The weekend

I had planned a special fun day for the kids on Saturday. I knew it was a bit risky as I was working 8pm Friday night until 8am on Saturday morning, I was worried I would get an early morning transfer and not be back by 8. Got lucky we had one call at 2 am so I hadn't got much sleep but wasn't going to let that stop our day of fun. Kenny and the boys met me at work at 8am and we went to breakfast which the boys loved and ate every bite plus some off our plates. I had to be back to work by 5:30 that evening to work a rodeo standby so our schedule would be tight but would work.

We drove to St. Louis and went to the mall to exchange Nathan's shoes we had got for him when we were up there in April. Neither of the boys had ever been to a mall and Nathan was mesmerized by the mannequins in the isles of the stores and had to touch them all.

After we got his shoes exchanged we headed to the zoo the kids were super excited as they had never been (well we took Blake when he was 11 months old but he don't remember) We got close and got stuck in traffic for 2 hours trying to find a parking spot. I was upset because the day was ruined I knew that we wouldn't have time to walk around much and get back to St. James in time for work. I shed a few tears the boys were upset and crying because mommy ruined their fun day. On the way back from St. Louis we decided to stop in Leasburg at Onadoga Cave. I used to go with school almost yearly when I was a kid but hadn't been since I was about 10 or 12. Neither of the boys had ever been to such and Kenny hadn't been to a cave since he was a kid. We stopped there and decided to take the tour.

 We had time before the tour so the boys had a snack outside at a picnic table. I got them each a jacket out of the car and they just didn't understand why they would need it as it was 80+ degrees outside.

 

The cave tour was the same as when I was a kid but it was still fun and neat to see it all over again and to see the boys fascination of the cave. All I had with me was my phone to take pictures with and I was impressed it did such a good job down in the dark cave.

 

They loved looking around and seeing all the formations and hearing how far down below the surface we were. They said the tour was right at an hour and about a mile. We were in there for almost 2 hours and probably walked more than a mile. Our guide was nice and knew her info and we moved along quickly and it still took forever. By the end Nathan was getting tired of the walk and stop and not being able to touch all the cool rocks.

We left there and  headed back towards St. James and both boys fell asleep before we got out on the interstate. On our way back Kenny got a call from Dwayne wanting to do some fishing so the boys got to fish all evening which they loved! I went to work and did a standby at a bull ride and watching kids younger than mine ride sheep and steers gave me chills. Blake has always said he wanted to be a bull rider but I'm not sure I could let him :) It was a good show and no one got seriously hurt which was a good thing.

I got home after the kids were in bed and had to be back at work at 8am Sunday. It was a busy day at work and we ran more calls than I have in the whole time I worked there. I was glad when 8pm came and I got to head home and spend time with the kids and get them ready for bed.

Since our zoo trip didn't work we are taking a vacation day first part of June and taking them during the week. That way we aren't worried about the time and I won't have to rush back to go to work.