More Anytime Fitness Conference

John and Shawn working hard for the team!

Our new, cool t shirts. Work Ethic! Wanna buy one?

Leadership Challenge: One morning I took some time from the talks to go on a leadership challenge course. In addition to it being so much fun, I got to interact with other owners and staff on a different level. I really feel like I know these people more, have a respect for them, and appreciate their contribution to our team. Simple but profound. When you work with people to accomplish a goal, it brings you closer together. I am pondering how I can instill this in my life on a daily basis with my staff and also with my family.

The fun stuff: Bull riding, cowboy hats and expressa capes, slow dancing with Mark, creative videos from Corporate staff, being challenged, remembering what makes things work, parties every night and after parties if you dare, dancing in the bar, Chuck trying to buy the dj's time and only getting 20 minutes! Amanda: "think hot!" Tattoos, European eye drops, Genesis, Chris, and the guy on the couch, late night talks.

Leadership course: purple rocks, the wall, the catepillar, the log, the ropes.

Our roomies: dinner in the winery with good friends; crazy Suchecki; the gate story, and seeing Kelly act it out, laughing till I cry because of Greenburg.

Allen in a robe at the banquet, seeing good friends, the gruve, and don't forget - smiling when you talk!

The member success stories were great. You can see the member success stories here. And while you are checking that out, look at the video of Mark and I from a few years back.

Anytime Fitness Conference

We always have a great time at conference! This year we didn't bring our camera (our kids had dibs for a wedding), so I don't have many pictures.

HIGHLIGHTS

Great topics - this being my 5th year (I haven't missed a year - my claim to fame!) I was looking for something different. The first three years didn't seem to have much variety. I was pleasantly surprised by the different offerings!

Interacting with Corporate Staff - We walk into the resort and see all of the staff in skirts -guys included! The conference had a Scottish theme and they had a video of Corporate staff acting like Braveheart with Mel Gibson. It was motivational and hilarious! A poignant reminder of the creative masterminds behind our franchise.

Interacting with other club owners - One of the best resources of conference is the interaction with people in the same situation you are in, facing some of the same struggles and victories, and what a great way to network with them. I have more people now that I want to interact with throughout the year.

Motivation and Rejuvenation - This is worth it's weight in gold. I felt that over the past few months my focus had shifted off of what was important for the profitability of my business. I saw some areas that I have been neglecting in my business, and areas I needed to improve in. I felt refreshed walking into my clubs - and overwhelmed to be honest with you.

I have a new perspective on my role with our business. I felt my job description was fluid. Honestly, I can't change my role because I have different priorities, I need to change my time management. My level of importance on the things I defined as fluid is what made them fluid. I don't feel discouraged over this revelation, which I thought I would. I feel like I have a better vision because I am seeing my personal situation as it really is, not how I want it. It doesn't mean I have to work harder or longer, I just have to work on the right things.

Anytime Health and The Gruve - Keeps me moving! Technological advances abound.

More fun stuff for later and maybe I can scrounge up more photos!

Meal Plan Week 5

Monday: Sloppy Joes (1/2 turkey, 1/2 beef), baked chips

Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner

Wednesday: Chicken Breast Florentine, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad

