Summer fun!

Our family planned a full two weeks of visiting National Parks to celebrate the Centennial of the National Parks Service.  Leaving from Texas, we zig-zagged our way through New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah as our children earned Junior Ranger Badges and learned a better appreciation for our country and the beautiful landscapes.  We visited 10 National Parks that truly made an impact on our family!  We will definitely keep exploring other parks and historic sites to keep earning those badges.

We drove seven hours on our first leg of the trip with our three cuties in the back!  They did great, and thankfully slept most of the way since our drive began in the early evening.  This was a first big drive for our Sierra! As long as she had her bottle, her binky, and a toy close by, she was happy!  This blog post, I'll be talking about our first stop, CARLSBAD CAVERNS:

After a good nights rest in Carlsbad, we drove out to the National Park's visitor center to get our tickets to hike down to the caves.  We opted for the self-guided walking tour since our littles were too little for the ranger guided tours.  So off to the Natural Entrance we went for a 750 foot descent through the Earth!

Our mile and a half hike through the caves brought wonder and imagination to our kids eyes as we saw the many creations the caves made over thousands of years!  It was so fun to take the steep hike down with the kids to the "Big Room" and wander around the dark chamber and view the extensive collections of stalactites and intricate formations.

  
We opted for the elevator to bring us back to civilization!  After a fun full day of this National Park our kids earned their first Junior Ranger badge which they were so proud to receive!  Their sights were set on the next National Park for their JR activities and we knew their hearts were won by this beautiful land and the start of our vacation was a successful set up for the remainder of our trip.

This particular stop brought me back in time to my childhood memories with my family and sweet cousins as we all met in Carlsbad for an adventurous cave dwelling weekend.  I am so glad I could instill this same love into my children's hearts and create a memory that will last a lifetime for them as well!