A Day at the Amicalola Falls

Recently, we just took a quick trip to visit Amicalola Falls in Dawsonville. It was about 45 minutes from our house. The trip was a really pleasant drive in the mountain with blue sky and colorful trees along side of the road. I was glad Mr. Rojo did the driving so I could enjoy the scenary. We went there with a couple of families friends. At first we stopped by at the pumpkin patch. After that, we headed to the Falls. We planned to picnic there and do a little hike to enjoy the leaves color in the mountain.

It was a really busy weekend. There were so many cars there but the rangers were very good at helping us parking and answering any questions. We parked and headed to the playground area. The kids were off to the playground and the adults digged in on the food. I love the Fall weather.. the cool, crisp air...

After a while, we packed up and decided to check out the Falls. We drove up to the West Ridge Falls access trail.. Ok.. We cheated, ok? We had 4 kids and 1 baby so we needed a little bit of an easy trail. This trail is perfect for any family as the trail is built with recycled tire. It was very easy to walk. There was pretty much no elevation at all.. We could even push the stroller on this trail. The trail was pretty manageable for small kids as well. I think it took us about 10-15 minutes to get from the parking lot to the viewing point of the Falls. Maybe next year we can try to hike from the base.. hehe..

Then we went up to the top of the Falls to check out the Lodge. It was a great place to stay in the park. It has an amazing view and a great restaurant with reasonable price buffet. We didn't plan to eat there but it was too good to pass up. But before dinner, we found out that the park had the Hayride every 15 minutes for free.. Did I hear someone mention 'Free'? Without hesitation, we all headed out to wait in line for the hayride. It was pretty neat ride. The ranger took us on the trail off road. The kids got a kick out of the bouncing up and down on the tractor and the fallen leaves.

Back from the hayride we headed down to check out the amazing view from the Lodge. Then off to dinner.. Food was great, friendship was even better.. We truly enjoyed our day out with our friends. It was one of the fun weekend trip we have had this year.

The park has different kinds of accomodation. There are hike-in Inn (as the name you can't drive there), the cabin, the hotel.. We really liked it there that we were thinking about vacationing there together. Now we just have to find the time that will work for everyone.

Wordless Wednesday: Help! I'm stuck!

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Pumpkin..pumpkin.. pumpkin everywhere...

A couple weekends ago we took the kids to our favorite activity of the Fall - Pumpkin patch farm. We headed North to Burt's Farm. I think this is one of the most popular pumpkin patch farm in Atlanta area. I went there with Miss J once a couple years ago on her field trip. It was very nice and very cold. So this time I came prepared. But what I didn't prepare for was how busy this would be. We had to park in the adjacent parking lot. I mean there were a lot.. a lot of families there. But surprisingly, the farm is big enough for everyone and they have a lot of pumpkins for everyone to have their own spot for the perfect Fall picture.

We first stopped at the giant pumpkins rows. I don't know how many pumpkins were there but there were a lot. And each one was as big as Mr. Z's head. It was fun for them to just try to move them around. Mr. Z had fun just hopping from one row to the next trying to see which one he could move. Poor kid, he didn't know that this was our plan to wear him out. hehe.. Oh! how I wish I could be a better photographer or know more about taking great picture. It was such a great place to take Fall pictures. The whole place was blazed in orange.

After a while, we moved on to the next section - the non-traditional pumpkin rows. Here we found white pumpkins, greenish pumpkins, pumpkins with bad acnes.. I mean seriously.. These pumpkins need to go see the dermatologists - STAT! And being as strange as he is, Mr. Z first choice of the pumpkin was the white pumpkin. That's my boy! Before we got there, we had talked to them about how many pumpkins they could pick. At first I said, one each.. then I caved and gave them two each. So what was Mr. Z next choice? The acne pumpkin!! It took quite a few words from Mr. Rojo to convince him to change to a more traditional looking pumpkin.. Nothing against those pumpkins, I just wouldn't know what to do with them.

Miss J on the other hand had some problem picking just the perfect one. She is my little shopper in training. She is really good at math so I now can tell her how much she can spend. So she was just looking for the one that perfect and was at the right price. Well, it wasn't easy but she did find the one. Then for the second one, she wanted to make sure that it was the same size. So she would pick it up and brought it to compare.. Imagine how long would that take.. Yup.. Forever...

There are other things to do there as well like a hayride. But man.. a line was long so we just didn't go on that. In the end, we ended up with a big family of pumpkins to come home with. I think it was Mr. Z who started to pick more pumpkins and said 'This one is for mommy and this one is for daddy'... Kid!

Photo Friday: Amicalola Fall

A beautiful Amicalola Falls in North Georgia mountain. This fall is practically in my neck of the wood. Well, maybe about an hour away from my house but it's close enough. The first time we went there was last year in Summer. It was a really nice small enough falls to enjoy with young kids. You can hike up the falls from the base or you can drive up to the different parking spot for easier trail. At the top of the Falls there is a lodge with beautiful view of the Sunset. There is also a great resturant just in case you want to fill up your energy before the hike or after the hike.

If you are not the hiking type, there are several picnic area that you can enjoy with your friends and let the kids have fun at the playground. Or just sit by the creek and let go of all your worries.

We really enjoyed a day there and we are thinking about getting a cabin with a few friends to stay there over night. There are many hiking trails to check out. The fall weather is so perfect for a day out. Just look at that beautiful colors of the leaves. In the next couple weeks the leaves will probably change color even more so.. Here is the little gem in my home state - Georgia.

This post is part of Photo Friday hosting at Delicious Baby. Be sure to check out other great photo from around the world.

13 Applications on my iPhone

We are part of the iNation. :) Mr. Rojo got me an iPhone several months ago courtesy of Uncle Sam with the stimulus check. Anyway, with the new upgrade that allows us to be able to use third party applications, it makes me love my iPhone even more.

Here are the top 13 applications that I have on my iPhone. Let me know if you guys have any other applications I should download.

1) Sudoku - My favorite past time game.

2) Brain Tuner Lite - This is a quick game that supposingly helps with your brain. Mr. Rojo beats me on the record but yet sometimes he still forgot the milk.

3) LockBox - A great free application for your personal info and password.

4) iDoodle2Lite - Great application when you bring your kids to church and want them to be quiet.

5) reMovem - Another great game that even a 4 years old can play.

6) Stanza - An ebook to-go.

7) Fring - Skype anyone?

8) Cellfire - A must for a couponer.

9) Balance - An easy app to track my sanity fund. See.. we each got a certain amount each month that we can use to buy whatever we want.

10) Facebook - Well, we need to learn what is FB before Miss J starts using it right? I wonder if FB will be here 10 years from now.

11) Pandora - Great personalize radio.

12) Pageonce - A good application to see where you stand with your financial accounts. Right now I just use them for my utility bills. I don't know.. I still don't feel comfortable including my bank accounts yet.

13) Urbanspoon - Can't go anywhere without this app. We gotta eat, right?

Wordless Wednesday: Look I'm underwater!

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