Wednesday morning we got on the ride about 10 am to make our short drive to Helen, Ga for our annual girls trip. We stopped by Crumbl Cookie on the way to introduce Mimi and the Rhoads to one of the treats we’d found in Utah. It was just 15 minutes added to the trip and they were good but not as good as we’d remembered. Nonetheless, it was fun getting a treat one the way. We’d opted to grab lupper on the way into Helen and stopped by Village Tavern and Pizzeria that Stacy had gone to with Mark but they had a sign up they would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday so we headed to her second pick Big Daddy’s. The portions were huge and they had a outdoor patio to allow us to social distance. So thankful girls ordered off kid menu and Mimi/Lisa shared a burger. It was good and satisfied everyone.
On the way. It was the first trip we opted to take two cars. There was so much room to carry luggage
Yummy treat
But lunch first
Next stop was the chalet. It took a little longer to get to than expected! First the guard told us he did not have a rsvp for us so Stacy called Mark to call the owner. Then on the way up we thanked God for his protection as Lisa paused before a blind curve and a young, male driver flew around the curve all the way on our side of the road; if it was not for the pause we would have been in a head on collision undoubtedly. The chalet also sit back from the road so we missed it the first time we drove by then when we got here we had to walk all the way around to find the key. When we finally entered though it was great!
The Rhoads ladies took the top two rooms while Leia/Ivy requested they basement room, leaving Mimi/Lisa on the main floor. After we all unloaded the car the girls played games as the adults figured out if we needed anything else from store. Of course no one really wanted to get back in the car to go to a store so Mimi hung out with the young ladies and let them soak in the hot tub while Lisa and stacy went to a local store named Betty’s get milk, ice, and coffee (the only 3 things we had not brought). The store had a little bit of everything and was reasonably priced shockingly.
Game time
and hot-tubbing …. they are living their best life
Mimi won!
That evening we fixed a few snacks at the chalet and opted for a night in, instead of finding something to do. We ended up looking up things to do for the trip and having a a movie night. Unfortunately, we stayed up a little past when we should have and Ivy got over tired so did not sleep well. Plus, most the beds squeaked so 5/7th of the occupiers did not sleep well.
Movie night in
FaceTiming before bedtime … we love him
Thursday, we did not let the lack of sleep hinder us from having fun. Mimi and Sara fixed a yummy breakfast. The coffee we had gotten was fabulous! We lounged in the morning watching Netflix as we waited for places to open to call and get reservations. It was a great low key morning.
Sara is getting grown … she helped Mimi cook the first morning while Stacy/Lisa sipped coffee and watched
The first stop that day was to go tubing. We elected to walk 1.25 miles to the drop off point instead of riding the bus since there was no social distance precautions on the bus. We did see one pass and it looked crowded! However, when we arrived at the river we hit it at a good time when the crowd was low and we did not have many people near us floating. It was a relaxing trip down the river. Sara and ivy wanted time be last so would often stop themselves. We would link rafts together then break apart with whatever mood we were in at that moment. We all ended within a couple minutes of each other and headed back to the chalet for dry clothes.
On the way to tube
To keep a social distance we opted to walk 1.3 miles to the entry point through town
Walking thru town to get to the drop off
Love our Mimi!
Sisters always have your back, keep you on a steady track, sisters are forever there, show you that they are always there, I don’t have to search the world cause right here I found the gold, treasure … the kind that everyone needs …. sisters are forever, just like treasure
Ivy is Lisa’s mini-me
The girls wanted to get in the hot tub when we got back so we all ended up in it. We fixed snacks for lunch then decided to go hike to a nearby waterfall, Anna Ruby Falls. It was just a 0.4 mile hike to it but it was pretty much straight uphill going. There was actually two falls when we got there, very pretty and sounded soothing. The walk down seemed very short since we were going downhill the whole way. We looked to see about going to another fall but it was a 35 minute drive and the littles wanted to go shopping.
