Babies On The Hiking Trail

A boy and his (my) walking sticks

Hiking with little children has been a bit of a different experience. We still are terrible at estimating the time it will take us, despite our best efforts to plan ahead. We set out to hike Warwoman Dell and part of the Bartram Trail, and didn't make it to lunch until 3pm. But we had a lot of fun.

All bundled up and ready to hike

We parked near Warwoman Dell and hike 1/4 mile to see one waterfall. Then got back in the car and parked past a giant mud hole (so we wouldn't get stuck in it later in case it rained) that made us grateful for our four wheel drive.

First waterfall/uncooperative 3-yr-old

Snug as a bug and ready to hike

The Hubs had gone hiking with Little Man here before and got lost looking for a waterfall. We didn't find it this time either. But we did see this one...

Not the one we were looking for

We ran into some people hiking from the opposite direction and they couldn't find the elusive waterfall either.

Same waterfall, slightly different picture

After checking the time, we turned around and headed back to the car. All of the shedding of the wintery layers as the day warmed up and all the stops for trail mix slowed us down much more than we realized. And then a very patient baby couldn't wait any longer.

Nursing on a log. A momma's gotta do what a momma's gotta do

Same waterfall on the way back. Waiting for the boys to catch up

Carrying Little Man over some mud

Happy as a clam

We made it to lunch in Clayton around 3pm. It was a great day!

The Family That Hikes Together ~ Amicalola Falls

Let me tell you about last Sunday...

~ 1 ~

Amicalola Falls...a beautiful end to a crazy, poorly planned day. 

#viewfromthetop #doesnotdoitjustice

It was suppose to be a day of rest. We had done chores, gone to mass, and gone to a party on Saturday. When I went to bed that night I had visions of a day of rest at home. 

~ 2 ~

But there is something about fall air that makes us crazy, and by the time I was done nursing Lucy first thing in the morning we had decided to drive to a pumpkin patch up in North Georgia. We threw things together and got the kids in the car and left. We had no diapers assembled so I threw all the diapers from the dryer and assembled them on our drive. 

#theclothlife

~ 3 ~

After being stuck in traffic, going about one mile in 30 mins, to get into the pumpkin patch, we realized that other than a hay ride, which also had a very long line, there were just...pumpkins. We had just assumed there would be things to do. There were so so many people and nothing to really do, since we already had a free pumpkin (probably rotting) on our porch at home, we decided not to stay. After one nursing session in the car (where I saw an argument for the parking spot next to us almost come to blows), and a few minutes of Matthan dipping his feet in the water, we hopped back in the car and drove about a half mile to Amicalola Falls.

#peopleareseriousabouttheirpumpkins

#feetinthecrick  #mykid

~ 4 ~

A quick car ride later, we were headed towards the waterfall. Matthan climbed the 175ish steps to the falls. 

#waterfallselfie

Here is our attempt at a family pic. Resistant toddler, sleeping baby in the carrier...

#thefamilythathikestogetherstaystogether

#onlyfamilypicwehave?

~ 6 ~

I was looking for a place to rest and nurse Lucy, and I saw a sign for the lodge. I didn't have a full grasp of how far it was until I was already part way up and therefore committed. 400-something more stairs later, we finally reached the top. Matthan hiked the whole way up by himself.

#ourhikingboy

I was pretty worn out by the time we got to the top. But I have to say...

...best view I've ever had while nursing a baby. Totally worth it.

We split the protein bar that I had grabbed from the diaper bag three ways and supplemented with some candy I found in the gift shop. Again, awesome planning by us.

#nursingspotwithaview

~ 7 ~

After the more than 600 stairs to the top and a ride down in the hiking pack...

#conkedout

...he got to sleep for 20 mins before we stopped for lunch...at 5:00pm. Matthan was a trooper and we all were worn out but it was a fun day!

Happy Friday everyone!

Now go visit Kelly and find some new blogs to follow! 

Family Day of Hiking and Sushi

Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for their {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} link-up today. Stop by and tell them hello :)

The Hubs surprised us by taking a day off from work last week just to have fun! And fun for us usually involves a hiking trail. We have a North Georgia trail guide book that we sometimes use and we never quite know what we're getting ourselves into. This trail was at the end of a long drive (approx 1.5 hrs), a very short hike (0.2 miles), and had a beautiful waterfall. It's called Minihaha Falls. The entrance to the trail is on the side of the road after driving through several miles of a community of lake houses (a windy road that almost did me in), and if you blinked you might have missed it. See Exhibit A.

{real}

Exhibit A - this was it for trail markings

The stairs are across the road from a "parking area", or a spot to pull off the road. The path was narrow with a pretty steep drop off, but Little Man handled it well. If you have a child who has no sense of boundaries/edges and does not stay with you well, this is not the trail for you. There were several tree roots sticking out of the ground which Little Man was timid about stepping over so he pretty much held my hand the whole time, which made me less nervous. The hike was pretty steep but of course short, and I was kind of bummed when it was over, until I saw the waterfall.

