Helen, GA 2012

Has anyone here ever been to Helen, GA? We went there over the summer after a clogging convention in Daytona. Bryan figured that since we were halfway there we should head north.

We left Daytona area on a Sunday at 9a... Pulled in to Helen at 630.

THAT was a long ride, my friends

Helen is a small town buried in the mountains Northeast of Atlanta. It is surrounded by cute, old country towns but Helen's claim to fame is that the town has a German feel to it. All of the buildings are Slavic-looking (if that's a word)

We found our rental cabin on the web. Good photos, close to town reasonable price...we lucked out. I'd stay there again.

The cabin's front room. I took photos of the whole place but too many to post here.

It easily slept 8-10.

It had a a patio deck that overlooked the valley and this bad-ass, 8-person hot tub was cranked up every night!







We were STARVING when we arrived... Had to find a place to eat, so we drove into town. Not too much open there on a Sunday evening, but we pulled in a restaurant that looked like it had hamburgers (not strudel)

See the German Look to the building. The whole town looked like this...



All 4 streets of it. LOL.







The hostess seated us outside on the terrace, along with another family with children because after 8pm the restaurant was 21 and over. (really?)

Well, then this hilarious couple came outside to have a drink. I think the photo is enough. When i heard they werent pulling a prank and had seriously dressed this way, I HAD to get a pic with them.

My kids were asking them why the smaller guy was dressed up in his sister's clothes (his answer was b/c he hadn't done laundry) Please notice the kid from the other table that couldn't take his eyes off them. They gave us a good laugh...

This was outside of the bathrooms. I'm guessing it was a nod to the sister-crowd that hung out there.

The next morning... Horseback riding

Meredith, wade and Olivia. (no age limit to ride... Interesting)

Bryan's tribute pose to the movie 'the three amigos' ( if you don't know the movie... It isn't funny)

Getting ready to go....

It was an hour+ rude through scenery like this... Pretty

Next stop... Tubing.

The town has a river that runs through it, and for a cheap $5 you can climB on a bus, short uphill ride, sit yourself in a raft, and FLOAT downstream back to your car.

My waterproof camera was VERY helpful. Paige was miserable; she hates getting wet. We were tethered together in pairs. I think our pairing is obvious in the photos.

Bryan and Wade. The water is very cool but we adjusted easily.

See.... Eventually Paige lightened up.

Sisters in the pool...

The river ended at the parking area where they had a small, really small, water park.

Can you imagine if a restaurant in Florida had this sign up?? Really.... I loved it and they got my business because if this policy.

Not to mention that their BBQ was the bomb!



There are black bears in this area of northern GA and there is a sanctuary there. I have pics of the bears in captivity but these wooden things are SO much more fun to look at.

Paige woul not let me poke my head through the hole alone. I gotta say, I love the smirk on her face.

Different tube colors.... Different tubing company....

different day.... Same river.

same Paige... Cute water shoes. The rocks along the bottom were slick and sharp. Not that Paige got out of the tube, ever.

Us.... Alone. A rare moment.

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I had a HAIR INTERVENTION today.

I'm sure everyone is aware of what an intervention is... Mine was for my hair and it was today.

My poor head has had a l-o-n-g year!

Each December, our family takes Christmas photos.

This was me last this time last year. My hair looked like it always does... Same cut, same curl, different degrees of blonde.

But I was growing tired of the blonde. Tired of being 40ish with 28ish hair.

Tired of fighting the gray.

I also wanted to grow out my layers... Which can be painful when you have curly, frizzy hair.

By August... This is how my hair looked.

Can we say... DRAB?

Can we say...

WASHED Out?

Something had to be done!!!

So... In September, I was over it and did this to myself on a whim.

Really, it wasn't hard to do dark, I just pull it back in a pony tail.

Here is us on Halloween.

I don't think many people saw my hair down, so the dark color went undetected.

Me... Voting. The month-old-self-dye-job was starting to fade. Thank God for pony tails.

Finally... At last weekend's clogging event at the Hard Rock. (with Bri and Olivia1)

But it's time for us to take our 2012 photos... And how would my hair look? Dry, drab, ponytailed?

***que in panic music***

So, in an attempt to get a hair appt in my overcrowded salon, I drove there after work today.

My stylist took one look at me and ushered me to the sink!!

She said that brown over blonde = GREEN tint and guess what my hair had???

Just to show I was under the dryer at 642pm. (meanwhile, Bryan watches the kids, including a sick Paige)

I cannot believe I'm showing these photos of myself.

Hair TABOO.

My hair therapy emergency was semi-cured with a warm toner that added ALOT of red to my drab head.

I had no idea what to expect.

Meet Shelda (transfiguration salon... Davie) she has been doing my hair since I had Wade (close to 7 years)

I gave her a thumbs up for her rescue...

She gave me a thumbs down for attempting to do my own hair

She also gets a thumbs up for semi-bumping the lady she was doing when I walked in, unannounced









Bad lighting, I know, but you can see that the end result was warmer hair color and a little trim. I was there 2 hours. She is THE BOMB!

I'll head back to her in a week for the highlights. She will take care of me. She always does. ( I'll post before and after shots when I do)

So, I cannot be the only one that has had a hair experiment gone bad. You have to share your stories with me. Please.

