just for the helen of it

fall break was weeks ago, sandwiched between scarlett's bronchitis and reagan's pneumonia! i'm a believer in DOING even if it's exhausting rather than not doing and being bored so we went and did! on the first day of fall break, thursday, we headed up to helen, georgia, also known as alpine helen. 

first i took everyone to aldi and let them pick out their own candy. my kids all saw the loophole in my wording and the fact that aldi normally doesn't sell single serving bags of candy and they each picked a bag of fun size candies, rather than a single bag of candy. so, we were starting out on the right foot for sure. 

it only took us a bit over an hour to get to helen. i wrote down three activities to accomplish while in helen, 

hike anna ruby falls

go to the toy train museum

go to a chocolate factory

once those activities were completed, we could leave. this was to the chagrin of scarlett and hersch and the delight of reagan and athena blythe. scarlett and hersch are always up for more and reagan and athena blythe have a definitive limit after which is met, they are no longer fun or reasonable. like me after 2pm on fast sunday.

activity number 1: anna ruby falls is not a long hike by any stretch(pun!) but it does ascend rather quickly and there is not much of a railing to keep small children from plunging down into the stream flowing below. couple that with dogs all up and down the trail and reagan's incredible fear of dogs, i was laid back and cool the whole time, just like i always am.

our in-house naturalist enjoyed identifying many animal habitats.

before the hike i was giving the kids a pep talk about safety and how important it is to go to the bathroom before we leave otherwise hearing the sound of the rushing water may make us have to go to the bathroom.  reagan, ever thinking literally, asked me, "if the sound of running water will make us have to pee, what sound in nature will make us have to go poop?" 

i don't know reagan, but let me know when you hear something that does. 

rare double waterfalls:

being my own instagram husband:

this was almost as exciting as finally finding a heidi nameplate necklace at a souvenir store. 

activity number 2:

charlemagne's kingdom is an alpine model railroad. i wasn't sure what to expect but it was rather fascinating. they have a scavenger hunt list and we found everything but one item and when i asked about it the lady at the front desk didn't know where it was either so i still think we won. and the prize was feeling superior!

outside of charlemagne's kingdom

3rd activity:

hansel and gretel chocolate factory. athena blythe got it in her head that we needed to find a chocolate factory based some book she recently read. i'm not sure what what she was expecting but i think this place fit the bill. 

like any outing, we like to pick something random and trivial to fight over and that day, the map of the city became the item of the day to fight over. 

our day in helen was lovely. perfect weather, great activities and we are all excited to go again in the summer and partake of the rafting and tubing and zip lining. maybe i'll just go by myself. 

this is my favorite picture from the day, just letting it all hang out. 

on the way home we ate chik fil a and i made everyone listen to talk radio.