Call me crazy... but I took the three kiddos, BY MYSELF, on a little getaway. Stephen was in Miami for 4 days at a trade show, the girls were on spring break, and I know how stir crazy the kids get being at home for too many days in a row. (Heck, me too) So, I researched some fun places to visit (that wouldn't break the bank!) and decided to take the kids to Dahlonega.
One fun little tidbit of information for you to know... remember when my brother came to
town? Well, my cell phone was MIA all that Saturday morning when we were out and about. I assumed I had left it at home. When we got home, before Bill and Olivia left, I searched everywhere, including his car- calling it (it was on silent, as usual), looking everywhere I would've been... nothing. I told Bill it must be hidden somewhere in the house, probably by Parker. About an hour after they left, I was telling Stephen how I couldn't find it, and Sydney said- "Oh, it's in Ava's car seat!" (Ava is the other cousin who stayed home with mom... her car seat was black and my phone is black with a black case...) So... my cell phone was apparently taking its own spring break adventure to Nashville. I almost cancelled the day trip to Dahlonega, thinking that there's no way I'm comfortable driving by myself with the 3 kids without a phone for emergencies (really, what did we used to do??). But, my superwoman friend, Monica, came to the rescue... she let me use her work phone!!! Yay! I deemed it for "emergencies only" (though sweet Monica downloaded some of my frequently used apps for me). Anyways, game on! (and my phone made it back safely in the mail today, in case you were concerned).
OK, back to the trip. We woke up and got off around 8:30 AM on Tuesday. We made the hour-and-a-half trek to Dahlonega in about 2 hours. We were in Gainesville and were right next to a wreck that occurred... luckily no one was hurt, but a truck slammed into the back of a car turning... and a lady in a wheel chair was sitting at that street corner, waiting to cross the street. The car literally came within 6 feet of hitting her! We stopped, called 911 (see, glad I had that phone!), and talked to the police as a witness. The poor girl who was turning and was hit was heading to her college class, and her car was now smashed into a metal pole. My kids were a little excited (police cars! firemen!) and a bit freaked (Sydney was so afraid the rest of the trip that we'd get in a wreck, too). But, thankfully, we made it to Dahlonega safely.
Another side note- since I didn't have my phone and wasn't going to use Monica's phone for data for the map, I had handwritten all the directions ahead of time. So, I knew we wouldn't be veering much off the plan. Just keep this in mind.
Our first stop was Yahoola Creek Park. This park seemed to have it all- playground! Trails! Gardens! A river! Fields!. We walked around a bit and first found the playground. The playground was next to the river, and there were lots of college students there panning for gold. After the playground, we ate a picnic lunch at one of the many picnic tables. Then, we took a little hike on one of the trails there. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky!
Once we left the park, we headed to downtown Dahlonega. What a cute town! We walked around, the kids got some ice cream, we spent time in this cute little toy store, and sat on the benches to enjoy the scenery.
Once the ice cream was eaten, we headed back to the car. Next stop... Cleveland! Babyland General! (The kids have talked about that place ever since we went awhile
back!) And the place did not disappoint. Parker went straight for the buckets of planes, trains, and automobiles, and the girls were split between wanting to see the Beanie Boos and the Cabbage Patch Kids themselves. We spent almost 2 hours here. We even got to witness a CPK birth! (a little creepy, I must say...)
Sassy pants
The live birth!
Once we left Cleveland, we headed to my parents' house, about an hour away. Well, it should've been about an hour away. Remember how I had written down the directions? Well, I didn't always write down how long/how many miles I should stay on the roads. There were many u-turns and turn-arounds that had to be done. Man, I won't take my cell phone GPS for granted anymore! I did have to buckle down and use 30 seconds of data when we had driven about 20 minutes in the wrong direction. Doh.
Once we were at mom and dad's, the kids got to play in Dee Dad's barn. My dad loves to make these crazy little machines that the kids love. Later, we drove across the street to a lady's horse farm. She broke her arm so my sweet dad offered to help with the chickens and horses for her. The kids loved it all. They got to watch the chickens being herded to the coup (and Sydney picked up the 2 eggs that had been laid that day), they got to sit on a tractor, Parker fed one of the horses, and the lady sent us home with a half-dozen freshly laid eggs.
Parker wasn't ready but the horse was... she snatched the apple out of his hand while he was trying to get me to look ;)
We ate dinner, bathed, and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks before completely crashing.
This morning, we went to a local breakfast place (and Parker got his own custom-made firetruck pancake!), headed to the nearby outlet stores, then headed home.
Taylor's Minnie Mouse pancake
Success! Some things I learned:
1) It really is getting easier to manage the 3 kids by myself. Honestly, the hardest thing now is probably the rivalry between S & T- if one gets something first, the other can't handle it. It's not always fun, but I can deal with that okay!
2) It's crazy how much cell phones do. And it's probably a little sad about how uncomfortable I felt without it, especially with the map situation. But, it was also very nice not to have something to be able to look at whenever. Or feel like I have to respond to someone's message right away.
3) Honestly, the thing I was most sad about with my phone is not being able to take pictures! Thankfully, I was able to on Monica's phone.
4) Dahlonega is beautiful. The mountains in north GA are a sight to see!
5) I was actually an awesome packer... for once. Tons of snacks, drinks, lunches, layers of clothing, etc. And no potty breaks had to be made while in the car, which is always such a pain!
6) It is insanely ridiculous how many roads do NOT have road signs with the road names on them. It never has been a problem to me, with my little GPS gal telling me exactly when to turn. But without her... it is a lost cause! Literally, probably 50% of the turns we made did not have a road name.
It was a fun little getaway that I'm really glad we took!