Thursday: Black Bean Soup

Friday: Pepper Lime Chicken, cauliflower, brown rice, salad

Saturday: Sweet Potato and Chicken tortillas, Southwest Grain Medley

Sunday: Tomato pasta bake, salad

Chicken Breast Florentine

1 cup diced onion

2 garlic cloves minced

1 cup mushrooms chopped

1 cup spinach cooked and chopped

1 cup part skim ricotta cheese

1 tsp salt divided

1/2 tsp oregano leaves

1/2 tsp pepper divided

8 skinned and boned chicken breasts pounded to 1/4 inch thickness

2 TBSP plus 2 tsp each reduced calorie margarine and plain dried bread crumbs

2 TBSP plus 2 tsp dry white wine

Spray 10 inch skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat, add onion and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until softened. Add mushrooms and saute until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in spinach, cheese, 1/2 tsp salt, oregano, 1/2 tsp pepper. Sprinkle chicken breasts evenly with remaining salt and pepper. spread 1/8 of spinach mixture over each breast, leaving 1/2 inch border on all sides; carefully roll chicken breasts crosswise to enclose filling and secure each with small skewers. Spray 11x7x2 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and transfer chicken rolls to dish.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In small skillet melt margarine, stir in bread crumbs then sprinkle mixture evenly over chicken rolls. Add wine to baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 20 minutes, remove foil, and bake until crumbs are lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes longer.

Each serving:

216 calories

6 g fat

7 g carbohydrates

31 g protein

Tangy Black Bean Soup

1/2 cup chopped onions

12 cloves garlic, minced

2 TBSP olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin

8 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

3 15 to 16 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed.

1 lemon, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1/2 cup snipped dried tomatoes (not oil packed)

1 small fresh jalapeno, seeded, and finely chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

1 1/2 tsp sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar

In a 4 qt dutch oven cook onion and garlic in hot oil over medium heat until tender, stirring occasionally. Add cumin, cook and stir for one minute more. add broth, beans, lemon slices, tomatoes, jalapeno, and dried oregano. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Discard lemon slices. Remove 3 cups of the soup mixture to a large heatproof bowl. Use an immersion blender or potato masher to coarsely puree or mash the mixture. Return to dutch oven. Return to boiling. Reduce heat. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in vinegar.

223 calories

5 g total fat

37 g carbohydrates

17 g protein

Pepper Lime Chicken

2 1/2 pounds chicken breast halves with bone

1/2 tsp finely shredded lime peel

1/4 cup lime juice

1 TBSP olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 TBSP chopped fresh thyme or basil, or 1 tsp dried

1/2 to 1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Broil or grill chicken and baste with glaze.

120 calories

4 g fat

1 g carb

19 g protein

Southwestern Grain Medley

1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 cup cooked quinoa

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 c black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 finely chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped, seeded cucumber

2 TBSP thinly sliced green onion

2 TBSP lime juice

1 TBSP olive oil

1 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh jalapeno

1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh cilantro

salt

pepper

Heat large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add corn and 1 tsp oil. Cook and stir about 5 minutes until brown and toasted. Transfer to a large bowl. add quinoa, rice, black beans, bell pepper, cucumber, green onion, lime juice, 1 TBSP oil, jalapeno, and cilantro. Mix well, season to taste with salt and pepper.

174 calories

6 g fat

28 g carbs

6 g protein

Sweet Potato and Chicken tortillas

Cube and saute sweet potato and onion until soft. Slice 2 cups leftover pepper lime chicken, add to saute pan and cook until warm. Wrap in flour tortilla and top with cheese, sour cream, and salsa.

Breakfasts this week will be leftover french toast one morning, and eggs.

Lunch will be sandwich wraps or leftovers from the night before. Special toppings to spice up the wraps will be homemade basil pesto, homemade hummus, and sauteed mushrooms. It's gonna be a yummy week!

For more menu plans, visit orgjunkie.com

Our Weekly Review

Boy did we have a lazy week! Monday I crashed from getting in late Sunday night. Tuesday I worked all day, and Wednesday I crashed from that! Thursday was co-op and Friday was a lazy rainy day. The kids kept up with their individual assignments and we covered almost all of history and science for the day. I am hoping to finish up what we lacked tomorrow (Saturday) morning, but no promises!

History - the boys are still constructing a model of Jamestown. We studied about Pocahontas and Chief Powhatan this week. They started an Indian notebook.

Science - insects, mainly wings and antennae. The boys made some great drawing of wings.

Math - Robert - ratios, Jonathan - order of operations, Cameron - simple addition

Language Arts - Cameron is learning a new poem and did a narration on Pocahontas.

The boys are covering prepositions.

