Houston third graders find 2.5-carat diamond

We're guessing Grace and Garrett Duncan, 8-year-old twins from Houston, won't be forgetting their trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas anytime soon: While digging at the park, where visitors can search for diamonds and other minerals, the Duncans uncovered a 2.5-carat diamond. They found the stone during six hours of digging at the park, and the find apparently surprised the park employee assigned to tell people what they had found:

"We had a bag [provided by the park]," Garrett said Sunday. “We brought it up to the counter, and she just grabs the diamond and ran off. Halfway, she turned around and said, 'I'll be right back.'"

Park interpreter Rachel Engebrecht was going to the park office to confirm what she thought she had spotted.

"The family didn't realize they had a diamond. They thought it was a piece of mica,” Engebrecht said. “When they learned it was a diamond, there were many 'woo hoo's' and high-fives exchanged between the six family members."

The stone the Duncans found was a brown diamond; they said they don't plan to have it cut, but rather will leave it in its natural, vaguely triangular shape. They plan to show the stone off to their classmates when they get back to Houston, then will put it in a safe — and occasionally they'll "take it out and look at it," Grace Duncan said.

Those of you planning to drop everything and drive to Arkansas in hopes of finding your own 2.5-carat diamonds: Go for it, but we can't give you any hints as to where to dig — because the Duncans roamed across the entire park, officials aren't sure where they found their rock. According to KHOU, an average of two diamonds are found at the park every day; the largest was a 16.37-carat stone discovered by a visitor from Texas in 1975.