Mommy and Matthan at Minihaha Falls

I could have stayed there all day long. We stayed there for a long while. Little Man sat on the rock with me for a bit, ate some snacks, and then explored the area while Daddy stayed glued to his side (you know, rushing water and all that). He had been timid about walking around but as soon as I gave him my walking sticks he had no problem exploring the small area around the falls. See the video below for Little Man in action.

{funny}

Little Man with hiking sticks

{happy}

Family selfie in front of the falls

We have been to a couple waterfalls where Little Man could play in the water, but not only was this water very cold, it was moving really fast. He so desperately wanted to go in, so Daddy kept a good grip on him. It was a colder day than Tim had anticipated, so you'll have to excuse what he called the "unabomber look".

Splashing Daddy

{pretty}

Minihaha Falls

After eating lunch in Clayton, we stopped at a farm that I had seen advertised on billboards during our drive. It's still clearly the off season for them because there was only a couple people around. It ended up being a total tourist trap, but we enjoyed seeing the animals nonetheless. 

After a quick nap, we ended the day with sushi and ice-cream. It was a wonderful family day, hopefully to be repeated sooner rather than later.

Family Camping ~ Part 3 (phfr)

And we continue with Part 3 of the camping saga, {pretty, happy, funny, real} style.

{Pretty}

We could not have asked for better weather this weekend and I just love waterfalls.  So my "pretty" is Part 1 of our Family Camping saga.  Click on the picture to read more about our hike in Part 1.

Click on picture to read Part 1

{Real}

I would definitely have to say the "real" of the trip was my probably unreasonable high expectations for the trip which were disappointed several times.  I also didn't realize how much work chasing a two-year-old was going to be when our camping trips have usually been relaxing, slower-paced ones; not to mention we were coming off a week of several very late nights, so sleep deprivation probably had something to do with my lack of patience and energy.  So if you want to see cute pictures of animals and read about how much my expectations set me up for disappointment, go read the details of Part 2.  It includes me being able to spit on my neighbor (but didn't) and has been updated with pictures of me learning how to milk a cow.

Click on picture for Part 2

{Happy and Funny}

I have to say that Matthan slept really well in the tent.  He started fussing around 4am because he had kicked his blankets off and it was cold.  He quieted as soon as I covered him up and slept til 7am (not bad).  Our plan was to pack up and go for a quick hike before grabbing lunch on our way home.  This meant that I had to find entertainment for Matthan while Tim packed up all of the gear.  Our camping neighbors were playing in the stream that bordered one side of our site and Matthan wanted to join.

After he walked around for a while with the kids next to us, he went for the (almost) full immersion route...

...I'm pretty sure he spent at least an hour in the water.

"Plunking" rocks

Playing with mud

He needs a haircut 

"wash hands"

We finally pulled him out of the stream, which was timely, because I think that a few more minutes would have turned him into a Matthan popsicle.  I got him all changed and cozy.

Watching the trout and ducks

There was a tiny lake (i.e. glorified large puddle) that was stocked with trout.  Tim said it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.  We just had fun watching the ducks.

There were a couple of waterfalls to hike to and we were told that the coolest one was a five minute walk.  So we started up a path...that quickly turned into an 8inch wide, 55 degree angle, heart attack high intensity cardio workout.  So, you know, five minutes if you're a professional athlete.  So we tossed Matthan into the backpack, not wanting him to fall off of the narrow path, and continued to climb to the waterfall.  The path landed us near the top of the waterfall, and we did not have it in us to climb down to the bottom, because we'd then have to climb back up.  So a quick "that's a neat waterfall...ok, let's go get lunch" and we headed back to the car trying not to fall down the crazy path to our death.  

We stopped in Helen for lunch.

Completely unrelated, but does anyone else find it amusing that the Oktoberfest parade is not in October?  

We were eating lunch when I saw this sign that said "The City of Helen is a Nose Sensitive Area..." and I made the comment that I thought it was funny and that I wasn't sure what to think of a sign like this.  Tim just gave me a funny look. 

Thirty minutes later as we were leaving I snapped a picture to send to my sister, and finally Tim said, "You do know that it says "NOISE sensitive area"."    

Nope.  

I do now.

We stopped at a creamery, that I had heard was good, on the way home, and I felt a little guilty eating ice-cream while Matthan was sleeping in his carseat.  But then he woke up and I gave him the last couple bites.  The smile on his face was priceless... like a kid in a candy shop...or a kid...eating ice-cream...you know.

Go visit the ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} themed posts.

Bonus Video

Family Camping ~ Part 2

...If you missed Part 1, go here.

The subtitle of Part 2 is "Great Expectations...severly disappointed".  

