Exploring a cave (week 5)

Remember all those trips to the "white spot" on the mountain we have been making.  Well, while the kids were exploring they saw a cave higher up on the mountain that they really wanted to go to.  We told them we couldn't go there at the moment because we had the little kids but promised that Jeremy or I would take them up a different time and we could hike to the cave with just the big kids.  Friday of spring break was our day.  I took Max and Liza while Jeremy worked and hung out at home with the littles during nap time.  

You see that cave on the left hand side up the mountain a ways?  That was our destination.  The mountain was covered in a lot of shale so it was pretty slippery going up with lots of falling rocks.

But we made it!  Max kept saying he was able to make the hike because he was a mountain ninja.  Obviously...

The kids wanted to climb inside but were a bit scared at first thinking there might be animals in there.  However, they finally got up their courage and ventured in with a little boost from me.  I was happy to watch from the outside because the hole was kind of small and I wasn't sure if I would fit.  

But, as it turned out, Liza hiked out the other side of the cave and onto the top of the cave.  She was all smiles and congratulating herself on her awesome climbing abilities until she had to come back through.  The rocks on the far side were slippery and she was having a hard time finding a good foot hold to get down.  After trying to talk her through it and her being in tears I finally decided the only thing to do was to hoist myself up into the cave and help her down.  It was a bit of a tight squeeze but I made it and we were both able to get out.  She kept saying the whole time, "thank you, mom, thank you, mom, thanks for coming to get me."  So that pretty much made it worth it.

Our view from the top while we enjoyed some snacks.

The trip down was not enjoyable for Liza.  She had a super hard time with the shale and kept saying, "I hate this.  I'm never climbing up this mountain again.  I don't know why I wanted to do this.  This is awful."  It was slow going but we made it with no injury.  Quite the adventure to remember.