Short little hike
We headed to downtown Helen to look around. First stop was Betty’s so the girls could see it. We ended up doing a wine tasting there and the girls tasted fanta drinks. They wanted to go to a toy shop next which had a fantastic marketing scheme to show girls games; we bought two to show the dads. Then we walked up the town and back. The only other buy was a Christmas ornament and 3 t-shirts. By the time we’d done that the girls were starving.
Tasting wine and fantas
Game time
We tried to go back to the pizzeria from the day before but they were still closed. The pottery place Stacy liked was closed too. Then we tried two other food places that were closed before finally ordering takeout from “The Hooch”. We let the girls run into a fudge place to get treats for that evening; Lisa just drove in circles since there was no parking nearby. It was still going to be a 30-40 minute wait on takeout so we took Stacy and the girlies back to the chalet to chill while Mimi and Lisa drive back down to get the food.
We enjoyed the pizza on the porch and sipped wine or cider depending on the age. The kids enjoyed some more time in the hot tub. We all shared pictures and looked at old videos on mimi’s phone before getting baths. Everyone called it a early night with the lack of sleep the night before. It worked out since it started storming about 10; thankful the little scared of storms went to bed before the thunder began and that we had great weather while we were out during the day.
Friday morning we woke to sip coffee again and cooked breakfast. Sara was not the cook so Lisa had to step up. We picked snacks, extra waters, and towels for the day not to have to come back until the evening. We started the day off heading to the cabbage patch hospital per Katie’s request. We warned the girls we would not be buying anything from there this trip. Of course Ivy and Katie tried to talk us into it but we held strong and got out not spending anything.
Morning snuggles and breakfast … sweet time together
Cabbage Patch nurses
Next stop was aunt Stacy’s pick, a coffee tasting at Jumping Goat Coffee. It was a gorgeous view! However, it was not what we’d expected since it said tasting and there was only one sample available to try. We did get tea and hot chocolate too. Despite looking for other things we Could not find anything so opted to go back to the chalet for a snack and chill before our time slot to ride horses.
Awesome view!
Fitness with Mimi, killing time
We arrived to the stables 30 minutes ahead of time to head out. Getting out of the car, Ivy announces she only had sandals despite we told everyone to to get closed toe shoes on before leaving. Nonetheless, Ivy and mommy hopped in the car to go back to get shoes while the others mounted up. Lisa and Ivy hopped up on our assigned horses as soon as we got there and off we went with our guide Nick. There were only a few meltdowns on the horses as the horse had minds of their own but it was all smiles at the end. However, it was requested to go back to get showers afterwards so we did head back to the chalet.
Where is Ivy and Lisa??? Oh that’s right they had to go back to get Ivy shoes to ride
We finally got to head on the trail when we all got back
The bottom fell out not long after we got back so we thought how blessed we were to have gotten back beforehand. We decided to head to the hot tub but it was pouring thru the porch but the engineer rigged it up for us to all still enjoy it. We stayed in almost an hour before we were prunes and headed back in to rinse off. It rained for another hour so we took time to transfer pictures and just visit. We ended up staying in the rest of the day, chilling, playing games, laughing, and creating awesome memories. Ended up being a good relaxing ending to the end of a chilled out trip.
How we stopped the rain from pouring into the hottub
Toasting a fabulous trip
Having fun playing pool
Saturday morning, Mimi, Lisa, and Stacy were all up a little bit before the little ladies. We enjoyed coffee and a fire since we had turned the air so cold in the chalet. Such a rare treat in August but boy do we love coffee with a roaring fire and sweet fellowship. When all were up, we enjoyed breakfast then loaded the cars to head back home to the girls’ dads. Aunt Stacy said it well when she posted on Facebook that “time is both a gift and a thief so choose wisely how and who you invest time in … moments like these tuck in deep, they are a treasure”. Thankful for a great trip and precious time together!
Girls helped unpack and clean the car after we got home
We had so much fun we invited Sara and Katie to come hang out after we got back while their momma and dad went to a friends 40th birthday party
Baths and dinner
Followed by exercise and playtime
rounding off the evening with popcorn and a movie
Blessed to spend the evening with these girls!