I'd like to record the story of our vacation. It's a big deal for us because really it's the first vacation we've ever taken as a family. I've taken the kids to visit Erin a few times by myself and we even all went to Erin's right after David's dad died in '01 but I wouldn't consider that a 'vacation'. This whole story starts back in October when Shannon and Aleida tell us that instead of the normal Christmas gifts we exchange that this year they decided they wanted to invest in a family vacation. They paid for the rental of this outrageously beautiful cabin in North Georgia for the end of June/beginning of July. Waterfall Lodge Cabin - Five bedroom luxury rental cabin with mountain views in Blue Ridge Georgia We were SO excited. I mean, what an amazing idea! So we had to save enough money to get ourselves there and back and enough to do whatever fun things we chose while we were there. (plus food, of course) The time between October and June seemed long but finally our vacation arrived! I packed for days before lift off--I'd never really packed for any kind of trip like this before. Mary came over and helped me get things organized in the amazing way Mary does and things finally started coming together. June 28th dawned beautiful and excitable--the kids were nuts to get in the car and leave! We loaded up and headed off for our first stop--a KOA campground in Forsythe, Ga. The trip took about 6 hours total and I swear I heard the question "How much farther?" a thousand times. Literally you ask? Quite possibly!! We stopped for lunch at Western Sizzlin'--how's that for a blast from the past? Good times! We arrived at the KOA at around 3pm and the kids were ready to hit the pool. We unloaded the cars into these fun miniature cabins and set out to swim. David and I were in cabin 13 with Claire and Joey....the older boys split themselves up between aunts and grandparents.
