Making Memories \\ Photo Dump from when Family Visited

Near the end of July my aunt, uncle, and cousins came to visit us. We used to live in the same state, and we have lots of childhood memories together. :) So I was excited that they were coming, and we had some fun times! 

They got here in the evening, and we didn't do much... besides walk down the road in the dark.

The next day us older ones went to town. We went to a cute local bakery first because me and my sister wanted to get job applications (we didn't get them back in in time though, unfortunately.) We had to run back to our vehicle in a downpour, so we got a bit wet. Makes it more exciting. ;P

Next we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Yes I took a picture of my food again. Same old, same old. *sticks out tongue*

Goodwill was our next stop. Where my sister, cousin, and I tried on giant heels. *grins* That was fun. 

Some were uglier than others. *cough* xD

Then we went to Walmart. Isn't that just a great place to hang out? More like a great place to play with stuff. ;P 

Isn't that cute? :D Oh, and in the camping stuff, we found a freeze dried ice cream bar. It was very odd! It was sealed in a plastic thing, not cold at all. We should have bought it. ;D

Last stop was Arby's for $1 milkshakes. I got mocha, I think.

We brought our cousins to one of our home-school teen things that evening. And that night I think we stayed up until midnight talking... about *cough* interesting things. ;P

In the morning we got ready and drove to see some historic battlefields and such from the Civil War.

Example of what the soldiers sleeping quarters were like.

We went to a graveyard where tons of U.S. Soldiers have been buried as well.

Then this little museum of sorts.

Walking out of the museum, there was this cool view. :) Then we went down a trail- it was probably another battle site. 

The next day was Sunday, and after church we all went to my aunt and uncle's house. My two aunt and uncles who live here are from my dad's side of the family, and my aunt and uncle who came to visit are from my mom's side... so it was fun to hang out with cousins from both sides, together. *winks* We did all kinds of stuff that day. We went to the small caves nearby, then swimming in the river after. That was really fun! Walking on the rocks in the shallow parts hurt my feet, but it was worth it. We swam to a cliff that they like to jump off, and climbed up. It took me awhile, but I jumped! It's fairly high. 

This is the view from the cliff. I took this picture another day we went, but I'll put it here. Isn't it pretty?

When we were done swimming we climbed up the bank on the other side and walked up to the road... picking some apples from apple trees on the way *winks* We walked back to the house then. Our next adventure of the day was walking to a bigger cave however many miles down the road. Actually, there was enough rip-sticks and skateboards for all of us except one. I'm not very good at either, so me and my cousin, two of the three girls, were usually way behind everyone else. Because we walked a lot. I did ride the rip-stick sometimes, mostly on the sloped areas. 

The others would be way ahead, then they'd stop, we'd catch up, and they'd be off again. Anyhow, we finally got to the cave and went down in it for awhile, then climbed back out and went to some junk piles. I was wearing flip-flops, which was not a good idea. They got a bunch on mud on them from climbing up from the cave, then I had to climb over junk and stuff. We went back to the road and went ALL the way back. Me and my cousin got a lot of exercise that day!
It got dark and we went swimming again. Walking down the road, towel around my shoulders, stars and moon shining in the sky... it almost felt perfect. :) We went to the cliff again, and I jumped in twice in the dark... weren't the greatest plunges, as I got water up my nose, and my ear hurt after jumping the last time. ;P Still glad I did it.

The next morning, I got up and I couldn't walk on my heel. Actually, sometimes it hurt when I put pressure on the front of my foot too. Apparently during our adventures the day before, I had punctured a little spot on my foot or something. So I kinda just limped around... tagging along with everyone else along fields, through a culvert under the highway, and all the way to an abandoned house. I can't say that was the most enjoyable for me, as it was also hot. ;P The abandoned house was kinda interesting though- well, I'm not actually sure if it was permanently abandoned. We maybe shouldn't have gone in there. ;P
Later that day as we were all hanging out in my room, I noticed that there was red going up some of my veins on my hurting foot. So yea, it got infected, and the infection was traveling up my vein. So I had to go to the doctor, and they gave me a tetanus shot and prescribed some antibiotics and things. I wasn't very excited about taking poison pills, but I did end up doing it. 
Me, three siblings, and two cousins went and stayed at our new house that night. We weren't in it at that time. So that was pretty fun. We went to the store first and bought some snacks. Then we all piled on the floor in my brothers' room and watched a movie before going to sleep. In the morning we ate frosted flakes and watched another movie. *winks* Actually, I ate frosted flakes and cheerios. 'Cause that's definitely important. ;P 

We left after that and went back to our rental house before setting off to visit my aunt and uncle's house again. My cousin drove this time instead of my older sister, so we were on our own! Yes, I'm kinda sheltered. *shakes head*

I stayed on the cliff while the others swam, because of my infected foot. Read a little of Exiles. If you haven't read it, don't read what I took a picture of up there. Spoilers, people. ;P

After that we did other things, including going to an Amish store to buy ice cream treats and such, and walking to a really big cave.
We left for home when it was dark.

They were leaving the next morning, so we talked down in my room for quite a while. Some trips and people's visits just aren't quite long enough. They need to last at least two weeks, right? *winks* But I'm so glad they came! We had some pretty fun times. :
Make sure you guys come visit again soon!! =D


DID I ADD WAY TOO MANY LITTLE DETAILS? PROBABLY. HAVE YOU GONE ON ANY SIMILAR ADVENTURES? FAVORITE PICTURE?