For a lazy week we still covered quite a bit! Raeley is still on her own exclusively, and I am two weeks behind on grading, so I'm not quite sure what she's been up to.

Just an Update

You know how you have so much of life packed into such a short time that it seems like such a LONG time over which the events happened? That's where I am right now. Life right now is so jam-packed full, it's hard to find time to keep current.

We are having fun with school, having fun with after school activities, and are glad that even though we feel water logged, the rain has kept us from some after school activities so we can rest a little.

The kids are doing great. Raeley is babysitting more, and doing a fantastic job. Cameron is plugging along at school with a happy attitude, and the boys are getting along well and keeping up with school.

This past week my parents came in to take care of the kids while Mark and I had a conference with work. While they were here, Big Daddy and Robert built a hermit crab cage. It is a great looking cage! Big Daddy and Jonathan worked on the ladder for his loft bed that had broken, and worked on a scouting badge. I enjoyed walking around the house looking at all the things my dad fixed while I was away!

No menu this week!

This week I am taking a break from healthy food planning. I have had such a busy week so far that I am doing my best to make sure there is at least food in the house so we don't starve. Last night I worked so I grabbed a Quizno's and Mark and the kids had pizza. Thursday night Mark works so we will have tonight's leftovers and Friday night is a picnic (the kids will make a dessert). I told the kids they could have any dish that they wanted that didn't involve grilling out. The top picks? French Toast and sausage; pork loin or baked porkchops and baked potatoes with english peas and baked fruit; Chicken and dumplings with english peas and baked fruit. Dad made the final choice of Chicken and Dumplings, but it was fun to see what the kids thought of. Saturday and Sunday I will probably fix the other choices the kids came up with. Next week I will be back in the swing of my low fat, low carb, high protein cooking! By the way, in my hiatus from healthy, I found flipz crackers, cracker on one side, pretzel on the other - yum!

Our Cave Tour

I am finally getting around to posting the last part of our cave tour -when we are actually in the cave. The other post is here.

Wow, hard hats! I was impressed already. I would not have thought about wearing head protection in a cave but that made so much sense! They also supplied the knee pads. Phew! Off to a good start. Walking down the stairs was cool, and once down there it was hard to imagine that there was ever fast flowing water coursing through the rock, pitting the sides. It was also hard to imagine that we only covered about a mile since we were down there three hours! It did not seem like that long, in spite of being surrounded on all sides by rock.

So what is spelunking?

Twisting, turning, crawling, underground exploring- basically in-the-earth rock climbing.

We had a great time!


-- Post From My iPhone

Meal Plan Week 4

Menu for the week
Monday - baked fish, grilled zucchini and squash in olive oil and fresh herbs from my friend Carrie, green salad and leftover shrimp salad from last week
Tuesday - bread with basil pesto (bad, bad bread, I know, but we are having company!) Chicken Scarpariello with sauteed mushrooms over whole wheat pasta, english peas, and spinach salad
Wednesday - Asian Beef with Snow Peas, brown rice, cabbage crunch salad, steamed carrots, black eye peas
Thursday - Leaving meatloaf with my parents to warm for the kids, salad, instant mashed potatoes, any leftover veggies.

Mark and I will be taking a break from our restricted eating plan. We will try to be good, but no promises, and apart from the challenge leadership course, we will probably not be getting much exercise. I wonder how many calories bull riding burns? I wonder how many calories getting up the nerve for bull riding burns?

Baked Fish:
Mark preheats oven as I drive up. I put aluminum foil on a cookie sheet, grab first bottle of mixed seasoning I see (Adobo) sprinkle over fish, and drizzle with olive oil. Shove in preheated oven. As fish bakes, I raid fridge for leftovers. Warm said leftovers in microwave, rub hungry hubby's back as he miserably lays on couch sick. Pull fish out in 20 minutes bake time.

