Hot chocolate and snow: Our Spring Break Adventure PART I

This Spring Break was highly anticipated. Mr. Man's been working ridiculous hours, and we were looking forward to some much needed family time. Monday morning, we left for Fort Mountain State Park in Chatsworth, GA. 

 Why camping? You may ask. Well, we chose camping for several reasons.

1. With our family of 6, camping is the cheapest way to travel. Most state parks are between $15-$25 per day, we can cook our own food, and the wilderness is free.
2. We love the outdoors.
3. Camping vacations force you as a family to spend time together & really talk.   
4. We're trying to pay down debt, and didn't want to spend a lot for a get-away.

Here are some shots from our drive. 

I'm a pretty tough cookie. Few things rattle me, however, I get very woozy when driving over bridges or windy roads. Notice the sign about steep grades the "next 22 miles"? Mr. Man said, "See that mountain? We're going all of the way up." We were in the excursion, towing the camper, and I thought I was going to have a panic attack. Most of the mountain roads were very narrow, and had no shoulder. Guard rails were scarce, and the road kept winding and winding.

You get the picture. We finally arrived to Fort Mountain State Park, and came upon deer right by the bath house! It was a great welcome!

 The first night we arrived, it was cold and windy. I had anticipated colder nights on the mountain, but nothing like this. I convinced Mr. Man that we need to head back down the mountain and get some gloves and hats. The weather channel was calling for snow. No exactly how I had envisioned our Spring Break trip. We ventured back down the mountain and found a Dollar General. We stocked up on snacks, hot cocoa and cap guns for the boys. The closest thing we found for gloves were men's X-LG work gloves. Luckily, we rummaged through the excursion, aka "the Beast" and found gloves for all of the boys. In the morning, we woke up to this:

A big part of me wanted to pout and cry. It was snowing, the wind was cutting, and it was bitterly cold outside. I tried not to be envious of our friends who were at the beach with their toes in the sand. Mr. Man and the boys went outside and tried to start a fire. I watched them from the window, rosey cheeked and laughing. It was at that moment that I decided when life gives you poop, make poop juice, or hot chocolate in our case. We bundled up and took a hike around the lake. We played outside and watched the snow fall. The boys stuck twigs in the fire, and tried to burn each other. The highest the temperature got that day was 26 degrees. At breakfast and after dinner, we read the Bible together. We stopped after each verse and discussed what they meant. We turned on Air One and had it playing most of the day.  By mid afternoon, I dug out some road trip game we had never played, which was followed by 5 rounds of "20 Questions." By 5th round and 5th cartoon character as the "who" I suggested that we go start a fire. 

Mr. Man can do all most anything, except build fires. I must admit, I could not stop laughing watching him. The wind was blowing hard, and it was snowing on and off. Mr. Man didn't seem to have a real strategy except for throwing more and more wood on the dwindling fire. He built the fire to the side of the pit. When he DID manage to get some real flames, they were spitting off sparks and he all most caught his jeans on fire. Then, there was the smoke. I asked him if he was making "SOS" signals. He left to go get some more wood, and I may or may not have "helped" his little fire along. By the time he returned, the fire was steady, and Mr. Man brought out the big guns. "I've had this wood for 2 years. It is dry to the bone." (Technically, we were supposed to use our own wood to make a fire, something about bringing in worms or bugs or something harmful to the trees, but I wasn't going to say anything.) Two hours later, we finally had fire. 
 When it got dark, the boys went outside and played with their cap guns. I'm not really sure what kind of game it was OR what the rules were OR how they determined who won. Mr. Man would load up their guns, he'd count, they'd scatter, and then shoot each other, and someone would declare himself a "winner."

Fall Creek Falls: Falling in the Falls PART II

This area is called the "Cascades." In order to get this picture, I had to lie on my back and tilt my camera at a certain angle. Cam and Dylan were convinced I was going to fall to my death and kept begging me to stop and come back. We had been walking about for all most 2 hrs, and it had begun sprinkling again. Before we left, I wanted to get one good shot of all of us in front of the falls. This is where are trip went down hill very quickly.

 

See that rocky ledge to the right? My idea was to get everyone sitting on there. Mind you, we had been walking all over these wet rocks all day, so I wasn't the least bit concerned. I began crossing over the wetting spot, when I felt myself slipping. I was holding Briley, and didn't want us going down the little edge into the pool of water, so I stuck my left hand out, turned my right foot out, and fell straight on my wrist, and bottom. As I was falling, I heard a pop in my right knee. Lying there in the water with Briley on my stomach (completely unscathed), I told Kevin, "I broke my leg. I broke my leg! Something popped! I can't move my knee!" Kevin walked over to get Briley from me, and as soon as he got him, Liam fell off of the ledge to the BACK. 

I heard Kevin saying, "Hon! GET HIM! HON behind you! He's going under. HON now!!!!!" I was still lying in the middle of the ledge, but I knew if I went over too fast, I would fall in, and might not be able to grab Liam out. I was sliding over as Kevin was screaming, and watching Liam treading, treading, sinking, the second his head went under, I pulled him out. It was terrifying. I hugged my dripping little boy, and handed him to Kevin, as Kevin helped me up and handed me Briley. 

