While we were at Amicalola Falls, I took some pictures of the beautiful trees and I thought I would share a few of them. It was still a little early for all the trees to be changing, so there were still a lot of green leaves mixed in with the colorful ones.

Amicalola Falls is close to where we went to the pumpkin patch, so Daddy asked if we could go there. He said he hadn’t seen the falls since he was a little boy. First, we went into the park visitor center to buy drinks and to look at some of the reptiles they had on exhibit. Then, we decided to hike to the falls. The first trail we went on was the Base of the Falls trail. It took us past the reflecting pool and we got our first glimpse of the waterfall in the distance. I zoomed in with my camera to get this shot.

We continued up the somewhat steep asphalt path to one overlook, then up 175 (I think I remember the number correctly) stairs to the Base of the Falls Overlook where I took some more pictures.

After we looked at the falls for a while and caught our breath, my daddy wanted to go all the way to the top so we could look over the falls from up there. I’ve never been to the top before, so I was all for it. The sign said there were over 400 steps to the top, so we headed up the West Ridge Staircase.

There were a lot of stairs, but it wasn’t too hot outside and the stairs were actually a lot better than the asphalt surface we had been on, so we kept going. We finally made it to the top (both boys walked the whole way without complaining) and oh WOW! Was it ever worth it! The views were absolutely amazing. My camera couldn’t possibly capture how great it was up there.

Okay…so since I’d never been to the top of the falls before, I was quite shocked when we got there to see a parking lot….with cars! Who knew that you could actually just drive to the top and why didn’t they inform me? I feel like driving wouldn’t have made the experience as magnificent, though. When you exert that much energy getting to something…your prize…it makes arriving so much more joyful. It would have been too easy driving and the views wouldn’t have been nearly as great! So, we spent a little time at the top walking around and looking at all the fall foliage. Then, it was time to go back down all the stairs. Colin was still fine going down, but Eamon was scared because he could see through the metal grate stairs to the cliffs below. I tried not to actually look through them and focused on the steps ahead, but he couldn’t figure that out. He was slow, but he made it all the way back down on his own…well, with Mommy holding one hand and him holding onto the railing with the other.

When we were back on solid ground, we took the very easy, recycled tire surfaced West Ridge Falls trail around to Spring Trail which was washed-out clay and roots. Then, we took Mountain Laurel Trail and Creek Trail through the woods and along the creek, back to our van. The trees and leaves in the woods were just gorgeous. (I’ll share in another post.) The wooded trails weren’t as crowded as the other ones going to the falls, so it was a quiet, peaceful, and enjoyable walk. As a reward for their hard work hiking and climbing over 600 stairs and for their lack of grumbling and whining, we let the boys play on the playground before we left for home. Overall, we had an awesome day surrounded by nature and visiting with Grandpa.

Every year about this time we take a trip to Burt’s Pumpkin Farm. My husband says it just doesn’t feel like fall until we’ve been. This year my daddy was visiting from South Georgia and we invited him to tag along. It was chilly, and that was great because it’s always strange going to the pumpkin patch wearing shorts and a t-shirt. When we go, we let Colin pick out a pumpkin for us to carve and Eamon gets to pick out one for cooking. To cook it, I just cut the pumpkin in half horizontally, scrape out the seeds and strings, put the cut sides down onto a cookie sheet, and bake in a 300 degree oven for about 40 minutes. Then, I peel off the skin and use it for various pumpkin recipes. Our favorite is pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. I will try to post pictures of the goodies after I bake them. We also enjoy toasting some of the pumpkins seeds for a tasty snack.

First, I want to share a picture of the chrysalis while it was still beautiful and green, but looked completely different from the pictures on my earlier post. The picture is actually of a chrysalis outside because I didn’t take one of our inside chrysalis before it changed. It was also a Monarch, though. Notice the beautiful gold on the outside. It was very pretty.

This is a picture of the chrysalis the day the butterfly emerged.

Not five minutes later the boys were calling me to see the butterfly. This picture is of the butterfly immediately after coming out of the chrysalis. Its wings were still very wet.

The wings were drying in this one.

We took a few more pictures before letting it go. It flew up very high and lit in a poplar tree. As long as we stayed to watch, it never moved. I made sure that it was warm enough outside before we released it because they can’t fly if they are too cold. The butterfly should emerge from the chrysalis outside any day now and it, too should be on the way to Mexico for the winter. Check out this website. Make sure you look at the migration details. It’s truly amazing how far these little guys fly!

Stone Mountain Park usually has a designated homeschool day once a year. This year it was on Friday, October 3. We decided to go because we got free tickets from one of our wonderful friends. The boys were so excited because we haven’t been there in a long time.

We started the day with the Sky Hike because we’ve heard that the line gets longer as the day goes on. Colin had heard the advertising about it and was excited to try it out. Eamon was too little, so he and my husband sat out while Colin and I tested our skills. Since we had never experienced something like it before, we decided to go on the lowest course (there were two higher ones). I’m so glad we started there because I didn’t realize I had an acute fear of heights. By the end, after I realized the safety harness would indeed hold me up, I really enjoyed it. I would like to do a higher course some day.

Eamon’s top priority for the day was to ride the train, so we did that next. We thought it only fair since Colin picked the first thing we did. It was a nice ride around the mountain.

As soon as we got off the train, the boys wanted to play on the new mini golf course. My husband and I realized that playing with children is certainly not the competitive game we played pre-children. They really enjoyed playing and at the end, Eamon got the train to come out of the tunnel. He was very excited because he was the only one of the four of us that did it.

By that time we were all getting hungry, so we went to the van to get our lunch. We drove around to the bottom of the “walk up” trail, parked, packed our backpack, and headed up the mountain. The weather was great for a hike. When we got up to the top, we found a nice shade under a tree and had a picnic looking over the scenery below.

After lunch, we hiked back down the mountain, went back the van, and drove back around the mountain. We looked around in a few shops as we waited to watch a 4-D movie. The boys enjoyed the air blowing, water sprinkling, and smells that went along with the movie. The 3-D glasses were a fun addition to the mood, too.

We went into the barn to play with fake fruit for a while before we realized how much better we remember it from when it first opened. It seems to be pointless (pun intended) since they did away with keeping points for accomplishing tasks. The old days were better.

The last thing we did was drive over to the plantation and visited the petting zoo. Eamon was so funny petting animals. He didn’t want to be anywhere near their mouths, so he usually touched them on the back toward the tail.

I would definitely recommend Stone Mountain’s homeschool day to anyone thinking about going. The crowds weren’t bad and the price with the discount is a bargain (for those without free tickets). If you want more information about Stone Mountain Park, you can check out their website.