Downtown Helen

As a tourist town, Helen always puts out tons of Christmas lights right after Thanksgiving, so of course we took the girls down for an evening of lights and German-bakery treats along the Chattahoochee River.

I didn't take any pictures of just the lights, but Elsa really wanted a photo with this little blue-lit waterfall that she liked so much.  What I don't like is how grown-up she looks!  (She's SO proud of her new black boots!)

Thankfully she's not too grown-up yet!

Giving Thanks with friends

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parent's home in north Georgia.  My sister came down from Maine for the weekend, and we had a few friends, Andrew, Hoyt, and Lilith, join us for our meal.

My sister and Andrew taught Elsa and Nora what a "selfie" is...

... they caught on real fast!  (I love it that you can't even see Naomi in the picture!)

Instead of any of the four types of pie we had, Nora asked for just whipped cream and chocolate chips, silly girl!

Castle walk

My father has blazed a few trails around their property in Helen, GA where they are building a castle.  We met up with a little girl who lives next door and took a family hike to see the property and the progress on the castle.

We were surprised to find this little guy out and about in the winter, but it was a warmish day so maybe he was out to enjoy the day as we were.

He was pretty, but he also made me glad my girls had their boots on!

Except for Beatrice - she can still get away with just socks.

 

The trail led us by the vineyard and a future garden area to the southern gatehouse of the castle wall.

They have been working on the guest rooms in the gatehouses along the wall while waiting for final approval on the plans for the main castle building.

They finally did get approval, so the main castle has been started!  This is the base of what will be a five-story turret.

This view looks into where the great hall will be (on the left) and the open-air courtyard in the center of the castle (the mound of dirt on the right - it will be one floor up from ground level).

Here the beginning of the castle is on the left and the north side of the wall is the more finished part on the left:

This is the backside of main entrance and largest gatehouse (you can see Elsa and my sister on the road):

My father has been collecting statues for the gardens around the castle.  They are currently scattered around all the construction and in odd places.  This one is my favorite:

I haven't settled on the right caption yet, though.  

"To do the laundry, or not to do the laundry, that is the question..."

"I wonder if anyone would notice if I wear the same clothes again tomorrow?"

"I knew I should have done laundry yesterday, that was my last pair of clean underwear!"

"Will this laundry never end!"

Any other ideas?

(can you tell I hate doing laundry?)

Marthai family photo

Before you get to see the final, successful family photo, you have to endure the antics of the Crazies as they waited for the rest of the family.

(Well, after all that the Crazies couldn't quite settle down, so we'll take what we can get!)

A feast for fairies

It rained much of Thanksgiving, but in the breaks of sunshine Elsa and my sister, Naomi, worked to make sure the local fairy population had enough shelter and food.

We hope they had a merry feast with their acorn cups.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

And here a few leftover photos that I liked too much to leave out but weren't part of a collection...

A somewhat futile attempt at a sister picture:

Beatrice with my sister:

Nora playing Blokus (her new favorite game) with Joel

Elsa waiting for the Thanksgiving guests to arrive (with a checklist to make sure all three of them come!):

For some reason we play the most hilarious games of Settlers of Catan with my family...