Racing for Pinks

This past weekend the kids and I participated in the Racing for Pinks 5k and one mile fun run.  It was pretty hot and humid, so this was not an easy race for any of us.  Olivia started out too fast and ran out of gas.  It was a bit of a struggle to get her to finish at all- but she did.  Owen did pretty good and finished strong.  Both kids got a medal and towel for their accomplishment.  The 5k was also pretty hot.  I finished in 25.15, which is pretty good for me.  As always, there was a big turnout for this race (which benefits breast cancer patients in our area).

Homecoming Parade

As you can probably tell, we didn't get the memo that Owen's team would not be riding in the homecoming parade.  Fortunately the yellow team let Owen and his teammate ride on their trailer.  That was really nice of them.  Owen had a ball riding in the parade.

Legos

 Olivia loves Legos.  She made short work of the sets that she got for her birthday- and she did it all by herself.

A Magical 7th Birthday

 Olivia is 7!  To celebrate her big day we invited family over to have cake and ice cream.  Since Olivia is obsessed with all things Harry Potter, the theme of the cake was a no-brainer.  Hannah made the cutest Gryffindor cake with the appropriate colors, round glasses, and a golden snitch.  I also found an inexpensive Gryffindor robe online and ordered it for Olivia to wear.  She received so many nice things including clothes, shoes, books, Skylanders, and a chess set.  Her daddy and I also gave her some Lego sets (which she has already assembled).

 I told Olivia that since this was her 7th birthday that she could have a party.  She said she didn't want a big party but she did want her cousins to spend the night with her.  So, the older girls stayed with us after the party and they had all sorts of fun.  They danced, listened to music, played hide and seek, and watched movies.  They fell asleep around midnight (except Natalie who was up until after 1).  It was definitely a fun night.

Chestatee Wildlife Preserve

 The original plan was to go to Brasstown Bald, Georgia's highest point following our horseback ride.  The problem was that the trails and visitor's center at Brasstown Bald is operated by the federal government, and we could not visit due to the shutdown.  So, we had to move to Plan B (again). Since it was Olivia's birthday we let her choose between the three back-up activities that I had.  She choose to visit the Chestatee Zoo.  We have been to a lot of zoos, but never one like this.  I'm not even sure that it really was a zoo at all.  It looked like a family had decided to start a zoo and had built pens in their backyard.  This isn't to say that we didn't like it.  It was not expensive and there were enough animals to keep the kids' interest.  I just thought that it was funny that we were essentially in someone's backyard.  Literally- we could see the owner's house from almost any point in the zoo, and their kids got off the school bus at the front gates of the zoo/house while we were there.  This zoo didn't have a many animals, but they did have lions, tigers, and bears (oh my).  I think our favorite was the wolf.  We've never gotten a great look at wolves before because they are always sleeping when we go to the zoo.  The wolf at this zoo, however, was awake and very active.  Overall, this was a pretty fun way to wind up our North Georgia vacation.  You can't really go wrong when you pick an animal-oriented activity to the keep kids entertained.
 

Saddle Up

 Olivia's birthday occurred while we were in the mountains.  We wanted to do something special in honor of our birthday girl, so we booked a one-hour trail ride for our family.  Brian and Owen got to ride a massive horse named "Cowboy Bill" while Olivia and I mounted a smaller horse named "Bo".  Our guide was super nice and great with the kids. We took a nice, even pace for most of the ride, but at the end the guide convinced us to try trotting the horses.  That was pretty fun.  The trail ride was definitely a highlight of our trip.  The kids are still talking about how much they liked riding the horses.  

Unicoi Hiking

 Since we left Helen early, we decided to execute Plan B which involved hiking to Anna Ruby Falls.  Unfortunately, when we got to Anna Ruby we discovered that it was closed due to the government shutdown (the falls lie within a national forest).  So, we visited neighboring Unicoi State Park and hiked the 2.5 mile Lake Loop Trail.  Well, we hiked most of it.  Somehow we got lost and ended up on the side of a road trying to figure out where we were. The hike was fun until we got lost.  The kids got tired of walking down the road trying to find our car, so they ended up staying beside the road with Brian while I ran about a mile (uphill) to the Visitor's Center to retrieve it.  They were gathering firewood when I got back.  I'm not kidding.