Around this time, Cameron decided to push Dylan into the water. Mind you after my fall and Liam's near drowning, a small group of spectators on the suspension bridge above us had gathered and were gawking at our family. Dylan fell in holding Abby's leash, and Abby was jerked into the water. Kevin put Liam down, ran over and pulled Abby out. Dylan crawled out and yelled, "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! YOU HELPED THE DOG FIRST!!!!" I was laughing out of exhaustion and Kevin told him, "You can swim, the dog can't." 

 As the adrenaline began to wear off, my knee started killing me. Remember my "Flashlights, Parasites and Scotch tape" post where I discuss Kevin's lack of empathy? I told him I was in a lot of pain, and maybe we should just head back early. He told me I can put my foot up just as well here as anywhere, and that he already paid our $60 for the three day reservation. At this point, Dylan and Cam chimed in telling him they were done and that this park stunk. Poor Mr. Man. I know he put in so much hard work. Kevin began packing up and within an hour, we were pulling out of Fall Creek Falls. 

We arrived home, and my dear friend/neighbor offered to bring me an ace bandage. Mr. Man was still convinced we should have stayed and that "a little ice" would have fixed me up. We went to bed, and I woke up around 1am with a burning sensation all over my knee. I went into the bathroom, and realized I was allergic to something in the ace bandage and it was burning my skin. It reminded me of when I was in Middle School and used to use that hair removal for my mustache. If I left it on too long, it take off a layer of skin, leaving me with a rash stache. After took off the ace bandage, I splashed water on my leg and was left with a rash in the checkered pattern of the bandage. I hobbled back to bed.

This morning, I convinced Mr. Man to take me to the ER. I was given this behemoth, some Lortab and naproxen, and told to follow up with an orthopedic doctor next week. I don't think the PA really cared too much about my knee. I asked about an MRI and he schooled me saying there were only used in emergencies. I all most cried when they straightened my knee to put the brace on. Kevin and the boys had eaten lunch and gotten new shoes at Kohl's. By "new shoes" Kevin bought his same style of Sketchers that he's worn for the past 8 yrs, and bought Kieran and Cam some "special" bright orange and black tennis shoes. (Because orange and black match everything, right?)

 I felt bad about calling the pharmacist on a holiday, so I went home and found some hydrocodone tablets from 2007 and took one. I'm pretty sure I tore a ligament, but we'll have to wait and see. I can say very confidently that was the worst family vacation ever, and that we will most likely not be back to Fall Creek Falls.  

 

Fall Creek Falls: Before the Fall PART I

For Labor Day weekend, we decided to pack up, and head to Fall Creek Falls State park. We knew FCF would be busy during the Holiday weekend, so Thursday night, Kevin took the camper and reserved our campsite. This also happened to be the weekend our good friends were attending a wedding, so we had five boys ages 2-9.5 yrs old. Friday night, we loaded up in our excursion, Clampet style with 5 boys, 1 dog, and camping supplies. Normally Friday nights mean pizza and a movie, so we were lucky to find a Little Ceasar's on the way to the park. 

We arrived just before sundown, and it was packed and loud. Normally, state parks have large campsites that are spread apart, and lots of room to ride bikes and hike. We were packed in like sardines, and our neighbors were noisy. Yes, yes, "What did you expect on Labor Day weekend?" I don't know. Just not this. We unpack the car, and realize we have forgotten the pack-N-play, which means sweet Briley would be sleeping in between Kevin and I. 

Our camper has 3 bunks, and 1 queen bed. The bunks are very long. We also have 2 tvs.

At bedtime, we put on a movie for the boys, and lay in bed watching our tv. As you can imagine, reception wasn't great in the middle of nowhere, while the boys watched Alvin and the Chipmunks:Chipwrecked for the 13th time; Kevin and I watched an entire hour of Ireland cheese making. Briley finally fell asleep stretched out in the middle of the bed, suffice to say, we didn't get much sleep that night.

Saturday morning we woke up ready to start our adventure, and it was drizzling. We packed up anyways, and headed to go hiking and look at some of the falls! It was beautiful. We first stopped at George's Hole. Kevin found the name very humorous, and proceeded with many "Honey, I want to go to George's Hole. Do you want to see his hole?" Sometimes, he's worse than the kids. 

 We got out and let Abby off of her leash. (Another perk of camping) Abby loves our camping adventures because she's allowed to get off of her leash and run as fast as she can and sniff all sorts of good smells. Abby is a very smart dog, but a bit of a sissy. When it came time to go across the suspension bridge, she began shaking and had her claws digging into the wooden planks. We praised her and coaxed her along, but somewhere in the middle, she began tinkling on the bridge. Poor Abbs. 

Next, we headed to see the Falls. Kevin and I switched Briley duty on and off and away we explored.

After some exploring, I got a brilliant idea of taking a picture with all of us in front of the falls. To be cont'd...........