4th of July in Dahlonega

The 4th of July weekend this year was special because my entire family made a trip up to Dahlonega, GA to stay in a "cabin" together for four nights. It was 13 people all in one house! I can't remember the last time my whole family traveled somewhere together so the trip was long overdue. I figured it would be accompanied by some stress, and it was, but it ended up being relaxing and rejuvenating as well.

We arrived on Wednesday evening but had to get up super early for the 2013 Peachtree Road Race 10k. Kyle and I have run it the past two years with Ashley and we didn't want to break the tradition this year. Actually, part of the reason we settled on Dahlonega for our stay was because of it's closeness to Atlanta. My parents watched the kids for us while Kyle, Casey and myself ran the race. Phillip and Ashley started later than us so we never actually met up with them at the race. It's the largest 10k in the world and it's my absolute favorite race.  I don't want to talk too much about it now because I plan to blog about it soon. 

 After returning to the cabin after the race, we made a little trip over to a local winery for some sips of wine. Our kids did not mesh well with the place so we just explored the vineyard while my parents and Amber and her boyfriend Mateus sipped some wine together inside. My mom ended up getting some wine made from honey, delicious!

The rest of the day Thursday we just hung around the cabin, played with sparklers and welcomed the Dashevsky family when they arrived. 

Matues is a huge hit among the little ones :)

 On Friday we all hiked the Amicalola Falls, panned for gold, and relaxed around the house. The falls were beautiful and the weather was breezy and cool which made the hike comfortable. (well, besides the panic attacks I kept having because of my kids being so high up with drop-offs just a few feet away!!) We walked up 400+ stairs for an amazing view!

the whole group before Mateus had to head back to school

This happened a lot at the cabin <3

On Saturday morning everyone split up to do their own thing. My mom and Casey went kayaking and it ended up turing into a scary little adventure for the two of them. My dad and Ashley stayed back at the house to prepare for Ashley and Phillip's gender reveal party while the rest of us headed to a farm thing to see some animals. The "animal encounter" ended up being very weird and very overpriced.  When we returned back from the animals, Phillip's family arrived so we could share a meal together and find out the gender of their baby. Ashley blogged about how they did it here. I was wrong in my guess because the baby is a GIRL! Yay! 

weird.

After the party, we changed into our 4th of July gear and headed to downtown Dahlonega for the fireworks that had been postponed on the 4th due to rain. Casey and I made tie-dye shirts for us and the kids to wear which was fun. Well, it ended up raining just as the fireworks were starting but we were still able to enjoy them! 

On Sunday we said goodbye to the cabin and headed back to Savannah. Dahlonega was beautiful and I hope we are able to visit again one day. On the way home we stopped by to see the house Ashley and Phillip are under contract with, very excited for them! It was amazing having my entire family in one place, I would love to make it a yearly tradition. <3