Cave tour

They stopped on the trail ride to explore a large cave ,Alex had told Lexi he would show her the beautiful formations inside ,such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones and sodastraws.

When they stepped inside the cave the unexpected temperature change made goosebumps appear on the girls skin, and caused them to shiver slightly. " we can come back some other time, Alex reassured them, rubbing Lexi's arms.

Just to have both girls reject his offer to leave the massive ancient cavern despite the fact they were both a little frightened by the darkness and suffering from the damp chilly conditions inside. " No, we want to see the formations "

" Sweetheart are you sure , Alex ask, Anxious to explore and see the natural beauty inside the cave .She didn't hesitate to answer "yes I want to see what's in here." he took a wooden torch from the wall , snapping his fingers .A bright fire ball blazed on the end, lighting up the inside of cave. Jackson grabbed another torch from the wall snapping his fingers to light it.

They all walked in a straight line with Alex lead the way through a large whole insides the entrance of the cave and the two girls followed behind him.

Jackson walked behind the two girls insuring the girls had enough light to not trip or stumble over the natural formations of the cave.

Alex stopped when he approached a small clear lake inside with cave fish swimming around in it. Karmen pointed to the cave fish sharing her knowledge with Lexi " The fish in here are blind because they live inside this dark cave, that's why they also have transparent looking skin."

Lexi looked sad like she was going to cry,

" oh poor fish, Alex can we take them out of here."

Karmen waved her hands in front of her almost shouting. " No, Lexi it's okay for them to be in here and there doing fine . It's just a typical adaptation for fish that live in dark places."

After Karmen calmed Lexi down .Alex told the girls stories of how he and Jackson explored the cave as small boys and how they had discovered another part of the cave underneath the water.

They walked further into the cave where a bunch of pointed looking things hung from the ceiling that looked like huge ice sickles hanging from a roof in the winter time.

Karmen became a cave tour guide pointing to the different formations telling Lexi about them. " Lexi these are stalactites they form over thousands of years when water dissolves the overlying limestone then re-deposits calcium carbonate along the ceiling of the cave ." She pointed to the cave formations on the floor of the cave " and these are stalagmites they from from the water that drips from the stalactites.

She pointed to some little hollow formations hanging from the ceiling telling Lexi about them also. This are called sodastraws there baby stalactites. And there very fragile we don't need to touch them."

They walked further back into to cave Alex held his torch up and Karmen's cave tour continued. " Wow, Lexi this is a cave curtain it's formed from water running down the wall of the cave . When the water runs down it looses carbon dioxide to the atmosphere of the cave and as a result it deposits calcite in thin lines on the wall and they just keep growing and growing until a large curtain is formed like this."

By the end of the cave tour Jackson was grinning like a possum,and reminded of the reason he loves the tiny little debutant so much.

They all made their way back to the entrance of the cave ,Alex and Jackson extinguished the fire on the torches and hung them back in the old iron mounts they came out of.

It was getting later in the evening and by the time they reached the lake house the air had turned chilly, Alex unlocked the door and they all stepped inside. Before Alex and Lexi went upstairs to their bedroom to get a jacket. Alex turned to Jackson informing him of their plans." When the two of you get settled meet us on the deck , dinner should be here soon we will eat out there."

Jackson nodded, towards Alex as he took his backpack off, which served as a over night bag for him and Karmen. Unlike Lexi and Alex they had packed all their clothes when they left the lake house last time.

He rubbed the small of Karmen's back asking " Babe which one of these bedrooms do you want to sleep in?"

Thinking back about the first time they met in the exact same spot they were standing in right now she turning towards him and slid her hand up his chest playing with the collar of his shirt, feeling slightly romantic and amorous , she sighed speaking in a low dreamy voice." I just now realized how much has changed since the last time we were here. We didn't share the same room. She pointed down the hallway saying. "I slept down there and you slept in this first bedroom."

Chuckling he teased her " yeah right ,only for the first night then you were all over me pretending to fall asleep in my lap just to sleep with me." Raising her brows she subtly reminded him of how much he loves her. " you know there are still two bedrooms here."

" Yeah get that shit out of your head, your little ass is going to be in the same one I'm in, Now pick one." He stated as factual information, just to have her roll her eyes and turn to walk down the hallway muttering " the first one is fine."

They stepped inside the first bedroom down the hallway, he threw his back pack on the bed unzipping it taking both of them out a hoodie sweatshirt that belonged to him.

He pitched her one of them saying " here babe put this on it's a little chilly outside." slipping the hoodie over her head that hung down to her knees, the sleeves went way past her hands and the shoulders almost down to her elbows. She grumbled " I can't wear this, give me my jacket I packed."

Dumping the back pack onto the bed. He rummage through their clothes and found her little red jacket holding it up in front of him , asking " Babe where do you buy your clothes, in the kids department." Snatching the little red jacket from his hand retorting

" No, I have them tailored to fit me."

It was getting closer to bed time, remembering what Alex said he pulled her into a gently embrace running his hand up her back into her hair ,pulling her head back he softly nibbled and pecked her lips.

Smoothing her little ruffled feathers and making her melt into his warm embrace. Pulling back he spoke with in a low tone

" Babe I'm sure Alex and Lexi are waiting for us already let's go eat dinner ." Taking her hand they strolled out to the deck. Alex nodded towards the drinks setting on the table, " Jackson I made you a whiskey sour and the other glass has Karmen's protein shake in it."

Lexi had already set the table and put their food in plates. The savory aroma of the rosemary and garlic roasted chicken mingling with the charred robust scent of the steaks ,even made Karmen's mouth water. She set right down eager to start eating. Grabbing her knife and fork before Jackson could start feeding her. He set down beside her holding his hand out Spouting out orders

" Hand them over Missy, you don't get that privilege until you gain five pounds."

Rolling her eyes she reluctantly handed him the cutlery in her hand.

Lexi cut into the succulent moist chicken and moaned " Yum ,this is so delicious "

" Sweetheart, I had chef Mark make a turtle cheesecake for dessert."

Jackson pushed the chicken into Karmen's mouth. She chewed slowly, finally swallowing one bite.

Picking up the next bite on his fork, bringing it closer to her lips

" Babe chew as slow as you want, I don't care if it takes all night for you to eat."

Lexi had already started on her dessert, and Alex had finished his steak. After three bites of chicken and her protein shake she begged and pleaded with him not to put anything else in her mouth " please, I can't eat anymore, I'm two full."