Mule Camp 2010

Every small town in North Georgia has some sort of fall festival that they put on each year. Elijay has the Apple Festival, Dahlonega has Gold Rush, and Gainesville has Mule Camp. We think the name came from the fact that the town was once called Mule Camp Springs, but we are not 100% sure on that. Anyway, Mule Camp was last weekend, and since it was also Papack's birthday, we invited him and Gigi to come with us.

We got to the square around 10, and the first thing the boys did was visit a firemen's tent and get new hats and coloring books. Because who can have too many fire hats? I think we were down to six, so we sure did need two more!

There were a couple of displays of old-timey things, like blacksmithing, but we didn't get to stop and look.

Coleman wanted to get his face painted, and he chose a spider. This is a cute picture, but the funniest thing all day happened after supper that night. We were sitting at the table and Brent said, "Coleman! There's a spider on your face!" Coleman had forgotten all about his painted face and his eyes about popped out of his head! He gasped and threw his arms up in the air. By that time, Gigi, Papack, and I were about to fall out of our chairs laughing, so he quickly remembered the painted spider. It was hilarious.

a picture with Sparky

And what small town festival is complete without a Confederate soldier?

The local high school wood shops had made some displays, and the boys loved the train!

We had some Methodist bar-b-que sandwiches for lunch under the trees. It was a perfect picnic spot.

After we ate, we got some fresh Kettle Corn.

They could barely chew they stuffed so much in their mouths.

The last street we went down had a little petting zoo.

They are brushing a mule.

And there were pony rides! This was their first time on a pony, and boy did they love it!

Early on, we ran into friends who told us about a great toy-maker that sets up each year. She mentioned that they usually had bows and arrows for sale. Andrew and Coleman are really into Robin Hood right now, so we set off to find the tent. They proudly wore their bows around the festival all day, and when we got home, they had to try them out before nap. Andrew mastered his pretty quickly. He can stick his arrows all over the garage doors and windows. Coleman is close to getting his figured out. Turns out their last name suits them even better than we thought!

Mule Camp was a lot of fun for one day, but we still had to celebrate Papack's birthday! So after the ballgames, we had dinner and then chocolate cake and presents. Here's Papack and Jonathan just before bed. Jon Jon didn't get to stay up for the festivities, but he wished Papack a happy birthday before he went to sleep.

I don't know how we could have packed any more fun into one day. It was great!