can't imagine.

Our walking tour was about 45 mins long.  There was another tour you could do that was an hour long, but I didn't think we (Kinley) would tolerate that. 

Ready to go.  Like the stair-step look?

There was some pretty cool stuff to see.  There was a little bat right when we walked down the steps.  It was just sleeping on the ceiling.  Then there was a little "lake" at the beginning of the tour.  The reflection was so clear, that the water looks incredibly deep, when, in fact, it was only 2-3 inches deep.  I'll admit, I freaked out and started grabbing kids hands and telling them to get back until I found out how deep the water actually was.

I think the kids thought it was cool.  Andy wants to bring the scouts back down for a trip and possible camping.  The cave has some program where you can go crawling around in some other areas through little tunnels.  I think I would have a panic attack, but I want the kids not to be scared of stuff like that.  The scouts might come.  It would be a good cold weather activity.

We came back to the camper after lunch.  Kinley took a nap, Kella took a rest and Andy and the boys took the shuttle to Holiday World and rode every single water slide in the park.  Even Liam rode all the slides and he had a blast.  They all did.  The ladies and I met up with them in the evening.  We rode the Merry-Go-Round before we met the boys. We spend a little time in Hollidog's Funtown with the kiddie coaster that our kids rode at least 5-6 times.  We rode the bird ride again.  The boys rode the Revolution-the ride that spins you around so fast that you stick to the wall.  Liam rode it and love it.  Then we went to Halloween, where Andy, Marcus and Cale rode the Legend (and loved it and Liam had a fit that he couldn't ride-due to height), all the boys rode Frightful Falls (log ride), Andy and the big 3 rode the Raven and then back to the log ride to wind up the evening.  

I would definitely recommend getting a 2 day pass for Holiday World.  We didn't feel pressured to see all the rides the first day because we knew we would be back the second.  If we had more stamina to spend the entire both days at the park, we would could have ridden more of our favorite rides several more times.  Especially the second day, the lines were almost non-existent due to the weather.

Back to the camper for a super-late dinner and bed.