Glow Sticks...

Ok, I lied.  This is the last picture from our trip.  Kids in the middle of the night looking for fireflies, illuminated by glow sticks.  Love it.

More Nature Pictures...

A few more nature pictures.  I love that little grasshopper.  I'm pretty sure this sums up the pictures from our trip.  Overall it was a wonderful vacation and everyone had a great time.  There's nothing like fresh mountain air and a week with no tv, internet or phone.

Nature Pics...

I tried taking some nature pictures this trip.  This is a far departure from the {constantly moving} kids that I usually shoot.  It was kind of fun and a good way for me to practice changing my settings on my camera without having to worry about missing an important shot.  It's motivated me to take more pictures around our yard this summer.  The Daddy Long Legs Spiders were everywhere at the cabin.  The first day Cole acted scared of them, but by the second day he was picking them up and letting them crawl all over his hands and arms.

Family Pictures...

I'm trying to be good about using the timer/remote on my camera.  Even if it means setting it on a little railing very, very high above a ravine or waterfall.  So here's a few pictures of us on vacation and the last one is just the kids, but it makes me smile to see those beautiful blue eyes looking up at me.

Junior Ranger

The Georgia State Parks have a great program that allows kids to earn Junior Ranger Badges.  Both kids earned level 1 and their "get outside" badges and Cole even earned level 2.  The best part is that we were able to bring his workbook home with us and when he does enough activities for level 3 we can mail in for the 3rd badge.

Time to Play...

One of the great features of Amicalola Falls State Park is the big playground.  We took the kids down there on a few occasions so they could run and play {and look for bugs}.  

I Scream, You Scream...

No vacation would be complete without a few pit-stops for ice cream.  These pictures were from just one of our few treats.

Hot Dogs on a Stick...

Hands down the best dinner we had out our trip was Hot Dogs on a Stick.  The kids have since made up a song and dance to go along with this delicious meal.  Kristi and her girls are visiting next week and we can't wait to light up the outdoor fireplace so they can partake in this fine delicacy.

Fishing Rodeo...

We were fortunate to visit Amicalola on a weekend they were having a Fishing Rodeo for kids.  Cole caught 5 trout which we later cleaned and cooked over the fire.  The were delicious!

Llama, llama...

At the strawberry fields they also had a petting zoo!  Kiley spent most of the time trying to talk to the animals.  I have no idea what she kept telling them.  Cole on the other hand took a liking to an adorable llama.  He's decided that a llama would make a great pet for us.

11 Years...

If you had asked me 11 years ago what I thought our lives would look like today, I never in a million years could have told you what a wonderful, beautiful, crazy thing we would have.  I'm thankful every single day that I get to spend my life surrounded by these monkeys.  

Strawberry Shortcake...

I love these pictures of my strawberry princess sneaking a few {dozen} bites out in the field.

Strawberry Picking...

We spent a beautiful morning out on a farm picking strawberries.  This was the first time we'd taken the kids to pick strawberries, although Cole had been blueberry picking a few years ago.  It was fun to hunt for the berries and they were so juicy and delicious.  Cole took great pride in finding some of the most beautiful strawberries in our basket.

A Little More Hiking...

We spent another morning in the park doing a little bit more hiking.  This time we took it much easier on the kids and opted for a trail that wasn't straight up and down the side of a mountain.

Babyland General Hospital...

After leaving the Gold Mine we headed over to the Cabbage Patch Hospital.  Kiley loved it and Cole had fun looking around as well.  There were tons of babies for us to look at and we even got to see a Cabbage Patch baby being born.

Finding Gems...

In addition to panning for gold we also got to mine for gems.  Basically they give you a big bucket of dirt and you get to dig through it using the wash boxes looking for gems and stones.  This was by far Cole's favorite part of our visit.