Blanchard Springs Caverns

On Thursday, we got to spend several hours at Blanchard Springs Caverns. If you've never been, I'd say it is worth going, at least once. I know that many caverns say the are "the best" at this thing or the other. I would say that this one (and I've only been to a few) is one of the nicest inside. There is enough light as you walk in to be able to take some nice pictures with a good camera and once they turn lights up, you can get good pics with your phone. The images below are from iPhones. 

There are multiple tours from which one can choose. I opted for the easier walk (Dripstone tour), while many of our group decided to go on the Discovery Tour. They are about an hour and an hour and a half, respectively. Our tour had a few steps, but the Discovery had around 700 steps, hence my decision to choose Dripstone (chronic back pain). 

http://www.blanchardsprings.org

Anyway, we enjoyed the tours. Additionally, this cave is owned by the US Forest Service, so it isn't a ridiculous price for entry into the cave. As I recall, it was about $12.50 for adults, with a reduced price for children. 

I'd recommend this as a nice way to spend a few hours of the day with your family. Your ticket also allows you to use any of the day use areas in the park. We took a picnic lunch and ate at a nice pavilion without an additional fee. We also took a family picture under a huge rock overhang. 

In the Cathedral Room by Jody Bowie

Photo credit: Jeff Wright

By the Fire

We spent some time last night around the fire. The owner had a huge pile of brush down by the pond and we told him we'd be happy to burn it form him. While we did that, we got some camera fun in. Here are a few of the results. We spent some time doing some long exposure and even got to do a bit of "double exposure."

A long exposure of the fire, fire tenders, and the moon.

A long exposure with some of the family in a flash picture.

There was some dancing that went on, too.

Sliding

The Golf Cart Roller Coaster

Jeff and I were going to head up the hill toward the road. No reason, just because. In this family, there's no way anyone can get on a golf cart alone. Therefore, it became Jeff, me, and 6 of the kids (one of them another adult!).

Pretty sure we are at max capacity for this golf cart.

We go up the hill and get all the way to the road. As we begin to come back, I notice that the cart will coast quite nicely on the way down. So I decided to see if we could go without touching the brakes. While I wasn't able to do that (almost) we did have a good time all the way back down.

Epic Catch Phrase

Last night, we played an epic game of Catch Phrase and I am not one to throw the word "epic" around very often. We did modify the rules of this game. There was no keeping score. You just got a super loud, "Awwwwwww!" when time ran out on you. The other rule was that if you had a word or gave a hint that related in any way to 'Murica, we began to chant, "USA, USA!"

Finally, one of the nieces looked at the word, hesitated, and then began to give clues. The clue was, "when you cut up chicken..." and I guess "Salmonella!" She pointed to me and said, "Yes!" and then passed off the game to Papa. We were then informed that the word was actually "Somalia." Meh, whatever. Salmonella is close enough, right?

Salmonella

Somalia

The Jones Family

The Jones family was established in 1970 when Mom and Dad married. They had 3 children Michelle, Stefanie, and Daniel.

Michelle married me (Jody) in 1990 and we are the Bowie part of the Jones family. We have two children: Jessica and JC.

Stefanie married Jeff in 1994. They comprise the House of Wright and swear fealty to the Jones family. They have 3 children: Samantha, Abigail, and Olivia.

Daniel married Keri in 2007. They are the ones who carry the Jones family name on. They have two children: Juliana and Campbell.

In all, there are 15 of us (so far) who make up this loud, obnoxious, loving, amazing group of people. This year, to commemorate the vacation and as a way to say thanks to Mom and Dad for making this happen every other year, Jessica designed a tshirt and we got them printed.

The Jones family logo

Each symbol on the image means something to us. We like to burn things, its always fun to have fireworks when we get together, Papa and Nana own some cattle, we've been to the beach, the "family home" is in Louisiana, we've been to the mountains, and Nana and Papa now own a franchise of haircut places for guys.

The Grocery Store

Normally, Papa goes to the grocery store. In fact, he had already been before we arrived this time. However, Michelle and I went this morning to get a few things. We had a list and even asked everyone if they needed anything. No one needed anything. While we were there, our group text blew up and we started getting requests for every thing from ingredients for complete dishes to floaties for the little kids to use in the pool.

By the time we left, we were on the verge of insanity from the huge number of text requests we got. 

This was how I felt, minus the LOL.