Last week, we took a vacation to Helen, GA. This is a Bavarian town in the Appalachian foothills.
Before Tam’s mom passed, she had secretly been planning a trip to Georgia with her, Tam, Brad, and me. She was still getting brochures in the mail when we moved in. They made Tam cry, knowing the trip was never going to happen. Nancy had narrowed it down to three cities in Georgia that she wanted to go to, and seemed to be leaning towards Helen.
As Tam was recovering, she told us about the trip and how excited they were to take us on it, and how now it looked like it wouldn’t happen.
So this past November, my dad surprised me with a larger than usual Christmas present to include all three of us (since Tam is now a member of our family of three). He asked what we wanted, and even though Tam and Brad were asleep, I felt like I could speak for all of us in saying that we wanted to fulfill Nancy’s dream of going to Helen, Georgia. My dad thought that was a great idea, and told me to book it!
We decided to wait until April to go for two reasons. First, because we didn’t want to be driving around the mountains in the snow! And secondly, April 9th is the one year anniversary of our official decision to be a family of three. It is a very special day for us, as it is officially the start of our new life together.
We followed a guide from Curb Free with Cory Lee to find some wheelchair accessible things to do in Helen. One of the places he recommended was a fully accessible cabin called River Song. It is right on the river, with a deck overlooking it, it has a hot tub, a full kitchen, an accessible bathroom, everything you need. When we arrived, we were happy with the cabin. Here’s a video of the cabin:
Our first full day in Helen, we decided to do the thing Tam was most excited about– Babyland General Hospital! This is where Cabbage Patch dolls are born. Tam’s favorite toy as a kid was her Cabbage Patch Kid. She was so excited to see all the dolls and everything. I went along with it to make Tam happy, but wasn’t really looking forward to it.
We got some pictures outside the hospital with giant white stone Cabbage Patch Kids in cabbages, and of the historical collection they had. There was also a cabbage chair that’s green and leafy with a Babyland sign overhead that Tam and I had to sit in!
Next they had a series of rooms with handmade Cabbage Patch Kids. These dolls looked awesome, they clearly had been hand sewn, hand painted, their hair was sewn in one strand at a time, they were works of art. We didn’t realize this at the time, and just thought the Cabbage Patch Kids looked really nice. They had signs everywhere saying these babies were adoptable.
So we started going through the few rooms like this, and pretty early on I found a doll that I had an INSTANT connection to. She has light pink hair with a purple bow and purple eyes. She was wearing a purple bunny dress and white socks and shoes. Very few times in my life do I have an instant connection with an inanimate object. The last time I did was when I was couch shopping and found my throne chair that I love so much. You can see in the pictures how excited I was when I found her.
So I picked her up to carry her around. Tam didn’t find any dolls in that section that she fell in love with. We did find one that looked like a baby Brad. And Tam found a doll in the nursery that she liked a lot, but not enough to take home.
The next section of the building was a large store with everything Cabbage Patch related and also lots of other animal toys. They had all the commercially available Cabbage Patch Kids, as well as many cool animal plushies as well. Tam really liked this Emu plush with wild brown feathers sticking out all over the place, but decided not to get him.
There was a giant Mother Cabbage Tree in the middle of the store, more on her later. She was surrounded by Cabbage Patch Kids coming out of cabbages. We looked for outfits for my baby, who I decided to name Rose Tyler Morris. For those who don’t know, Rose Tyler is a character from Doctor Who, and the cabin River Song is also a character in Doctor Who. So it fit!
Here is a video of me going around the store with Rose!
We took Rose to the nurses to get the adoption process started, and they informed us that the cute outfits we had picked had velcro on them, which would ruin her hair and neck. Not a big deal for the commercial ones, but it was a big deal for the handmade ones. We also looked for ways I could carry Rose with me, but none seemed designed for a grown adult woman using a wheelchair. We found a carseat that we thought of attaching to the back of my wheelchair, and a series of pouches and backpacks that were designed for like 2 year olds LOL.
Next we got to see the spectacle of a brand new baby Cabbage Patch being born! We all gathered around the Mother Cabbage Tree which has lights all around it and is surrounded by baby heads in cabbages. The nurse gave Mother Cabbage some medicine to make it easier for her, she asked us to guess the gender (I guessed girl) with our fingers crossed and raised over our head. Then she took an ultrasound of Mother Cabbage and it was a girl!
We all had to tell Mother Cabbage to PUSH! Felix was really worried about all 50 people screaming PUSH at the same time LOL! Finally a baby was born. The nurse asked everyone for name suggestions. I was the only adult to give a name suggestion, and I suggested Amber.
I honestly think everyone there thought I was childlike with how much I was enjoying this spectacle! I was laughing and cheering and having so much fun! And then she chose the name I picked!!!!!! Of course I started crying! It was amazing! Brad documented all this with pictures.
Afterwards, we headed over to complete the adoption paperwork for baby Rose. It turns out that the nurse who was helping us is the one who gave Rose hair and dressed her! So she had a special connection to Rose!
We talked a lot with the nurse and as a result we had to redo the paperwork a few times because we kept distracting each other LOL!
Finally it was time for my adoption ceremony! It was super cute, and Tam got a video of it below.
Brad also got several pictures of me with Felix and Rose on my lap taking the pledge, and a final picture of us looking at dolls.
Tam and I shared a huge hug full of deep meaning, as she gave me Rose as a gift for our one year family of three anniversary.
It was sad Tam didn’t get to find her baby, since we went there for her. But I had SUCH a magical time, and she says she lived vicariously through me. Honestly Babyland was the highlight of my entire trip to Helen! I came in expecting to be mildly bored, and left feeling like I was transformed! What an awesome experience, and what a perfect way to remember our one year family of three anniversary!