Mammoth disappointment

I stayed up until around 2 before attempting sleep. Nick had woke up crying a couple times and I just decided to give in and go to bed. We were up early and we had picked up bagels from Panera for breakfast plus we had yogurt and fruit. We packed everything up and were on our way to Mammoth Caves. The drive down was nice - it was bright and sunny out. The flat land quickly turned to rolling hills - it was nice. We stopped at a rest stop to dump garbage and use the restrooms and we found a brochure for the caves. I didn't realize there were only scheduled tour times and we estimated we would be there by 10AM but the family tour wasn't until noon. We continued on and finally got to the park and it was a bit shy of 10AM. The noon tour was a 1.5 hour tour and was "easy" terrain. There isn't a whole bunch to do in the park to waste 2 hours. The caves can only be accessed through tours and the other trails are all above ground. We looked into going to another cave but decided against it. We went to the gift shop and the kids got to see postcards and pictures of the caves. We then ventured North. We stopped in Elizabethtown to take a couple picture of Ellie by the sign. We waved to Julie as we passed the airport. We made our way to Columbus, IN where the owner of Schimpff Candy told us if we had time we should stop in for ice cream. The ice cream parlor, Zaharakos, is a fully re-stored Victorian era parlor - absolutely beautiful. nick had fallen asleep on the ride and I wasn't sure how he was going to wake up but he did fine waking to ice cream. We all had sundaes and they came with extra hot fudge on the side - yummy! We looked at their museum after our treat and the kids got a few trinkets from the gift shop. We stopped at an outlet mall outside Indy but found no bargains. We were going to take the kids downtown Indy to see the building but we were approaching rush hour so we decided to make our way to the hotel instead. We checked in just as 5:30 kickback was starting. We are in the same room as we were in Friday night - -how funny. We went down for drinks and appetizers (which turned out to be dinner because of the amount the kids ate). Funny conversation of the day with Nick: N - Mom, can I have a sip of your drink? Me - No, it has alcohol in it. N- You always have alcohol. You like alcohol. You drink alcohol like everyday. When sharing the conversation with Mom tonight she said it was my mistake to call it alcohol and not an adult beverage. We came back up to the room and then Rob took the kiddos down to the pool. They stayed down there for almost 2 hours - the kids had a bunch of fun. We got PJs on and then watched Dancing with the Stars - Ellie went into the other room to watch Cake Boss. We tucked the kids in but because of Nick's nap it took a bit of time to get him to go to sleep. Rob and I watched some pawn shop show - funny what people think their 'treasures' are worth. Rob went to bed a bit ago and here I sit blogging. It seems like we have been on vacation forever - I guess that is a good thing?!? It will be nice to sleep in our own bed tomorrow night, though. On the agenda tomorrow, to head home and possibly stop in a candy factory along the way. It is Nick's 4th birthday tomorrow and he is super excited - reminding us all day about it. My hands are still just very dry. My feet are really craving to be in shoes other than gym shoes. My gums started to hurt today and currently I am tasting that metal taste and i think they might be bleeding. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree