There's gold in them thar hills.....

In 1828 Dahlonega was the site of the first major gold rush in the United States. The Dahlonega Gold History Museum stands in the middle of the town square, housed in the old Lumpkin County Courthouse built in 1836. From its steps in 1849,  Dr. M.F. Stephenson tried to persuade miners to stay in Dahlonega instead of joining the California Gold Rush, saying, "There's millions in it," famously misquoted as "There's gold in them thar hills."

Catherine Ellis and I visited "them thar hills" this past weekend to see her Godmother and one of my best friends, Wren, for a girls weekend!  It was the first trip for Catherine Ellis and I together without Caroline and it was wonderful to spend good one-on-one time with her.  She's a hoot most of the time!  It's a bit of a drive from Alabama - 4 hours - but well worth it to spend time with Wren and in the beautiful North Georgia mountains.  Fall is starting to peak there, so the colors were amazing!  We attended their town festival "Gold Rush" on Saturday - it takes places on the town square and spent time with Wren's sweet family.  We stayed at Camp Glisson - the Methodist Church Camp where Wren worked many college summers.  Camp was amazing - I've always (and will always be) been partial to Camp McDowell, but Camp Glisson is just as beautiful and different.

Our cabin was quaint and the perfect size for us - we slept well, ate well and had a wonderful time with a wonderful friend!  We visited an apple orchard Sunday morning before heading home and Catherine Ellis had a blast.  It was a BIG weekend for a little girl.  We might just have to make this an annual trip!  Thank you for hosting us Wren - we can't wait to see you again soon!

 

Catherine Ellis on the square in Dahlonega

 Catherine Ellis and Wren at Camp Glisson

 View from the amphitheater - our cabin is the red cabin you see through the trees

Enjoying the beauty of Camp Glisson

 Cane Creek Falls - the picture does not do it justice - it's amazing!

 Wren helping Catherine Ellis take a photo of the falls

 

Couldn't get enough of the Falls

Cutest little girl ever - in front of Cane Creek Falls

Ringing the camp bell

 View from our cabin in the morning - stunning!

 First agenda item of the day at Gold Rush - get our face painted - 

she picked the tiger all by herself!

 Love this expression ....

 ROARRRRRRR

Chinese Checkers - or "Balls" as Catherine Ellis called the game

 The girls in front of our cabin

 Ridin' in style

 The huge bounce pillow at the orchard; she was in heaven!

 

  The amazing bounce pillow - it was super cool!  

Everyone needs one for their backyard!

 The bungee jump was next ... loved this too.  

Mom didn't love the price $7 people!  I had to borrow money from Wren!

 

Getting ready to go "high in the sky"

Pretty high - she loved it!

 

Spot on!

 Cool little mama on her hot-rod tractor

 Catherine Ellis's first stage debut - clogging ...

 Look closely - in the middle - Catherine Ellis is milking her first cow .. giddy up

 One worn out little girl - a certain sign she's had a good time

 - she never sleeps in the car

 We love you Coo-Coo Wren!!!  Thank you for a wonderful girls weekend!!

Take My Little Hand

Hold It As I Grow

Teach Me of His Love

And All That Love Bestows

Keep Me In Your Prayers

And Your Tender Care

Guide Me in My Faith

Encourage Me To Share

I Know That I Am Blessed

You’re My Gift From Above

My Angel Here On Earth

Godmama Wren You Are Loved!

Headin' out to the pumpkin patch, the pumpkin patch

Headin' out to the pumpkin patch is exactly what Meme, Catherine Ellis and Caroline did last Thursday on their first school field trip of the year (job duty called for Mommy and Daddy; we were so sad).  Once again Meme saved the day and chaperoned both girls to The Great Pumpkin Patch in Clanton, AL.  I hear it's a sight worth seeing.  The girls had a blast and Meme swore she did too - however, sources tell me that it was quite the labor of love.  Meme is the BEST!

I'll let the pictures do the talking - Mom took some, Caroline's teacher took some and some of our parent friends also took pictures of our children all while trying to keep up with their own - again, we have the best village around!

Some of C and CE's School buddies - C was much more interested in the pumpkin

Pumpkins galore ...C was determined to bring a big one home

One of CE's all time favorite activities - bouncing in the bouncy! 

 Love this picture her teacher captured!

Ha - love those smiles :)

CE, Caroline and Daelyn (one of CE's classmates)

Wagon ride with Henry - H and his grandmother were lifesavers for my mother - wagon riding is much better than carrying a toddler around a huge "pumpkin patch"

Choo Choo Train Ride - the girls are in the first car with Henry

C is thrilled with feeding the animals - NOT!  I'm told about three seconds

 after this she started screaming because they scared her. 

CE on the other hand seemed to love the animals

 First pony ride - thank you Kitty for capturing this!

What's a "pumpkin patch" without hay bales?

Sweet girl! 

Typical for Caroline she was much too busy to even look at the camera -

 there were things that needed destructing!

Let's see if I can tear this scarecrow down with one swift pull

CE posing - can you tell she's had a picture taken almost every day of her life?

Still determined to get a big pumpkin home - if only she was strong enough to lift it!

Wonder Meme and her grandbabies - you can tell everyone is 

about to fall over dead from all the fun!

Toes in the sand

We headed to the beach in September and it was GLORIOUS!  We've never been in the "off-season" and I must say it the best time to go.  The weather was gorgeous - still warm enough to be warm, but not so hot you're melting and the crowds were gone.

We've not been to the beach since Catherine Ellis was two - so we were due!  This was Caroline's first beach trip and boy did she love it.  They both had a wonderful time - neither was scared of the ocean or the sand and Caroline was a trooper and able to stay on the beach for a couple of hours without growing bored.

We stayed at a family friend's condo in Orange Beach and the views were amazing - they are on the top floor (15th) and every morning we got to see the endless ocean in all it's glory.  It was an amazing trip - we ate well, slept well and had a wonderful time being together as a family.  We have already planned our trip for next summer!

The amazing view - Cat Cat is searching for dolphins

Sweet C's first day at the beach - thank goodness for our tent and inflatable pool!

This was C's face almost every time we hit the ocean - she was elated!

C just knew she could swim - it was a job to keep her from diving in face-first!

They ran into the ocean for hours - it was so fun to "jump" the waves!

C was overjoyed - she was fearless and loved the water ....

Contemplating a plunge

Ohhhhhhhh - she said this a lot

CE enjoying the surf

Daddy and his main squeeze ....

Collecting seashells in the morning tide 

Mama and her girls

Heaven on earth

One of the many seashells we found 

Sisters working together to find sea shells