For the 4th of July of weekend, we decided to go somewhere fun with the Johnsons. We picked Nashville - the perfect half way point between us (in Columbus, Ohio) and them (in Columbus, Georgia). We drove out Thursday night, and actually stayed the night in Bowling Green, Kentucky, because we wanted to hit up Mammoth Cave National Park on Friday morning.Did you know? Mammoth Cave is the world's longest known cave. It is so long that if the second and third longest caves in the world were joined together, Mammoth Cave would still be the planet's longest cave and have nearly 100 miles left over! I had no idea the world's longest cave system was in Kentucky. What a welcome for people driving into the park!
We did the "New Entrance Tour" at 10:30. It was two hours long - just about right for the kids. Actually, I think their favorite part was the bus ride we took to and from the "new entrance."
Here we are entering the "new entrance" (discovered in 1920). Do we look scared or what?
The caves were awesome. The first half of the tour was descending 250 feet into the caves, climbing down steep metal catwalks and squeezing through narrow walkways. The kids were having a blast. The second half of the tour was spent in larger chambers of the cave, listening to the tour guide, experiencing complete darkness when they turned off the lights, and pointing out stalactites and stalagmites.
We went on a fun little camping trip on Friday night! It was us, the Burnetts, the Wrights, the Bastians, the Christensens, and the Warnicks. Phil found us the perfect campsite in beautiful Hocking Hills - it was spacious, separate from other campsites, we could build a barricade with our cars, and it was cheap!
Roasting hot dogs for dinner.
The girls hanging out by the fire with their buddy Cohen.
Our solution to going camping with a barely potty trained 2 year old and the only bathroom around is a disgusting port-a-potty up the dirt road:
My favorite part of camping is at night around the campfire. We made smores, talked, played a singing game to Dan's guitar, scared away raccoons, got scared by Rocky hiding in the dark woods on our way to the bathroom, told stories, and hummed songs from commercials and 80s tv shows for the others to guess.
We also celebrated Kristie's birthday - Happy Birthday, girl! 
And Rocky's birthday was two days before. Our girls love Rocky. Isn't he nice to let Leah help him blow out his candles?
The breakfast crew:
After we packed up camp on Saturday morning, we did an easy hike to Ash Cave.
Just a cool picture Dan took of some butterflies.
I've been testing out a new portrait lens I got the other day, a Nikon 35mm f/1.8 . . . sort of a Fathers Day present. Here are some of my favorites that I took of the girls in our backyard. They're getting used to being the subjects for my picture-taking practice, and though Leah is a little less inclined than Annie to smile for the camera, I think these shots capture some of their personalities nicely.
Our neighbors moved away a while ago and their backyard grass has been left unattended. It's kind of an eye sore, but it makes for a nice photo backdrop.
Annie had her big end of the year dance recital on Saturday, June 6. I had so much fun doing her hair and make-up and getting her all ready for her big show! We drove over to the high school, I dropped her off back stage, and then Dan, Leah, and I found our seats. Leah was so into all the dance routines. She sat on Dan's lap, watched intently, and then clapped after each dance. Also, it was just day 3 of potty training, and one of the first places we took her to in underwear. She did great! Half way through the show she told me she had to go potty and so I took her (her first time in a public restroom) and she had no problem going. Awesome. Anyway, back to the recital. So Annie's class was third to last. I was so excited when it was finally her turn, that I got a little choked up. My baby girl in her very first dance recital! Am I seriously old enough to have a little girl in a dance recital? She looked so cute out there. They marched out to their numbers, then the lights and music came on. They danced to High Ho (from Snow White). It was so hilarious to watch . . . . they had practiced their dance for months, and yet when put in front of hundres of people, they totally blanked. All 10 pairs of little eyes were glued to their teacher who was on the side hiding behind the curtain doing the dance along with them. They were so cute though, and so fun to watch. Great job, my little miss Annie! We loved watching you dance, and look forward to attending many more recitals in the future!
We love our babysitting group! Every Saturday night we get a free date night, except the week that it's our turn. But we don't mind these weeks either, because Annie and Leah love having their friends come play at our house. The Comins moved a few weeks ago, so for now we are down to just 3 families . . . . 3 families with all girls. So how do you entertain 7 little girls for a couple of hours on a Saturday night? With a princess party of course! 