Meal ready in less than 30 minutes -and I stopped at the grocery store after a last minute trip to surprise visit one of our gyms. Drove 5 hours to work 6 hours. Found recipes for the week on Allrecipes.com sitting in the grocery store parking lot. Shopped in less than 30 minutes. Still made it on time to pick up boys at boy scouts, pull into the driveway as hungry hubby leaves to get Raeley from dance. Much better (and cheaper) than Chinese take out or greasy pizza! And the kids did a great job getting the house clean for their grandparents!

Asian Beef with Snow Peas
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 pound beef round steak, cut into thin strips
8 ounces snow peas

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar and cornstarch. Set aside.
Heat oil in a wok or skillet over medium high heat. Stir-fry ginger and garlic for 30 seconds. Add the steak and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until evenly browned. Add the snow peas and stir-fry for an additional 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce mixture, bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower heat and simmer until the sauce is thick and smooth. Serve immediately.

Chicken Scarpariello
1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons butter
2 tablespoons shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
1/2 cup white wine
1 cube chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper

Cut chicken breasts into 1 x 3 inch strips, and dredge in flour.
In 10 inch skillet, heat oil and butter. Add chicken. Cook, turning occasionally, until lightly browned on all sides* (3 to 4 minutes). Using tongs, remove chicken from skillet. Set aside and keep warm.
To same skillet, add shallots and garlic. Saute until softened (1 minute). Add water, wine, broth mix, and seasonings. Mix well. Cook, stirring frequently, until liquid is reduced by 1/2 (3 to 4 minutes). Return chicken to skillet, and cook until sauce is thick and chicken is heated through (2 to 3 minutes).
* To save time, I will brown chicken on all sides and put in oven to bake through, finish the sauce in the skillet, then spoon over chicken. I will also use mushroom broth and add sauteed mushrooms to the sauce.

Our Week In Review

Oops! I meant to post this on Friday!
Our week has been so busy that I hardly remember school, even though we have covered quite a bit.

Math:

Robert is working on symmetry

Jonathan is working on value placement and estimating (rounding up)

Cameron is on numbers 5-9

Raeley is getting too complicated for me to put into words. I just grade her work and send her to dad if she gets more than two wrong in a section. We will just leave it at that!

Language Arts-

took a break this week with the boys

Cameron is working on description words and narration

Science

insects! The boys started work on their bug collection.

Writing:

finishing up writing projects from the last few weeks

1st week of writing class and it went great!

Raeley is having writers block on contrasting how the Pilgrims are similar/different from Christians today. I love those higher level thinking questions!

History:

Jamestown and John Smith. He was a very interesting character! The boys started working on a model of Jamestown.

Raeley is covering the Pilgrims.



The boys started Spelling Zoo, a new curriculum for us and it's been good so far!

Did I forget something? It's been busy!



Next week we will only have school a little bit. My parents are coming in town (yay!) on Tuesday. I remembered about some books I bought to supplement our curriculum that a friend of mine, Anita, mentioned on her blog, so they will catch up on that and do math next week. Mark and I have our annual conference with Anytime Fitness and we will be at a very nice resort, that our franchise has entirely to ourselves. I am so looking forward to it! I have quite a long agenda on what I want to gain from it.

Boys- I love my boys!

My boys have been cracking me up lately. I'll start with Cameron, though. Yesterday she burst into the room, hands on her hips. "MOOOMMM! Jonathan pushed me! I saw him do it!" Yeah, don't you usually see him? You probably felt him do it.

Boys, pushing, yelling, wrestling. Robert and Jonathan have been getting along pretty well and they have been all boy. School is off to a great start, and they have been so full of energy. I have them in two sports and so far it has been worth it because they are having a great time. Robert constantly has a ball in his hand it seems and he's been chunking it up the stairs - he can stand there for a while and toss it up there. I've walked into rooms only to have a ball soar at my head. That I'm not too crazy about. I also am constantly hearing the dribble of a ball or balls hitting the side of the house.

