Dahlonega & Helen

  Babymoon, Day 3:  On Monday we left at 11am for Dahlonega. It was really rainy this day until 3pm. I had texted my cousin Jessica (who is due with her fourth baby in about 6 weeks!), asking about the town since she had lived there for a year or two when she went to the college there. She recommended we eat at Crimson Moon for lunch because she remembered it being really good, however, we didn't know until that day that it is closed on Mondays. We walked around under the awning, trying not to get soaked from the rain between going into the shops. We got 1/2 pounds of fudge, trying four different flavors. Tigerbutter is my favorite! Then at the General store we got rock candy, tea tree oil soap, and Michael bought bacon cheddar crickets for Brian.. yes, you read that right.. Gross! For lunch we ate at a little place called Picnic Cafe. I got the Georgia peach chicken salad on their cracked wheat bread (I wish they sold the loaves!) w/ tomato bisque, and we bought a slice of pina colada cheesecake to go.

   Back at the cabin we hung up and I started a puzzle that was on the shelf while Michael worked on the pants for his Star Wars costume. When I got tired of the puzzle, I went back to reading and rested while Michael took a shower before asking me to take pictures of him. We drove to the Helton Creek waterfall at the end of our neighborhood and took pictures there with Sasha, but that will gets its own post since we took those pictures on the Canon. After dinner I sat in the bed with Michael while he worked on the pants some more and I watched half of "the Martian". 
   As a pregnancy note, I told Michael that I was feeling crampy on the way back from Dahloega along with a few other times that day, but since crampy is linked to thinking something could be wrong with the baby, I described it more accurate by saying my intestines felt like they were being smashed since Emma keeps growing. I walked around inside and laid with my legs straight out, attempting to "uncramp" my organs. (Also we both agreed that its a good idea to keep asking the sonogram techs to check that our baby is still a girl. We don't really want to be surprised in that way in July.) Another note is that when I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (usually twice), once I lay down again, I can feel her moving a bunch. It makes me wonder if she just woke up or if she's moving all night but the feeling of her kicking or rolling isn't painful, so I don't notice it while I'm sleeping. 

   Babymoon, Day 5: (I skipped day 4 for the moment because that post has a lot of pictures) On Wednesday morning we stopped by Neel Gap outfitters again so Michael could get a shirt. His says "When I'm in the mountains, I'm home" (or something like that, but he never wore it during the trip and I forgot to remind him).  We stopped by the store called "Amish stuff" and Michael kindly took a picture of me next to the World's Largest Amish Chair. I bought a jar of strawberry rhubarb jam and when I pointed out an old fashioned high chair, he noticed that the one next to it was demonstrating how if you turned it so it was on the ground, it became a rocking horse! Those Amish people are so creative!

   We drove to Helen where it continued to rain until 5pm. We stopped at the Dollar General there so I could buy crackers for my jam and Michael picked up an umbrella since we had brought my car for the trip and I say umbrellas are for wimps. But it was helpful since we were walking around in the rain for a bit, rather than just running into one building. We ate at a place called Cafe International for lunch and shared the cheesy bratwurst with sauerkraut and Ruben sandwich. There wasn't much else for us to do there since most of the places were closed and we didn't want to visit the cabbage patch "doll hospital" called BabyLand (since my mom asked if we were going to go there).

 ^^ I had to take that one for you, best friend! ;)

  We didn't want to pay for parking, so we stayed close to the Wendy's that we parked at. We bought boiled peanuts from an old man in a wooden building, as well as candy from another tiny shop, and soap from other small places that were open. I was craving ice cream, but that place was closed too! So we went to Hofers instead and I got a glazed donut twist.

  On the way home we stopped by Dukes Creek Falls since it had mostly stopped raining. However, it started coming down on the hike back to the car. Michael continued to be so very chivalrous with the umbrella, trying to hold me close so we both fit under it. I made sure to tell him that I appreciated how nice he was being, but that I am anti-umbrella and much preferred just using my jacket hood to "shield" myself. Sometimes he says he feels like he can't do anything right (if I tend to be in a cranky mood). He didn't say it during this week, but I felt like that was a type of situation where he might feel that way, so I made sure to tell him that he was doing everything exactly right. I told him that I enjoying how nice he was trying to be, even though I preferred to not be under the umbrella. That it was more comfortable for me that way and I held his hand for part of the way instead.

   Back at home I took a short nap, then got on my phone while Michael kept napping. Although the Wifi wasn't working, I was able to edit all the pictures I wanted on Instagram. Even though they all "failed" to post, that was fine because I just wanted the edits saved, not for the app to post my favorite 38 pictures. When Michael woke up he suggested we drive to Wal-Mart in Blairsville to buy Star Wars: Rogue One (even though he's watched it at least 20 times in the past few weeks), and I agreed because I still wanted ice cream. I commented that we were "Wifi addicts" because once we had service in town we just sat in the car in the parking lot on our phones for ten minutes before going inside, updating ourselves on the world. We watched the thunderstorms on the way home with my favorite lightning- the kind that lights up the whole sky for a second. We sat and chatted for a bit while I ate my second ice cream cone, then Michael gave me a seven minute lotion massage since he promised that for me after I drove to Reynold's to pick up make up supplies for him last week.