We went from a full and busy weekend to a quiet week, and there were good things about both. I’m happy to count blessings Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.
1. Family time. My oldest son was here about ten days altogether, through last weekend. We had a nice blend of relaxing and chatting at home and family outings.
I told of some of our doings in last week’s FFF. In addition, on Saturday we went to the Lost Sea Adventure, “the United States’ largest and the world’s second largest non-subglacial underground lake” (according to Wikipedia) in Craighead Caverns, about an hour from us.
My husband has loved cave exploration ever since a research project he participated in while in college. I can’t say I am fond of caves myself. 🙂 I was unsure about this since I have balance, knee, and ankle issues and the website mentioned some steep places. But I didn’t want to miss out on the family excursion. So I decided to at least try.
The website had mentioned hand rails, but there weren’t many, and they weren’t all at a good height. I had to hang onto my poor husband for much of the trail. Then when we got to the area just before the lake, the guide told us the way down would be equivalent to a seven-story slope, which would of course be a seven-story incline coming back. There were benches at this spot for anyone who didn’t think they could make it. I was pretty worn out by this point, so I stayed on the bench. Mittu stayed with me because she wasn’t interested in the boat ride.
I felt bad about missing the main attraction. It would have been nice if the website had mentioned that seven-story slope.
But Jason took lots of pictures and videos.
And we ended the day at a Mexican restaurant.
2. My birthday. We celebrated a day early since Jeremy was leaving on my actual birthday. We went out to one of my favorite restaurants. Mittu made my favorite Texas Sheet Cake, and Jason picked out these cute decorations and birthday plates.
3. Not much cooking. I had not anticipated this, but with eating at Jason and Mittu’s house once and Jesse’s another night, and the various excursions and outings, I think I only cooked three nights of the ten. That made me feel like I was on vacation, too. 🙂 Then Jim got take-out for the next three nights after Jeremy left. One night was my birthday, which we’d already celebrated the day before. One night he had an errand around dinner-time and offered to bring something back to eat. And the other night was just because.
4. A quiet week followed all the family activity, which helped us older folks to recover. 🙂
5. Family photos. When we’re all together, we try to get pictures of us as a group.
We’ll have to do something other than a line selfie next time so the ones at the end can be seen. 🙂
The boys decided to dress alike. 🙂
Need a model for the Brawny paper towels package? 🙂
All in all, it’s been a great week.
Hope yours was as well!
Stray Thoughts 
I love this list of blessings!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you Barbara!! It looks and sounds like you had a wonderful day.
Now that is a “hike” i would love to try…underground. We have Howes Caverns up here but that underground lake thing sounds and looks like something i’d want to explore! Thanks for the great pics!
Take out dinners are a huge blessing.
Getting a group selfie is hard…you all look fantastic and i love that your boys match!!
Happy weekend!!
Oh! I loved The Lost Sea! Forbidden Caverns is also nice. The complete darkness in caves is so creepy. Glad you had a nice time with family. Mitty is such a wonderful daughter-in-law.
Wow, standing side by side like that dressed alike you can really see the resemblance they have to each other. The cave exploration looks like something really neat. Nice that they did have a bench for those that didn’t go further on the steeper part and it looks like it was very interesting even up to that point. The dinners out and takeouts can be a huge blessing and make ya feel like your on holiday. My hubby did the same for me when life was overwhelming at the beginning of the month.
Love the Brawny comment!! I can hardly tell your oldest and youngest apart any more. 🙂 Glad you had such a nice week, and happy belated birthday, by the way!!
Thank you! They all look much more alike with beards and bald heads than otherwise. Unfortunately, they inherited my thin hair rather than Jim’s family’s thickness. They all elected to shave rather than have weirdly-shaped receding hairlines.
My husband shaves his head too, and has a beard. And I love it!
Only cooking 3 nights out of 10? Yes, please! Talk about a vacation!
I am not sure I would have enjoyed that cave adventure either (I don’t like closed in places), but I’m sure it was so much fun for all the guys.
Happy Birthday to you! All the celebrations, goodies, and NOT cooking!
Love those photos of the family and of the guys wearing matching shirts.
Have a good weekend!
I enjoyed your list Barbara! I went into a cavern this past May and we did get to see a lake at the end. It wasn’t deep, but still interesting. Once we were all still, they turned the lights off and it was pitch dark! At least you tried, but wise to sit out the last part. Happy Birthday! My birthday was August 12, along with my granddaughter’s.
I enjoyed seeing the photos of your family! The cave adventure sounds fascinating, although I have to admit I felt a bit anxious looking at the photos. I would have sat out the boat ride, too. Happiest of birthdays to you, Barbara! The cake is beautiful:)
Ha ha — Brawny paper towels, indeed! I would have a hard time keeping your boys straight, they look so much alike! I’m so happy you could have a nice celebration with little cooking and lots of family and outings for your birthday 🙂 I think I’d love the cave! Although — the 7-story slope thing is giving me flashbacks of some of our “intense” hiking. Eeek. You were a good sport to give it a go. Your birthday cake looks so delicious!
What a beautiful batch of days you had! I imagine you enjoyed the quiet respite afterward, just as much albeit in a different way. Sending birthday greetings. 🙂
What a great photo of you all and also the boys! They’re like twins except different heights. I’m glad you have this time together. Don’t blame you a bit about the 7-story slope. I’d sit it out too.
Skipping that steep incline was a wise choice, but I’m glad your boys took some fantastic photos and had a unique experience.
Agree with Ann on the resemblance among your sons. Seems like the look is working for them — exactly the same!
What a nice birthday celebration and topped off with 70% less cooking? Fantastic. Happy birthday, friend.
I love seeing your whole family photo! Your boys favor so much. That’s awesome that you were able to spend time together; good memories for everyone.