Luray Caverns and Nick's 2nd Birthday

 We took a day trip to Luray, VA, which is a 2 hour drive.  We had heard amazing things about the caverns, and we loved them!  We told Ethan it might be cold, and to bring a jacket.  He chose his Batman one with ears, because, well, we were going to see bats...right??  No bats though:(  He was pretty disappointed. 

 Okay, this was the coolest part of the cave to me.  When you first walk past these formations, it looks like there are stalactites (top) and stalagmites (bottom), but there are only stalactites reflecting into a cave pond.  The reflection is so perfect and undisturbed, even standing inches away, it was hard to tell that you were just looking at a mirror image.

 I love my boys.

 Some rooms in the caves were massive, like cathedral halls.  One is over 10 stories high.

 This isn't a great picture, but there is an organ in this room.  The pipes are the stalactites.  It is amazing, they played it for us, and with the acoustics of the rock walls, it was beautiful!

 This is my favorite pond.  They have allowed tourists to drop change into the pond as a fund raiser.  The water has turned a greenish color from the copper in the coins.  I think it looks really cool though.

 On the way home we found a little museum and park with a dinosaur.  Nick is a little obsessed right now.  He says "dinosaur" even more than "Mom" or "Dad"!

 And of course we found a little miniature train to ride.  It has become like a sixth sense to us.  We can find them anywhere!!:)

 Nick is 2 now.  We had some neighbors come over and celebrate with us.  Nick still preferred to eat a nectarine (last year it was a plum) over his cupcake...but we are just fine with that.

Ferat, Mateen, Nick, Ethan, and Isaac.

Some things about Nick:

He had a bit of a biting stage, but we are getting over it.  We encourage him to use his words, and everytime he bit, he would have to hug and kiss and say he was sorry.  Also, we would tell him that if he had to bite, he could bite his shirt.  We tried so so so many things, but those worked the best.  

No matter how angry Nick is, Ethan can always get him out of it.  They are starting to play really well together now.  It usually ends with someone getting hurt and in tears, but the play before that is so much fun to watch.

He can repeat mostly any words that we say.  His favorite things right now are his sippy cup of milk, dinosaurs, his little plastic animals that fit in his hand (he sleeps with them in his fist sometimes).  His favorite animals to carry around are the pig, cow, frogs, and a horse.  He loves pushing around cars, trucks, and trains, and trying to do everything that Ethan does.  

He is very affectionate and will almost always give me a hug and kiss on demand, except when I ask for 5 or  6 in a row....I take advantage of his generosity sometimes.  

He is a sweet boy, and we know he will never be a pushover.  He definitely knows what he wants, and will put up a fight for it.  But he also is starting to listen better and realize that a tantrum won't get him what he wants, so those are getting less frequent.

We sure love this little boy.  Happy Birthday Nicholas!