blanchard springs caverns : stone county trip

so, one day d.'s family literally woke up & said 'let's go to blanchard springs!'

so, we did.

yes, his whole family - even some cousins where in on the fun ;)

there's ava in the car on the way up there.

notice her chik-fil-a {because we can't very well have a good time if we're not fed properly - true statement}

and she appears to be telling me 'mom! don't take my picture!'

however, this could be the exact moment she hollered up to her pawpaw

'get the lead out!'

because the was driving so incredibly slow. 

even the cousins ahead were walkey-ing back 'where are y'all?!'

needless to say, we finally made it to the caverns...

are they not just BEAUTIFUL?!

when i was younger, my dad would usually take us there during the hottest part of the summer. 

genius i tell you.

somehow when it's 107 degrees in late august, all the bat droppings just seem to disappear and you hardly even notice them. ;)

this pic i took because it looks like rocky road ice cream.

it's a part of the ceiling and our guide told us this big story about it, but all i could remember was he jokingly referred to it as looking like rocky road ice cream.

of course, then all i could think about was the ice cream and totally tuned him out.

this one i took just because it was beautiful.

did i mention you have to ride a bus from the end of the caverns back to the beginning?

guess who's favorite part that was?!

ava literally almost knocked a woman down trying to get on that big green bus.

she was beside herself with excitement and could not wait to get on it!

i seriously hope this love for school buses fades fast, because i'll be taking her to school until she graduates whether she wants me to or not ;)

after touring the caverns, we decided to go see the actual spring in blanchard springs!

along the way we stopped for a photo-op :

there's my FIL trying to prove he's not as old as he looks.

i was quite impressed he did not fall of the fence into the rocky creek below.

love this pic of ava & her daddy :)

and finally - the spring.

and the kids posing in front of the spring.

yes, ava's eyes are closed.

she gets that from her daddy.

awww - love her!

once again, she's not looking at the camera.

i obviously need to enroll her & her daddy in 'how to take a proper picture' boot camp.

such a sweet girl, she is!!

and finally a pic of the three of us - that is rare indeed!

we rounded out our trip with a visit to jojo's - YUM! - and a swing around the square to see who was playing on the courthouse lawn.

love that little town :)