And then there's the bugs. We are doing an insect collection in Science and several times a day I have to check out the latest bugs. How awesome it is for them to be able to play with bugs, look under rocks, inspect plants as a school assignment. "But mom, I am doing school!" I do have to check the plastic containers on the kitchen counters because no telling what will be in them. The last one I picked up had a wasp.

Just a few minutes ago Jonathan yelled in the door "Robert, hurry and come out to play with the dogs before it stops raining! Hmm, it's usually the other way around, but not with boys! Right now they are having a spitting contest in the rain. On my back porch. Oh well, the rain will wash it off. Now they are playing with a broken whiffle bat, they were throwing the pieces at each other. Now they are trying to bat with the handle and hit the top. This really is play by play. Oh my, I hope Gardenias aren't poisonous. They just picked some blooms off and are tasting the ends of the petals like honeysuckles. Now Robert has Jonathan in a headlock and is holding him down so Buster can lick all over his face. Jonathan spits on Robert to retaliate. Now Robet has Jonathan by the feet (Jonathan was laying on the ground playing with the dogs) and is pulling him up concrete steps. Didn't work (good thing - I was holding by breath on that one!) They are laughing. No one is mad yet. That has turned into wrestling, Jonathan is putting in some good moves on Robert now. This play by play is entertaining. I guess the rain wasn't enough. They are spraying the dogs with a water hose. The dogs aren't liking it. Now they are splasing in the puddles on the porch. Jonathan is pretending to spray me with water through the window.

My boys are full of energy, laughter, and noise and are always looking for a challenge.

Our Menu Week 4

Phew, I am prepared this week. I have my list and I've already been grocery shopping!
Here is what we are having:
Every morning eggs for breakfast, sometimes tossed with mushrooms, spinach, onions, or topped with adobo seasoning, Tony Chachere's, or my favorite, salsa.
Lunch will be sandwiches, tuna, or leftovers. Fillings this week are mushrooms, red bell peppers, hummus, or lentils.
Because next week will be so busy, I am doubling my recipes and cooking for both weeks this week. I will freeze Mediterranean Chicken, Lentils, Fish, Rice and Mushrooms, and Lima Beans.
Dinner:
Monday:
Mediterranean Chicken
Mediterranean Lentils
Bread
Tuesday:
Amandine Fish Fillets
Brown Rice and mushrooms
Green Beans
Salad
Wednesday:
Mark will serve breakfast for dinner and I will be celebrating a friend's birthday!
Thursday:
Creamy Shrimp Salad
Tangy Lima Beans
Easiest Artichokes
Friday:
Leftovers
Saturday:
Barbeque

Here are the recipes:
Mediterranean Chicken
from The Sonoma Diet
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
3 TBS fresh rosemary
3 TBS coarsely chopped fresh sage
2 TBS finely shredded lemon peel
10 cloves garlic, halved
1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

If you use dried leaves, use half of fresh amount.
Placer all in a food processor and make into a thick paste, scraping down sides as needed.
Spread marinade over the chicken and let chill for 4 to 24 hours. Grill.

Mediterranean Lentils
from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home
1 cup brown or green lentils
4 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 tsp fresh thyme (1/2 tsp dried)
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
boiling water
1.2 cup diced celery
1.2 cup diced red or yellow bell pepper
1/4 cup minced red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1.3 cup olive oil
3 TBSP red wine vinegar
1 tsp ground fennel
1 rounded teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and ground pepper to taste

Rinse the lentils. In a medium saucepan, bring the lentils, water, bay leaves, thyme and garlic to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until tender, stirring occasionally.
While the lentils simmer, cover the sundried tomatoes with boiling water in a heatproof bowl and set aside. Combine the celery, peppers, onions, and parsley in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients until smooth. When the sun-dried tomatoes have softened, drain and mince them, and add to the vegetables.
Drain the lentils and discard the bay leaves. Remove the garlic, mash it, and mix it back into the lentils. Toss the lentils with the vegetables and dressing, and adjust the seasonings if necessary.
Serve immediately, or cover and chill to serve later.


