First things first

While I do have a bunch of pictures from Christmas I never did post our trip pictures from Georgia so I thought I would do that first. :)

Charles had the opportunity to go to a class to learn how to install some new equipment and so while he would be at class we decided to stay and visit with a friend. So after Sunday morning church we loaded up and headed out on I10, yes my husband is snarling...in a good way, it's just a natural face he makes. ;)

The back seat munchkins

Sweet Charis helping with Julia

We stopped at the GA welcome center to let the children run around

Daddy ran around too :)

Mercy finally passed out as we were driving through Atlanta...can you tell she likes to take her shoes and socks off in the car? Like, every time we go somewhere!

Me no likey Atlanta traffic in the rain, in the dark...and it was Sunday night even! Yes, I was driving at this point and hubby took the picture. It was completely dark outside.

After Charles' GPS took us to Altma instead of Alma Court in the winding hills with dense fog (hubby driving at this point who has very poor vision at night). We ended up 25 min past our destination with cell phone coverage going in and out. We were finally able to get connected with our friend who helped us find where she was at and then she led us up her mountain. :)

I think we got to her house around 9:45pm....almost 2 hours past when we should have arrived. :P

Anyways, they have a peaceful "cabin" next to the river and lots of sweet little birds come, it was so nice.

The hubby got up the next morning to go to his class, he had gone through the GPS's directions the night before to make sure they checked out ok after our fiasco in getting to Ellijay. Well, it was dark with dense fog and with his visibility he missed his turn and so the GPS was recalculating....hahaha. So it took him down a dirt road that was very soggy cause of all the rain. He tried following the tracks that were to the side and he got stuck. Not only was he sunk down to the chassis of the car in GA clay but he was in our friends hybrid Toyota that she had so kindly lent him. Yikes is right! And so he had to have a tow truck get him out and he got the car cleaned up. Thankfully it wasn't damaged but he ended up just coming back to the house instead of trying to catch the last few hours of class.

So while we waited to see if he needed our help we had storytime with Mrs. LaMee or MaLay as my kiddos couldn't stop calling her. ;)

Ellijay is the apple capital of GA and so she had her tree decorated in apples, pinecones and antlers. It was very pretty. :)

The children enjoyed her collection of firehats too

We went outside with a big ball she had and they had a great time running around in the yard!

btw, her driveway in the background may not look so steep but man was it scary driving up and out and in and doooooown. :)

happy children...

...can't tell can you?

It's funny the children saw this turtle out our bedroom window in the morning and were trying to convince me it was definitely a real turtle. They really thought it was and I couldn't tell since I had left my glasses in the car and I didn't have my contacts in yet...we later found out it wasn't but they loved it anyway. :)

And then the children bounced the ball off the edge of the bank and it floated away. :(

So then we went on a nice walk

Caleb was absolutely thrilled to see deer tracks! We saw many deer but I didn;t get a picture of them.

Resting in a hammock after our walk

These squirrels were SO fat and they loved to jump on top that green box feeder and make it bounce up and down, they were just too quick for me to catch it. :)

Mercy loves taking care of Juju

Mercy found a buddy...

Caleb the climber

So we went to go an apple house and we all loaded up and then Charles saw we had a completely flat tire! So thankful Charles was there to fix it for us.

While we were dealing with the tire issue I caught Charis doing this...

...remember the story at the end the this post ? Well, here is my darling little girl carrying on conversations with a plastic nativity set asking them about getting married. :D

sandbox fun

playing with trucks while daddy changed the tire

Yay! We finally made it to the apple house, apple tasting anyone?

Mrs. Lamee treated us to muscadine grape juice slushies...

...they were yummy!

Mercy had fallen asleep in the car on the way so she was a bit out of sorts, lol. :)

Julia was lunging for the slushie

She thought it tasted pretty good

GIVE ME THE CUP!!!! ;)

Mrs. LaMee had tons of singing toys under her Christmas tree, definitely "grandmas' house type toys but the children had a fun time with them!

**We interrupt this post to bring you a picture by Charis of one of her favorite toys to play with while there...a possum!

she took a picture of Julia too

The mother possum looked like it was going to be served for dinner...I think I'll pass. :P

And then there were ice cream cones too, can you tell we were on vacation?!

When Charles and I went to bed one night I got a kick out of how much the children had travelled...Caleb got too warm he said. :)

Charles decided after the fiasco's of the previous two days he would skip his second day of class and just be with us. So Mrs. LaMee took us to another apple house to have apple fritters for breakfast.

As you can see though, mine went for blueberry and blackberry. :)

Love a baby looking at their daddy so sweet. ♥

Time for some pictures by Charis...I am stuffing my face with pizza, lol.

Mrs. LaMee just posed pretty

Mercy was having a meltdown cause I had put vicks vapor rub on the bottom of her feet to help her sleep better with a cough she had...she was not amused having her picture taken...

...not in the slightest...

A picture of a cucumber

picture of the favorite singing Christmas tree guy

self portrait with said "fsctg"

they fed him dinner

and took him to practice their Christmas hymn and scripture verse for church :D

There's nothing quite like a pink snuggly baby when you wake up in the morning.

Trying to get a picture of the 4 of them.....

ahahahaha....

....the joke was on me...

...they were not in the mood but this one turned out sweet. ♥

Mary Lynn & Jenilyn

I told you Mercy likes to take care of Julia, lol. :)

Then we went to the aquarium in Atlanta on our trip home.

First stop, jellyfish.

"I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my squishy." hehehe

A wall of fish

This was totally not posed...they were very excited to see the whale shark!

Caleb requested a picture of himself with this big fish. :)

That would feed a lot of people!

Very neat to walk through the tunnel

She was teething...

my favorite people

Me and my little guy

There was a huge wall of fish we watched for awhile.

Jacques ;)

sweet smiles ♥

I never thought how many things could be in an aquarium...I was thinking just fish but there was a lot more...Caleb enjoying the South America exhibit. :)

peek-a-boo!

alligators

♥ this

otters

anemones and starfish

LOVED Charis' face in this one :)

cool crabs

a bit creepy though!

sea dragon

Oh no! Not in the mouth of a whale?! :D

Getting to pet stingrays and bonnethead sharks!

some of these guys had some attitude, lol

they were splashing people!

And thus my camera battery died (silly me forgot the charger) and I was only able to eek a couple more shots on the way home.

Pretty Georgia countryside as the sun was setting!

traditional self photo of us in the front seat...for memory sake only. ;)

It was a long trip home, somehow we ended up making like 4 stops and someone decided to stay awake until 45 min away from home...

...he was quite a handfull!

So if you've actually stayed with me the entire post I hope you enjoyed hearing and seeing about our crazy little trip to Georgia. ;)

And if you don't hear from me again beforehand, have a Blessed New Year's!!!!!!!