Canoeing on the Chestatee!

Yesterday we went canoeing in Dahlonega, and it was AWESOME! I wish I could go every week!! And we saw a bunch of things like:

• kingfishers
• herons
• minnows & carp
• snails
• hawks
• turtles

And boy, there was a ton of turtles!! I couldn't even count how many there were! Most of them were fairly large, and this is what they looked like:

It was 6 miles from start to finish, and I think that was my favorite 6 miles anything ever! 

We had a half-way point mark, which was a fairly large beach. We stopped for almost an hour, and then moved on. There were several small rapids, but nothing really scary. It took us almost exactly 3 hours to get from start to finish, 2 hours if you didn't stop at the beach. But it was really fun, and I hope we get to go back pretty soon.

This is the beach we stopped at with some of the canoes. (Yes, we went with a big, homeschooling group):

And this is a picture from the front of our canoe when we were about to push off from the beach:

If you ever want to go canoeing, I would highly recommend Appalachian Outfitters in Dahlonega! It is AMAZING!! 

Well, that's all for now. See you later!

Wedding!

A few weekends ago, me and my family went down to Jacksonville Beach, Florida for Mama's cousin Matthew's (Matt's) wedding. The wedding was short but sweet, and I got to be the flower girl!!!!!!! Don't I look cute in my flower girl dress?

The church was small, and it was built in 1888, and then moved to its current location where it is now.

Over to the side, there's a cottage where the Maid of Honor, Monica (the bride), and me, at times, got ready.

After the ceremony, and before the reception, Matt and Monica allowed some time for pictures. We went to a fountain that was nearby, and took some cool pictures, and then we walked by the St. Johns River and took lots of cool pictures there, like this one.

And then we went to the reception and had dinner, and then the kids danced and had fun for a few minutes, and then Matthew and Monica had their first dance, and Monica's youngest boy Devin, during their first dance, came up to them with a plate of cheese, and they both had some cheese during their first dance!!!! I thought that was so cute!!!

Then, after that, Monica and her mom danced together, and then Matt and his mom danced together, and anybody could dance, then they did cake, and then we did more dancing, and then Monica did the bouquet toss, and then the garter removal, and then Matt threw the garter, then some more dancing.

The next morning, Matt and Monica went down to Jacksonville Beach to do some pictures of 'Trash the Dress'. Monica went barefoot (wise plan), but everybody else wore flip-flops. Then we took off our flip-flops and went down to the beach to take pictures. When we came back, all our shoes except for Matt's croc's were gone.

So other than that, I had a lot of fun!!!!!!!! 

Vacation

Last week we went on vacation! (I was extra excited because I haven't been on a vacation in a few years!) We went to Biltmore Estate!!!!! We had a nice hotel only a few minutes away from the Estate! I had so much fun!! Wednesday we drove to our hotel (that drive seemed to take forever. It took 4 hours).

Thursday we went to the Estate and got to tour it. In the House we saw lots of guest bedrooms, a dining hall, and so much more! Part of the time I felt a little lost. Then we had lunch, and after that, we went and did a bunch of other stuff. We saw a Birds of Prey show, and they had an Eastern Screech-Owl (it was tiny), a Red-tailed Hawk, a Barred Owl, and a Great Horned Owl. They also had a Turkey Vulture. (All of the birds had been found with an injury so they could never go back into the wild. The Great Horned Owl had a wing injury. It had been swooping to get something, and its left wing was caught in a barbed-wire fence, and it was left hanging until it was found. Poor owl.)

We saw a thing on erosion, something with bees and honey, glanced at something with a water wheel, and also got to take turns pulling a one-thousand pound log with ropes. That was hard.
Then we went to the farmyard and got to hold chicks, and pet a baby goat, and we got to pet two horses named Bert and Ernie, and got to gather eggs. Then we went to the barn and I got Moose Tracks icecream, and after we finished our ice cream, me and Cullen got to play on a wagon. That was fun. And then, after that, we went to the winery, and we got to see how they make their wine. Then Mama, Ken, Aunt Beckie, and Jonnia got to try wine and me and Cullen (my cousin) got to try the best grapejuice I've ever tasted and maybe the best I'll ever taste. And after that, we went to the flower garden. Mama loved that. We had lots of fun there, too. After that, we all went out and had supper together at Cracker Barrel. I had mac-'n-cheese that was good. I also had a biscuit with butter. Yummy. Then we went back to the hotel for some sleep. Then on Friday we left there for home and got a little lost, but we ended up seeing an old copper mine. That was cool. So I had lots of fun that week!!

Nature Walk

Last week we went to Kennesaw Mountain Park! I had lots of fun! We got to go walking on one of the trails, play near the creek, and have a very yummy lunch: a peanut butter sandwich. Yum. When we were walking, we saw:

• lichens (lots of them)
• bloodroot flowers
• lots of moss
• a tree that had lots of reddish-pink helicopters hanging from it
• a chameleon
• and lots and lots more!!!

So I had lots of fun last Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm 8 at last!

At last! I am 8 years old, and I still can hardly believe it! I had a fun day both September 28th & 29th. The 28th was a party, and the 29th was a tea party with friends (Shelby, Katie, Alexa, and me.) So I had a lot of fun. Here are a some presents I got: An 18 inch bike, a lot of craft stuff, monkey slippers (See a post about these monkey slippers here.), some new pj's, a sleeping bag, a lantern for camping, and some other things, too. I like being 8 because then I feel like being ready for more responsibility, and I feel way older. So I really like being 8!