David's Awesome Spelunking 8th Birthday Party

We had David's birthday party at the Cave of the Mounds.  How often do you get to have your birthday party at a cave?!  David is interested in science and rocks, so it was a great fit.  The cave is in a beautiful setting, and it was a lovely day--perfect for running around before and after the cave tour.  Plus, grandparents were there to lend a hand in the festivities.  It all made for a great celebration.  Of course, though, the best part was friends.  David has such good friends here in Wisconsin.

Good friends!  Trevor, Ethan, Isaac, David, Mary, Jack, Owen, and Whitney

Silly friends!

Good buddies David and Isaac

Good buddies since kindergarten!  They haven't all always been in the same class.  But they've always been friends.

Sweet Mary enjoyed being a part of David's birthday party

Down, down, down into the cave

Subterranean buddies! (David is going through his rabbit ears phase--bleh.)

Yay for Cave of the Mounds!  Yay for friends!
(Whitney, Owen, Isaac, Ethan, Trevor, David, Jack, Mary)

Mining for gemstones.

Gems!

Friends showing off the fruits of their mining efforts.

Happy birthday to David!

Making a wish.

Enjoying cake.  Yummm.

Hiking up to check out a sink hole on the site.

It was a delightful afternoon.  So delightful that we were all a bit tuckered out.

 So here's a funny tidbit.  I thought we had said the party ended at 3:00, so I kept us on a strict schedule for cake and presents to make sure we ended promptly at 3:00.  Then, at 3:00 I remembered that we had put 3:30 on the invitations as the ending time!  Oops!  We had half an hour and no plans.  And it ended up being wonderful.  The weather was perfect and the grounds are beautiful.  The kids had a great time of unstructured play.  They played tag and follow-the-leader and marched around exploring the sink holes.  It was idyllic.  It was truly a wonderful afternoon.  What a great way to celebrate a great kid.

Spelunking (and more)

My dad is here!

We took him to Cave of the Mounds.

First, the kids spent some time searching for crystals, fossils, and gold.

Then it was down into the cave.

It was a great cave to visit!

Then we let the kids pick out a little geode. They watched as they were cracked open.

This is what they found inside. Crystals!

You can't come to Wisconsin and spend the whole time underground. So we took Grandpa Mike on a tour of campus. Naturally, we stopped at Babcock Hall for some fresh ice cream.

(Those ribbons in the background? They're for cheese making.)

We also headed out towards Picnic Point. Brrr...it was cold.

You can just barely, barely see the capitol poking up, just to the right of Greg's shoulder.

Our tour concluded with a glimpse of State Street and the Capitol Square--a busy place yesterday--and a trip to Mary's favorite pizza place. (Yes, Mary makes the decisions in this family. She has the most piercing whine.)

My dad leaves today. It was a quick visit. But all of our dreams came true: David got to take Grandma Mike to do something "scientific," Mary got to have her planned movie night with Grandpa--popcorn included--AND have a painting party, Greg and I saw TWO good movies (True Grit and The Adjustment Bureau), and my dad, well, he got to be with US. (I mean, what's better than that?)