way down yonder on the Chattahoochee...

This was a SUPER fun time of our 10 day adventure. We took an hour or so ride from Atlanta N to the cool German town of Helen, GA. It is SO quaint & VERY German! One of the best attractions there tubing down the Chattahoochee River.

 
I definitely think tubing in July is WAY under rated! The river may have been a little low but it was SO much fun! There was a bunch of us so each child had a "chaperone" which they LOVED!  

 

Good think Uncle Jim brought along his river sticks aka old golf club poles, to help steer us through the low parts of the river. ** NOTE ** if they sell sticks where you go tubing BUY THEM! They truly come in handy! ** I think the entire ride took us about 2 1/2 hours give or take. We even enjoyed a rainstorm in the middle which really helped cool us off because it was HOT out!! Here's some of the photos I took that day!

They had theses decorated trees. One named the tree of "lost soles"! I'm sure it was given it's name for every lost shoe they found floating down the river! {There was a TON!} LOL! 

And they had a tree decorated with of all things GUM! It was disgusting yet interesting all the same! Being able to get yourself over to this tree just to stick your ABC gum has to be a feat within itself. Take a look at that creation! =] I wonder how old the oldest piece of gum there actually is. YUCK!

Somehow we all lost each other that day so once I got to the end, second behind the hubby, I took pic's of everyone as they had it to the "finish line"! It was funny to see my scrawny children standing up on their tubes! Good thing the tubes had bottoms in them! =]

 

 

I will definitely make another trip up to Helen to go tubing...



way down yonder on the Chattahoochee...

Lake Toxaway adventure 2011...

We are SO lucky to have such WONDERFUL relatives that allowed us to invade their home over the summer. Invading is just what a tribe like ours does! My cousin Lori has a second home in Lake Toxaway, a beautiful place in the NC mountains. It's on a lake, so beautiful & most of all PEACEFUL! That is when the tribe behaved & didn't argue! LOL! I'm SO very blessed to get to spend any time with Lori away from our "normal" lives. It just meant a lot to get to visit in the first place! It truly was just what the Doctor ordered, away from the "rat race" & some peace & quiet! With all the drama that we have been dealing with back in FL this was pure Heaven! She took us out tubing on the lake, hiking in the woods & even took in a little shopping in downtown Brevard. LOVE LOVE LOVE that town! The tribe thoroughly enjoyed themselves as did our "helper" Caitlynn. This was her first time in NC. Her first time tubing on a lake, first time hiking to see a waterfall, heck it was just a week full of "firsts" for her! SO happy to be able to be there for that!

 

and that was our...

Lake Toxaway adventure 2011...

ROAD TRIP 2010, NC edition...

Oh was this part of our mini "vacay" FUN! We headed over by car AGAIN this time to North Carolina to visit with my cousin Lori & her family at their house on Lake Toxaway. They have the MOST beautiful house on quite the lake! Not only is the view BEAUTIFUL, of the lake & mountains, it is also VERY peaceful there too!



This is the view from the back porch! Oh do your stresses just melt away when you look out on that!



Our road trip to NC was SO much better than the first leg of this journey. They actually cooperated & snoozed a little. YAY! The first morning in NC we took the tribe Gem Mining! It is a MUST if you visit the area! You buy a bucket of whichever type of rocks you want to mine & let them go to town! We decided on polished stones this trip. They each have their own "rock bag" to hold their "gems"! I think we had just about as much fun as they did!





After Gem Mining we headed over to my cousins house. She has this BIG porch that looks out onto the lake that we all eventually hung out on. It was SO relaxing to just rock on those rocking chairs! Ahh... I almost forgot that I had four munchkins there with us! hahah! You know Uncle Rick even put one of them to sleep! LOVE that! We drank wine & ate VERY well!













We started off the 4th of July weekend by heading back to Lori & Andy's house. It has everything a family needs to keep themselves occupied. I took a LONG strenuous walk up some steep hills with Lori before lunch. That mountain altitude does your lungs some good! Boy was I winded! Ahh... We then hung around the house & let the tribe just play. They rode their scooters, a bike & even did drew with some sidewalk chalk. They had a blast! We later lounged on the porch, went boating and just hung our with our "clan". Heck for those who saw us coming this is just a small sliver of those who claim to be related to us! If you think our family is big you should see the rest of the tribe! We are VERY outnumbered!





By the morning of the 4th it was time to get ready for the boat parade! You see the Lake Toxaway community holds their annual 4th of July boat parade & my cousins family participates EVERY year! They have judges & even give out prizes for the winners! So we strategized on what we should do & decided on the BP oil spill theme. Actually Missy, Mason's girlfriend, came up with it. It was done in good taste & the tribe took center stage. They each held up signs saying "Save our wildlife" and then Brendan was at the end holding up a rubber chicken with a black plastic bag wrapped around it's neck to look like it was oil drenched. Creative huh?! The big boys got the boat all decked out looking like it was in the middle of the oil spill ie: black garbage bags all along the sides & then we rubbed Sarah's black mascara ALL over us! Who would have thought one tube of mascara would go do far! LOL! Thank you Sarah for your contribution! Just as we were to approach the judges stand Camryn dropped her sign in the lake. Uh Oh! Just as soon as she dropped it Dylan dove in after it! He really saved the day! He got back in with the salvaged sign just in time for us to be judged! Quick thinking Dylan! Best part is that we took 2nd place! WOO HOO! They won a $400 tube to use on the lake! We know that tube will be used MANY times over!











Our 4th of July was not over yet because we still had the big BBQ at the club to attend. They had bounce houses, games & face painting. It truly was a kids paradise! Luckily for us we had a TON of family there to keep an eye on the tribe! Each child got some one on one time with someone. Cam of course had her Sarah. Bren had his fill of the boys! Devin, Mason & Dylan took good care of him. Aave & Linz bounced till they could bounce no more & later when the music got going they danced & danced! We had the best time! It was going to be yet again a LONG night! I know we are on vacation but they did not go to bed anywhere near their bed time! LOL!









Before leaving this mountain top paradise we just had to take the tribe tubing! This is a favorite pastime for all of the kids, adults too! In fact Dustyn is usually out there tubing when he is up here. However he could not make the trip this year. He had better things to do like going to the Daytona!! I think I might pass on a road trip with four three year olds too if I was invited there! LOL!





We were even able to sneak in a family photo again missing our "D". Too bad the lighting on either of them were not good or these photos would have been winners! [=





And that folks was our...


ROAD TRIP 2010, NC edition...

o