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Veteran's Day

Trying to get Paige to settle down for a photo is like catching the wind.

Yesterday, she dressed up (thanks to Mia) in uniform to see off Bryan, who was attending a Veteran's Day Memorial service.

I thought she looked too cute, so I tried to get a photo.

I mean, the child looks like a rag-a-muffin

She is such a ham... A natural photo-bomber.

Anyone have any plans for Veteran's day?

I'm sending out a HUGE thank you to every Military and servicemen (and women) that dedicates their time and lives to all of us that (usually) take our freedom for granted.

Happy Veterans Day.

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One year's change

School photos came out this week. The older three have new pictures to show off. Paige is still in preschool so her school photos will be taken in the spring.

This year as the pics are added to the frames I took a photo of the new pic with last year's shot. You can really see the change when photos are side by side.

First... Wade.

HUGE change!

Wade was wanting to grow out his hair, so that explains the long locks. And the fuller set of teeth is hard to miss. Bryan says those are MY teeth... 😝Whatever.

I also want to point out my affinity for the colored shirt with white stripes. Lol.

Next... Meredith.

Honestly... I don't even recognize the child. Her whole face has changed.

I don't think it's her BEST BEST photo, because I take a lot of photos and I know this girl can turn on the smile. That said, she doesn't take a bad photo.

I'm not a big fan of the background rainbow colored thing. I think it takes way the color from the kids.

Now.... Olivia

Crazy change...

Much thinner (and taller), longer hair. She seems more mature and aware of herself.

Paige will HATE that she doesn't have a mention her, but as long as she poses like this...

She will just get a cute nod.

😉

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Crime watch gets cozy!!

Did you know my neighborhood started a crime watch?(the blue circle is us, kind of) but you can see how BIG our development is!!!

Just think that people walk to ALL those houses to pass out flyers/invitations. Plus, we have an email list that I send out... You could guess that I adopted the email/flyer thing, right?

Obsessive compulsive is both a blessing and a curse!

Our development doesn't have a home owners association to unite us, so we made our own. A year ago, we started having meeting every 3 months and this past Wednesday we had another gathering. But THIS time we just had a pot-luck party.

The beauty of these shots was meeting the homeowners that decorated their houses so over the top for Halloween.

And what a party is was..... I think 50+ people there. SO very exciting.

Neighbors came from the entire area - its fun to meet each other and figure out who lives where.

On my street is an awesome couple that opens their home up for these gatherings. Here they are... Ruth and Gerardo.(next ime I'll get them to pose for one)

Getting the food out... Digging in.

Our development's 'East side' neighbors.

Me and my hubby, WEST side Bryan. (there are 2 Brian/Bryan Davis', so to avoid confusion they are labeled by geographic location)

This table was chanting 'East side' and Bryan and I were west side. Maybe you had to be there but it was a bonding moment. Lol

Taken through the window... I think Sofia looks excited to see Olivia.



The two Bryan/Brian Davis'. Correctly labeled, of course.

A special thank you goes out to officer Tiffany of Davie police. She comes to all our meetings. Gave us the crime stats for our area... Which have been zero.

The group gathered to listen. Big crowd... Impressive.

Stacy and Nancy.... Willie and Mary barely knew I was taking photos.

Ronda (right) sitting with Makayla and her mom.

Final shot.

The PS of the whole thing is a huge thank you to Ruth and Gerardo for allowing us to meet at their house. It was nice because SO many people just walked to the party.

I enjoyed watching the crowd leave and NOT climb into cars.just walked home. Most just walked home... Nice

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What's wrong with expired???

This is on the side of the taco box I'm making for dinner

Really??? What happened to the words.. Expires on...?

It's almost as if you can hear their eyes wink as you read it!

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Tweens, attitudes, and (sweet) coffee revenge!

I just want to say, that as much as I love my kids, there are days that I want to put them out with the trash, right? But, for now, that isn't an option.

So, when my oldest daughter, Olivia, gets that Mom-you-don't-get-how-life-works attitude in her voice(usually accompanied by eye-rolling) I could just knock her into tomorrow. Every now and again, a higher being intervenes.

I'll explain....

This is Olivia (always)...

Yesterday.... She fell into a fountain. (horsing around, I suppose, I wasn't there). It wasn't without injury....

But, it came with a whole sob story about how she dropped her precious phone into the water.

The crux of the issue was her attitude and that somehow it was MY fault because it was expensive to fix. She was full of tears, and words like CHILL, RELAX, and telling me, it was ultimately not her responsibility, and it was unfair to punish her in any way.

Now, here's where the sweet revenge comes in...

Everyone is familiar with this?

Well, I decided to clean ours today, which involves running white vinegar instead of water. So, that clear fluid is NOT water - see where this is heading???

I set up the cleaning process and left it to run errands. I didn't leave a note, never dreamed she get up and create a cup of coffee.

She... In the meantime.... Woke up and decided to make a cup of coffee (hot chocolate)... But it didn't taste good. Hmmmm, I wonder why.

Not intentional, for sure, yet very appropriate considering that she got a mini-mouth washing.

I decided to just be thankful that God was watching out for ME. I just look up... And say thanks!!!

PS... Her phone works fine... Soaked it in rice all night.

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