North Carolina Day One - Drive Down and The Crystal Cave

We are on our way to North Carolina!  Days after we returned from our Washington D.C. trip we got word that James had to travel south for training.  We always travel with him and I am so thankful that his work is so understanding!!  Colin's school was a bit of a problem but at the last minute we received the OK for him to come with us too.  

Although Colin's teacher is wonderful and the staff at his school is very nice, the more I see of the school system the happier I am that we home school.  I love the freedom that it gives us!  I don't think we'd ever be able to travel with James if we sent the boys to school.  And I am so grateful for the new curriculum we've been doing!  But I am glad that Colin was able to come. 

We have been down to North Carolina for training before although I don't think I've ever written about it.  The last time was last summer and it was the worst trip I have ever been on.  I had five children, three of them under 3 and one of them spent every minute of the day trying to bite or scratch the other children.  It was awful!  But I do like the area and I have high hopes for this trip! 

Today was a great start, the boys were wonderful in the car.  Will and Jon are very experienced with long car drives and were exceptional.  Charlie (whose real name I can reveal soon!!) was great except for a few moments this afternoon when he really wanted to run.  And I am so proud of Colin.  He has shown tremendous improvement since our trip just a month ago!  He does not have nearly the same experience sitting for over eight hours in a car but he was excellent.  I am so proud of him!

Although our focus is on driving we always try to do something fun, especially for the kids.  Today as we were driving through Pennsylvania we saw a sign for the Crystal Cave and decided to check it out.  It looks like it is a fairly large tourist attraction although today it was practically empty.  

James and the boys in the Crystal Cave

The cave was rather cold!

The cave was pretty cool although not as large as the Luray Caverns in Virginia.  The boys particularly liked the rock formations, especially the one that looked like a T-Rex!  They were disappointed though not to get a glimpse of the resident brown bats who only come out when the cave is closed.  At one point in the tour our guide turned off all the lights and we stood in complete darkness.  It was very cool!  And the boys were not worried one bit, although I did get some extra hugs!  :-)

It was hard to get a good picture but we did enjoy looking around.

Our little tour group admiring the cave

Inside the cave

After our tour of the Crystal Cave the boys took some time to run up and roll down a little hill right outside.  They needed to move!

Playing on the hill

Will always loves to run

We were in Amish country and we had hoped to eat at one of their famed restaurants.  But, perhaps because it was a holiday, they were all closed.  So we ended up with a late but pleasant dinner at the Outback.

Because of all our stops at the end it was rather late by the time we got in to our Pennsylvania hotel.  But the boys were again wonderful and they all went to sleep quickly!  Now I too am off to bed since I am still tired from packing late the night before!  :-)