After our morning hike and late lunch, we headed to Enota where we would be camping.  According to their website, "Enota is a non-profit conservation facility committed to preserving our beautiful land [...]" that is located in North Georgia near Brasstown Bald.  Along with campsites, they list an organic farm and an animal farm.  

This is where the trip went downhill for me due to my high expectations.  All of the places that we have camped at thus far were a little more "in the woods" with at least a little bit of space between campsites where I couldn't distinguish the lyrics to the music that others were playing.  The introvert in me cringed when I saw the campsites were separated by a log, and that my neighbor was spitting distance from me.  

Except our "neighbor" ended up being in our campsite, as he says he was told to just pick a spot, which happened to be the spot designated to us.  So we made friends with hippie-ish-photography-dad-with-two-little-kids, and set up camp next to them...much to my anxiety of course, because I just knew that someone was going to roll up and tell us that we were in their designated spot and we'd have to move all of our stuff.  They didn't and we didn't.

Commandeering mommy's pillow

While Tim set up camp, I chased Matthan around and tried to keep him from running out in the road that created the back border of our campsite, which of course is what he wanted to do.

After we (and by we, I mean Tim) got home set up for us, we headed to the farm tour for which we were already late.  I have to preface this with, I was REALLY excited about the animal farm and the organic farm.  That was a big part of me wanting to go to this place.  I love animals and as terrible as I am at it, I'm super interested in gardening, specifically organic gardening.

Pic taken by Matthan

So we were late heading out to the tour...and the map they gave us told us one way to the animal farm and the signs on the grounds told us another, so we parked our car and went with the map.  This landed us taking a very unintentional hike on a winding, narrow, hilly path that landed us on the wrong side of the farm gate which meant we had to cross a cold stream to get to where we needed to go.  I was wearing sandals.  And, of course, where we were was a bit farther than a stone's throw from where we parked our car.  We realized, had we gone another 30 feet or so from our car in the direction of the sign, we would have seen the animal farm and saved ourselves the hike.

End of the "trail"

So after going around our elbow to get to our thumb, we came up to a building of some sort, with no signs anywhere to help us figure out if we were in the right place, and we figured we had missed the tour.  I heard voices from a small structure and saw a mom, two kids, and a staff member come out.  Figuring maybe we could catch the tail end of the tour, I waited as they approached, and then after the young man with the staff shirt on barely acknowledged us, I made small talk to figure out, yes, we had missed the tour, but I could follow them to the garden to pick stuff to feed the bunnies.

So the animal farm consisted of a couple pastures and the organic farm turned out to be (in my opinion) a glorified garden with sickly looking plants.  Tim said maybe they were between growing seasons.  I had such high expectations...and I was so disappointed.  

And Mr.-Awkward-Staff-Member-lacking-basic-social-skills-much-less-tour-guide-skills did offer to let us watch him milk a cow.  So I did learn how to milk a cow, and I made nice with the young staff man because he said I got the milking down in one try and it had taken him an hour to learn to do that.  Matthan loved the cow which totally surprised me, and he even tried to milk her. 

Then Andre (Mr. Staff Man) did take us to see the miniature ponies and another cow who was really cute, and did explain that the ducks had afros because it was mating season (see below).  So we got somewhat of a tour after all.  Then I asked about the hay ride and he said he'd be doing it that evening and to look for the truck and trailer with hay.  Which was a good thing, because again, no helpful signs anywhere.  So we killed time by picking swiss chard from the garden and feeding it to the bunnies.

Can you see his little "afro" on the back of his head?

Then the time for the hay ride came and went and a few minutes later we see Andre and another staff member coming to hook up the trailer.  There was no one else around, and I have to admit, that I was wondering if everyone else knew better.  We hopped onto the trailer, which had loose hay strewn about with the only compacted part being round and rolled about to the point which I thought I was going to lose Matthan off of the side, so I finally sat in the loose hay.

Feeding the bunnies

I had kind of thought that the hay ride was going to be tour of the grounds which meant missing the previous farm tour would work out ok, but no, sadly, there was none of this.  Only Andre sitting awkwardly in the back with us.  And then they stopped by the campsites and called out for people to join the hay ride which meant we could have just hung out at our campsite until the hay ride instead of over by the hay trailer, but you know...whatever.  I thought we'd get to see parts of the facility that we hadn't gotten to see, like more gardens or more pastures, but the hay ride was just a ride around the grounds which we had already walked through because it wasn't that big and there wasn't more to see. 

This bunny was about the size of Matthan...only slightly exaggerating

After Tim made dinner (and I kept Matthan out of the road), I read Matthan stories by the light of my headlamp and put him to bed in the tent with no fussing because he was exhausted, and enjoyed some much needed downtime by the fire and drowned my disappointments with some peppermint tea and vented to Tim about my disappointed expectations and how next time (if there is one) I will have low to no expectations and therefore be happy with whatever happens.  Just call me Mrs. Flexible Content and Easy-Going {choke, cough...yeah right}.

Here is Part 3...