After visiting family, we decided to make use of our timeshare in Clarkesville, Georgia before heading back to "real life." The area is beautiful!! We enjoyed a quiet day with just our family on Christmas Day--bagles with cream cheese & smoked salmon for breakfast--yummm--and an assortment of other treats with stuffed shells for dinner. Steve & I enjoyed watching our kids give gifts to each other. Coming from a non-gifting kind of family, I'm astounded at how good our kids are at giving gifts! Watching the joy on their faces as they watched a sibling open a gift, looking just as excited as if it were their own present, is priceless!!
Afterwards, we played a round of mini-golf that the littles could not possibly have enjoyed more! Seriously, Jake & Katie had soooo much fun! Katie kept swiping the balls on the course, and Jake somehow managed to find a way to wade through the streams winding through the course, all in pursuit of the ball, of course. ;) We also enjoyed (at least some of us did) a little tennis while the littles enjoyed playground time.
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| Somebody can't wait to open the presents |
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| Smoked Salmon and bagels were a special treat on Christmas morning |
On the best weather day, we decided to go to Tululah Gorge briefly. Really the best thing about this gorge is hiking down into the gorge, with the next best thing to just go down all the stairs to the suspension bridge & back up again, but we decided against all those stairs with all the littles in tow. The visitor center is a lot of fun for the kids though, will lots of animal displays on the bottom level & replicas of what the area used to look like in times past on the upper level.
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| It was a very pretty December day for visiting the gorge |
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| Some people are so cute they can't help themselves |
After a picnic lunch, we were off to see Minnehaha Falls. The drive to get to them was amazing--winding roads alongside the river with absolutely spectacular homes! Even the kids were delighted by the sights! The hike to see the falls is short and the falls were totally worth the trek. It was definitely chilly, but the falls were beautiful & watching Jake & Genna hold hands while blasting down the hiking trail warmed my heart!
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| Beautiful Minnehaha Falls |
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| He still wants to marry her ;) |
We also enjoyed the fantastic playgrounds at Sam Pitts Park in Clarkesville. For some reason, the area of Florida we're in just doesn't have many playgrounds. It was so much fun to see all the kids run & play, but it was especially delightful to see Katie discover the joys of slides for the first time!
We thoroughly enjoyed our time here & hope to come back exploring again!
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| The Clarkesville town square had a gazebo and lots of pretty Christmas lights |
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| Katie did not 'allow' us to have a picture with just the parents |
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| Dad has this merry-go-round spinning quite fast, but not with Katie on it. |
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| Somebody really enjoyed themselves at the park |
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| Giving Mom a kiss |
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| It is always a treat to take a bubble bath in the jetted tub |
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