Timpanogos Cave National Monument

And now it's time for another episode of "Good Idea, Bad Idea"

(I used to LOVE that show Pinky and the Brain!)

Good idea: 

Take your 5 and 7-year old girls to see Timpanogos Caves.  

They will do great on the hike and be totally enthralled and entertained by the caves.

Bad idea:

Take your 16-month old into a cold dark place where he's not allowed to touch ANYTHING (man-made tunnel walls-no.  Dirt next to the stairs-no.  And an out-of-control cave "volunteer guide" will make sure he doesn't!), you can't give him any food to distract him, or let him climb up and down the stairs while the tour guide is talking- definitely not allowed!  Basically 16-month-old HECK.  Your sweet little angel boy MIGHT just turn into a screaming nightmare. 

Poor boy!  And poor everyone else on our tour!  There was no where to escape, no where to let him calm down.  The caves were pretty cool, but I did not enjoy them at all, and I'm pretty upset at the cave's website for not even MENTIONING that you can't touch anything and small children may have a hard time!  I knew there would be certain things he couldn't touch, and obviously I wouldn't let him near the precious formations!  But really.  Owen's not that wild or disobedient of a child.  They shouldn't allow kids that young in there if they're going to be that strict.  They will be receiving an angry/disappointed letter from me!

Anyway, the girls learned a lot and had fun!

And seriously, the girls did WAY better than we thought they would on the VERY steep 1.5 mile hike up to the caves!

 Owen conked out in the backpack on the way down.

 Everyone we passed would point and snicker at this cute face.

 The girls kept wanting to pose on the edge of the cliff!

  Overall it was a really fun and memorable activity.  But I won't be taking anyone under the age of 4 into that cave again!