Family Fun Day: Operation Epic FAIL...

Helen, GA was featured in Family Fun magazine last month. We have been to Helen before...so I was surprised to see it featured in the magazine. We have a little bit of a running joke about most of our experiences there. Since Helen is only 45 minutes away from our home town, we decided it would be a great family day...good. cheap. fun. Annnnd a chance for it to redeem our opinion of it...

Yesterday, we finally loaded up the kids and headed north.
Things started off well:

A stop at Cleveland Donuts for arguably the best apple fritters in North East Georgia.

In under an hour, we arrive in Helen...full of hope for a fantastic family fun day...


This is where Family Fun Day: Operation Epic FAIL begins:
Charlemagne's Kingdom. A huge model railroad...hoping it would be right up Eli's alley.
I called last week to make sure they would be open...
Closed.



Windmill attached to a hotel.
Closed.

We were here at 11:36 am.

Fail.

And the Toy Store...

Closed.

Let's have lunch here!!

Read the sign...

Closed.

We thought about parking and walking around the lovely town of Helen...

This lady came over and (not so nicely) let us know that we were in

'employees only' parking.

If we wanted to park, we would have to pay her $4.00.

Seriously?!?!?!

Everything is CLOSED!!!

There should be no employees within 5 miles of here!!

Evidence of the number of competitors for our parking place.

Helen is a 'Bavarian Village'...while we were not planning on staying the night, Tuscan Villas had 'No Vacancy.'

(We thought it was a tad strange that there were 'Tuscan Villas' in 'Bavaria'...but we are really in North Georgia, lest we forget...)

The Christmas Shoppe

Closed.

Until May 21, 2011.

Want some pizza?

Too bad.

Closed.

Things started to look up when we stopped at Nora Mill.

We had been here before and fed the trout behind the mill.

At first glance, we feared the trout had also closed up shoppe for the winter.

But, good news, if you throw fish food at them,

they will indeed surface from their wintry hiding spots and put on a good show.

Thank you, trout.

Happy something has worked out for the family fun day.

Epic FAIL may be a bit of an exaggeration....

Babyland General Hospital was open for business.

If you, like me, were a young child in the early 80's you too would be excited to visit the birth place of Cabbage Patch Kids.

Check your adoption papers, ladies, Xavier Roberts made those babies in

CLEVELAND, GEORGIA.

I hate to be the barer of bad news...

but...the Cabbage Patch business...

dare I say...

She ain't what she used to be...

We nearly had the place all to ourselves.
Which begs the question,

"How does Mr. Roberts fund this 80's-doll-frenzy-mecca?"

We may never know.

Here is Chloe watching a Cabbage Patch baby being born.

Oh. Yes. They. Do.

Complete with corny, dead pan humor and lingo...

I will spare you the gory details.

Chloe got to name her:

Elizabeth.

Awwwwwwwweeeee.

And we could have adopted this very baby!!!

For $225.

Sorry, Elizabeth...God must have another family for you today.

Watching Elizabeth get cleaned up and weighed.

1 lb. 11 oz.

15 inches long.

Chloe and Elizabeth...and the other visitor that was there.

Chloe and I in front of 'Mother Tree.'

Those heads in the cabbage...yep...they move.

I think for little girls, this may be a magical place.

For big girls with fond memories of their Cabbage Patch dolls...

a little creepy.