Run Stella Run! ;)
How awesome are these???
This has been such a wonderful birthday weekend. Thanks Mario for being such a great husband all weekend! Thanks for all the little and big things you've done for me! Thanks to all the friends and family that thought of me also!!! I'm so lucky! :)
Hitting the park before lunch!
Flaming Volcano roll....YES PLEASE!!!
Stella wanted to blow it out. She's gonna do great with her cake this year! ;)
Mario's step mom Susi, Stella, Moi, Mario, and Aubrey
Ok so here's the Cabbage Patch Kid being "born". I had looked it up before we went and saw online about this strange show they did. Yes, it was a little odd but Stella sure was mesmerized by it. I know there are some that may have nightmares after viewing (Hill, Heidi) but hey it also is almost good for a laugh. I'm apologizing in advance. I just couldn't resist posting it.
Hiking
We brought sandwiches and had a picnic!
Anna Ruby Falls
Our hike back from the waterfall at Anna Ruby Falls!
Note the sign Mario is pointing to that says "tired husbands bench"!
Stella wasn't to sure about them. The people that owned the store would pull on some chain behind the register and their arm would wave.
Gris mill where they grind corn.
Mario and Aubrey tubing down the river. The whole "ride" takes about 21/2 hours.
Walking around downtown Helen.
We had so much fun going to an old gold mine! This is where the gold rush first started and there are a bunch of mines you can tour or mine in the area. You can buy either a bucket of precious gems or gold and mine/pan for gems/gold! We chose precious gems this day and all got into the action. It was SO fun and we got some really cool rocks and crystals!
We walked around the little town named Dalonega by where we went mining at. We also had lunch at a place called The Smith House. Mario had been there as a kid and wanted to go back. They seat you at big tables with other people and serve everyone traditional southern food family style. We were SO full afterwards!
Every morning Stella would feed the ducks on our patio. Right across the river is where people got out after tubing. She loved to watch everyone and first thing when she got up in the morning she would run towards the sliding glass door yelling "people"!
We spent some pool/sun time also!
The Falls
The 2nd waterfall we hiked to. This one was a moderate hike and 1.2 miles each way with a pretty steep incline. We don't have a backpack to carry Stella in so we traded off between Mario and I carrying her and her walking the easy parts. It was beautiful but afterwards Aubrey and I went tubing were you have to paddle a lot and by the evening my arms were SORE! Mario and I hit up the jacuzzi that night!!!
I took my turn tubing. Although the river was VERY low, or so we heard, so you would get stuck on rock clusters and have to get up and unlodge to tube. I was stuck on an incline once and stood up, held the tube behind me and proceeded to try to jump backwards onto the tube. The tube went flying and so did I! When I came up out of the water from my flip there was a man laughing hysterically and Aubrey was too! It was hilarious!
My sister, brother and I had some of the first Cabbage Patch Kids when we were little. For some reason we loved those things and each had like 3. My mom still has all of them and their clothes. Next time I go home I may have to bring them back with me for Stella. So when I heard Babyland General was very close to where we were we had to go take a peek. I am still recovering and the nightmares have not subsided yet. Just kidding...kinda. There are "babies" everywhere and you can pluck any of them out of a cabbage to adopt. They go for anywhere from $12. to $400. Crazy. They had them staged in all different sorts of areas, the nursery, a school etc. The main attraction was the "Tree". Not sure what they call it but a nurse comes out and actually does a live cabbage patch birth. I am debating uploading the video Mario took. Although it may disturb some. Stella couldn't look away. When I played the video earlier today, she wanted to watch it "again" and "again" so there must be some draw for the littles. All in all it was worth seeing and we were really only there for about an hour no harm done and Stella had a blast!
Babyland General Hospital
There were Cabbage Patch Kids everywhere!
I think she may be getting a baby buggy for her birthday...she ran this one all around!
Stella got her very own baby named Lilllian Janessa from Babyland General!
Stella loooves her baby Lily!
