DeSoto Caverns

First 3rd grade field trip of the school year....HOLLA.

Hubs and I BOTH got to go. I called it a 'day date' since Oliver had to ride the bus and we got to be in a car ALONE for a really long time, AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. 

That's right.

Adult music.

Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've listened to the radio? 'Teen Beach Movie' soundtrack is ALL that's been playing in my swagger wagon for MONTHS now. It was good to have a break.

Sorry. I digress. Back to our trip.

We drove to the booming city of Childersburg to visit DeSoto Caverns, and while this wasn't my first visit, I don't really remember my first visit. It was like I was there for the first time again, with my 8 year old. And my hubs. And 165 3rd graders. On a 'day date'. It was awesome.

We explored the cave, watched a video on the history of the cave, sat in total and complete darkness in the cave, and saw a super cool light show set to music and projected onto, that's right, the inside of the cave.

Then we came up outta that cave.

The kids got to 'pan for gold', or pretty rocks that were stuck there just for them, go through a maze, and throw lots of money away in a gift shop that carried everything from giant 3-feet-long tubes of colored sugar to the most realistic looking fake guns I've ever seen. No kidding...really wish I'd snapped a pic of one of those sugar tubes. They were like pixie sticks for giants.

Anywho, it was a fun day despite the drizzle and the big hair caused by the drizzle. O had a good time, and it was great that we were there to see him have a good time. And also to prevent the purchase of any giant-sized pixie sticks.

 

Pumpkin Carving: 2013 edition

Keeping the tradition alive and well here, folks. The Mathews had our annual pumpkin carving night yesterday, and I have a few beauties to show you. The Denton's joined us this year (on Brittany's birthday!), so we had plenty of pumpkin guts to go around, which is fitting since the Tide had stomped all over Tennessee's arse just minutes earlier. Seems appropriate to stick knives into something orange, yes?

I kid.

Here are a few pics from our evening as well as our finished products, AND, I've added our pumpkin hall of fame from years gone by at the end of this post so we can look back and get all nostalgic. Or not. Your call.

 

Oliver did the Captain America all by himself, y'all. We have an 8-year old carver in the hizzie.

 

Brittany's Barbie Halloween Cat-

 

My Shrek-

 

And the hubs Ron Swanson-

(Any Parks and Rec fans out there? HOLLA) 

 

The hubs also grabbed these kits at Target so the kids could decorate the pumpkins themselves, but it took some real elbow grease to stick those pieces in there, which means they didn't get to do any of it themselves. Awesome. Nevermind though... Mommy got a great arm workout jabbing those pieces in until they stuck...

 

And here are our pumpkins from the last EIGHT years. Enjoy.

My 2012 Pumpkin

Ursula

Hubs 2012 Pumpkin

Mona Lisa

...and since we had an extra,

Hubs other 2012 Pumpkin

Angry Bird

The hubs 2011 pumpkin:

Ironman

My 2011 pumpkin:

Barbie

complete with eyelashes.

do you see them?

I worked hard.

Here's the hubs 2010 Death Star Pumpkin-

and my 2010 Storm Trooper Helmet-

I think we skipped over 2009.

Probably due to lack of sleep from a little girl.

Her name rhymes with Schmeliza.

2008-

hubs is Darth Vader, mine is Thespians.

obviously

2007-

hubs Transformers symbol thingy

and my sweet lil' Nemo

2006-

hubs Star Wars

and my Charlie Brown and Snoopy

I also carved this Blues Clues punkin' that year for my preschool classroom-

And, I just so happened to have dug up a pic of my musical pumpkin from 2005.

So there ya have it! Our pumpkin carving history in one post.

So tell me...

do you carve pumpkins?

Are you as competitive as we are?

Is this your first time to see the Mona Lisa on the side of a pumpkin?

Hmmm??

Do tell...