Wow! We are really on a roll now! Because Monday was a holiday and Mac had off of work we decided to knock two items off of the list. We started off at Cunningham falls to "play in a waterfall." Joining us were Mac's parents, his sister, and her family. Now, technically, I could have claimed three items because we DID hike to the falls, but I will leave it at two (unless, of course, we don't go on another hike before Labor day, then this one will count). With two strollers in tow we decided to take the lower, easier path to the falls. The girls, all seven of them, seemed to have a fun time walking on the way up. There were critters to see, a toad, two chipmunks, a salamander, and a millipede, wild raspberries to taste, and rocks to climb, lots and lots of rocks! Peanut wanted her picture taken on EVERY single one. Needless to say, it took us a while to reach the falls, but get there we did! Hmm...when I decided that we must play in a waterfall this summer I didn't quite realize what the falls would look like. A huge, treacherous rock with water trickling down! How were we going to play in that? Should I risk my little darlings, life and limb, to cross an item off of the list? Well, yeah, we gotta do what we gotta do. Kind of. We cheated. Just a little. We actually played at the BOTTOM of the falls where they collect in a nice little pool. Well, Mac, my brother in law, and five of the girls did. We just had to ignore a little, tiny sign that said, "No Swimming." Of course, nothing could have prepared my little princesses for the shock of cold mountain water (please refer to "go swimming" blog here). Bug and two of my daredevil neices jumped in right away. Girly had to be encouraged a little, persauded a lot, and finally, bribed with silly bandz to go across. Peanut opted out of this one, no amount of silly bandz was going to get her body in that water, not that I blame her! She decided to do her own thing and had the best time sorting and making little piles of rocks all over the huge, rock base. We left the place behind with it looking like some weird form of "The Blair Witch Project." Everywhere you looked there were these odd, little pile of rocks.
After the falls and a quick lunch, we headed to the Catoctin Zoo. Now, this zoo is where you go when you want to get up close and personal with the animals. Tucked right off of 15, it looks like it would be a little hole in the wall that maybe houses five animals. However, once you enter it is really rather nice. Some of the animals probably could have bigger cages, but they seemed to be very happy and very active. No giraffes or elephants, but they do have lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, deer, tortoises, snakes, and many, many more animals. They also have a new safari that I am dying to try and on some days camel rides. While at the zoo, my family is one who definitely likes to take their time. The girls love to watch the animals and Mac loves to narrate what they are thinking, the animals that is. Very amusing, to me at least. Which, I guess is a good thing considering I married him (and he also does it with pictures). We got to feed deer, goats, fish, ducks, a three legged donkey, and a llama. The girls even got to pet tortoises, before I realized that their tiny hands were tucked into the pen and screeched for them to take them out. You really DO get up close and personal with the animals at this zoo! The tigers are so close you could really just jump a small fence and get mauled if you wanted to. Luckily, we saved that for a future list. The teeny one just loved all the animals and spent about ten minutes growling at the tiger. Like I said, we really like to take our time at the zoo! Even though the place is mostly under shade, it was HOT on Monday and we all started to wilt after a while. Tired, sweaty, hot, and dirty we decided to call it a day. After a mini family tailgating party with Popsicles and watermelon we all piled into our cars to head home. I eagerly situated myself in my seat and grabbed the camera to look at the pictures we had taken. I started laughing. The camera screen said, "Battery exhausted." Mine too, camera, mine too!!
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