Amandine Fish Fillets
from Weight Watchers Favorite Recipes
4 TBSP butter divided
2 ounce sliced or slivered almonds
Saute in half of butter until brown, remove from skillet.
2 1/2 TBSP all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
dash pepper
mix together
8 cod fillets dredged in flour mixture. Saute in skillet till fish flakes easily with a fork.
2 to 4 tsp fresh lemon juice in skillet with remaining butter and almonds, heat through.
Top fish with almond mixture
lemon wedges and parsley sprigs to garnish each piece of fish
27 g protein, 10 g fat

Creamy Shrimp Salad
from Weight Watchers Favorite Recipes
1/3 cup skim milk
1/8 cup seafood cocktail sauce
1/8 cup yogurt
2 TBSP lemon juice
24 oz cooked shrimp
3 cups diced tomatoes
1 can diced water chestnuts, drained
1/3 cup diced red bell pepper
salt and pepper to taste
lettuce

Combine 1st 4 ingredients, set aside. Combine remaining ingredients except lettuce, add milk mixture and toss to coat. Serve on lettuce.
32 g. protein, 2 g. fat

Tangy Limas
from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home
2 cups frozen lima beans, cooked according to package
2 onions chopped (about 2 cups)
2 tsp olive oil
4 small yellow squash, thinly sliced or 2 zucchini
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
juice of 1 lemon
1.2 cup crumbled feta cheese
ground black pepper to taste

Saute onions in oil until translucent. Add squash, thyme, dill and cook till soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Add tomatoes. Add limas, lemon juice, feta, black pepper. Cook until feta begins to soften, remove thyme sprigs, if used, and serve immediately.

Easiest Artichokes
Trim artichokes and place in boiling water. Flavor the cooking water with bay leaves, peppercorns, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, capers, or fennel seeds. Cover, lower heat and simmer for 24 to 40 minutes. Drain and drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil over them.

Spelunking Experiences

One of the cave entrances to the labyrinth of tunnels!

Robert and Jonathan gearing up.

The door in the wall

Down we go!

On the second day of our hiking trip with the boy scouts, we went to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The campground is very nice with lots of trails -walking, biking, and hiking. Sunday afternoon was our scheduled cave tour- 3 hours of crawling through the underground. Mark and Jonathan were not so sure about the tour. Raeley, Robert, and I couldn't wait, however.

My experiences with caving have not been very extensive. I remember when I was a little girl, my parent brought my sister and I on a cave tour where we walked down a long dark passage that was freezing cold into a humongous, open, mysterious room where our lights eerily shown off the walls and if you went further back there was a glowing steam and other rooms. Fascinating, but the skeletons in the corner of a room freaked me out. It was based on a story of some people who got lost down there.

Fast forward too many years to measure by a guess. Raeley was about 3 and as cute as a button and Robert was maybe half a year old. We met Mark's parents in Arkansas near P J State Park. We spent a couple of hours there. Martha and Mitchell played with the kiddies while Mark and I went climbing around the entrances of the caves. We only had a flashlight each and I started on in. "Um, Kristie... I think we are supposed to have more than just a flashlight before we start venturing into the caves." started Mark. Hmm, it hadn't crossed my mind. I thought the darkness was part of the thrill (thinking back to my childhood experience). "We could get lost in there." he continued. "Oh, we won't go far enough to get lost!" I exclaimed. A couple of yards in the darkness and a tight squeeze later, we turned tail out of there. That short jaunt whet my appetite for more. I always imagined that one day we would be walking through some lush forest and just happen across a cave on one of our outdoor excursions, much like the little girl in the Secret Garden when she spies the gate. We could then return with the gear to conquer and explore. I have never really run across a big hole in the ground or on a hillside to be much more than that, a hole.

That weekend was a much more realistic way to become introduced to spelunking.

-- Post From My iPhone