Update 3 - Cathedral Caverns and St. Pattys Day Parade

In late Feb we headed to Cathedral Caverns. The Commander had went with his parents and Little Bear in the fall, but Sassy and I hadn't been to the cave yet.

The entrance is HUGE! The entrance isn't man made and to give you and idea of how large, they actually used to hold concerts in the entrance years ago. And can you see the trees growing on TOP?!? Even if you don't want to go on a tour, you should go out to the park to stand outside and check out this crazy formation made by mother nature.

And the think that always makes tours great for me are when you have a knowledgeable guide who knows how to speak to a crowd. He kept pointing at things and saying, "Can you see that thing right there? Do you have any idea what that is? ......Neither do I." and then he would explain what it was after we all chuckled.

And he kept pointing out shapes made by the shadows and rock formations . . . .Can you see "sleeping Abe" in the shadow below? The girls were able to see most of them which was a real treat for them.

 But my favorite part was the BATS! I really love bats. They are fascinating creatures, and this one is an Eastern Pip. There were a few bats hibernating in the cave, but pips aren't colony bats so there aren't massive clusters of them like in some caves, a fact that probably only I was bummed out about.

And now ST. Pattys Day!

I wouldn't have imagined that Huntsville would be big on Irish with their big German roots. . .but there are a few Irish dance groups plus some Irish heritage groups which I guess equals PARADE.
So on march 16th, I baked a loaf of Irish Soda Bread, tossed Corned Beef in the crockpot, downloaded an album of Irish songs, and got the girls dressed for the parade.

I knew I was collecting clearance St. Pattys Day stuff for a reason! And I got a clearance St Patty's Day shirt for the Commander for next year too . . .

We headed down to the "Straight to Ale" brewery to visit the cupcake truck and the Commander got to enjoy a local brew while the girls and I had green cupcakes. I wish we would have gotten a picture of the rugby team wearing kilts and sporrans with their rugby shirts because they looked SOOOOO cool! The commander and I decided we have to see a rugby game next season.

And now I've got us caught up to the last week in March!