our weekend expedition to Luray

I spent my childhood in Richmond, Va and all the while I remember hearing about Luray Caverns. So naturally when I found myself transplanted here in Virginia again 14 years later, I packed my little family up for a day trip to explore one of nature's finest.

What we witnessed was incredible. I don't remember exactly how many millions of years the caverns are, but I do remember the tour guide saying that it takes 100 years for a stalactite to grow 1 inch! The lighting down there made it hard to crisp picture, but you get the idea.

While I was busy playing photographer, Jared was playing babysitter for the whole hour tour, keeping Ev from touching the million year old walls and preventing her from screaming so that the cave didn't vibrate for miles. I wish I could say that our first day trip as a family in months was a success, but a 15 month old makes things really exhausting super fast. We tried to let Ev run her energy out before heading in, but obviously echoing walls and hills to run down with puddles are irresistible. When we ended the tour and packed our squirmy child in the backseat, Jared turned to me and said "Sometimes it's really hard being her dad." I laughed and said, "And it's not hard being her mom?" I guess this is to say that pictures can paint a different story and make things look cheery when perhaps they were not the fondest memories afterall. And while I'm glad we were able to witness one of the wonders of the world, it sure made for one big headache. I don't know how my parents ever did trips with us 5 kids. That would set me right over the edge :)