We attended this year's LLL conference in Helen, Georgia, at Unicoi State Park. This was the second year the conference was held in this beautiful setting. I went to many sessions ang gained lots of helful information. Chris entertained Caroline and took her to a few sessions led by park rangers as well as some of the adult sessions, too. Cecilia hung out with me, of course. We had a picnic dinner one evening, with yummy sandwiches - homemade bread, even! The kids enjoyed looking at the river and playing on the playground. Cecilia enjoyed the picnic in her own way:
After the picnic, we headed back to the lodge for the Bluegrass Jamboree (or Jambaroo, as Caroline called it). Adults enjoyed the music while the kids enjoyed dancing together.
Cecilia just rode around with me to all the sessions, napping when she felt like it. Here she is after one of my Saturday sessions:
Saturday evening, we had a new leader induction ceremony at the lake. I officially became a leader right after Christmas, so I was included in the ceremony. There were several new leaders this year! We all gathered on the shore of the lake. Seven candles on a wreath were lit to represent the seven founders of La Leche League. The wreath was placed on the lake, where it floated out a little ways (some of the older kids had fun retrieving it later!). Then each new leader received her pin and placed a candle in the water at the shore as her sponsoring leader threw a pebble into the lake to illustrate the "ripple effect" of how new leaders are trained by other leaders, and La Leche League has spread across th world in the last 50 years. Marian Tompson, one of the original seven leaders, was there. She handed me my pin, so that was really special... one of the founders who'd begun this organization 50 years previous was now giving me my pin as a new leader!
Afte the ceremony, we gathered in a picnic shelter near the lake and had Girl Scout cookies. Caroline made a friend and had a lot of fun playing with her.
On Sunday, we enjoyed walking around Helen for a bit before heading home. We went to the bakery and bought some pastries as a treat, and we went into several interesting shops, including the toy store. which has unique toys, several wooden ones that are handmade on site. Helen is such a fun little town, and it will be a great place to come when the girls are older and we can take them tubing in the river here!
What a fun and educational weekend!!
