Dinosaurs, Caves, and Camping (part 1)

May 23-28, 2008---We took a vacation to Cave City, Kentucky over Memorial Day weekend. This was a trip planned especially for Jackson. We told the kids on Wednesday night that we would be going to Dinosaur World on Friday. BIG MISTAKE!!!! Originally, we had decided to tell them either Thursday night or Friday morning. For some strange reason, we changed it to Wednesday night. From the time Jackson woke up Thursday morning, with very stop we made in the car, he asked why we weren't at Dinosaur World. By the end of the day he was crying because we hadn't gotten there yet. We told him the Dinosaurs were asleep and we would go the next morning when they were awake. So, Friday morning rolls around. He is the first child awake and gets into the van while Rick is still loading all of our gear. He didn't even want to get out to get dressed because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to go. Once we were on the road, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. That caused a complete meltdown because it wasn't Dinosaur World. This happened with each of the six stops we made until we arrived in Cave City.



We had quite a slow drive to Nashville via the Natchez Trace Parkway. Not only is the speed limit 50 mph, but we were forced to detour several times due to closed bridges. We decided then that we would be taking a faster route home. We stopped in Nashville to stretch our legs. We chose the Rainforest Cafe at Opry Mills for my birthday lunch (yes, I was another year older on Friday). We thought the kids would love it---especially Jackson with his love of animals. This was not the case. It was a TOTAL DISASTER!!! Rick asked for the table by the elephants. Anna Catherine and Jackson totally freaked out when they moved and when they made noises the kids went berserk. They had their hands over their ears and were wailing. Chloe was mesmerized and never made a sound. I took the older two for a tour of the other animals. They liked the hippo, fish, birds, and butterflies. But when we got to the gorilla and monkeys, the rain storm started and Anna Catherine and Jackson completely lost it so we went back to our seats to eat. Anna Catherine screamed and held her hands over her ears the entire time we were eating---no exaggeration. She didn't eat any of her lunch. Jackson was unhappy but still managed to eat his pizza. Chloe didn't know what all the hullabaloo was about and had no problem eating. After lunch Jackson and I wandered the mall while Rick and the girls went to the airport to pick up his mom. We wanted to do some shopping and needed a little more time to stretch our legs. We took a sneak peak at The Aquarium restaurant and decided we will eat there on the way home. Jackson liked the sharks and sting rays. Rick, his mom, and the girls picked us up and we hunkered down for the last hour and a half of our journey.