The Visit to Our Cousin's

This summer we moved to North Carolina, which means we were close enough to visit our White cousins, whom we had net been able to see for many years.  We had a lot of fun, and were really busy.  We got there Thursday afternoon after a four hour drive, which went by really fast.  Once there all the kids had to re-meet the cousins and aunts and uncles.  Then everyone was happy and went off to play.  The girls all got together to play dolls and do hair and talk, and the boys were bent on having a war using Micheal and Ryan's Nerf guns (when they weren't playing the computer or Wii).  Jessica, Emily, and Megan went blackberry picking and came home with quite a few considering the prickliness of the bramble.  Megan showed them the ruins of the old coal mines.  We went to the pool and stayed for a long time.  Everyone had fun, especially David in the little kid pool.  Everyone had a lot of fun swimming in the deep end and jumping off the diving board.  It was lucky we went home when we did, because after we got home it started to down pour.)  We also went to the elementary school's ball field to play kickball.  It was girl's against boys, and the boys beat the girls pretty badly.  But that was ok, it was hot and everyone that played had a lot of fun.  There were quite a few good kicks made and catches caught.  (By the way, a giant-sized blue tennis ball makes a really great kickball.)  But it was a hot afternoon, so eventually we went home.  The next day everyone got on swim suits and piled into the cars and we drove to Belle Island.  The day was overcast, which turned out to be great because then it wasn't too hot.  We crossed the big pedestrian bridge.  It is always an interesting feeling to be able to look down and see water and look up and see a ceiling of concrete (the bridge) and the sky, and be suspended in air between the two.  No one fell off though.  When we got to the island we started walking down the path, and stopping to look at all the historical notes and old buildings.  When the perfect spot had been found everyone got into the warm water inside a spot sheltered from the current.  We swam around and around and found lots of clam shells.  Then the younger kids started to get tired so we followed my mom's advice, "Always leave while everyone is still happy."  So we trekked back to the bridge.  We followed a path past pieces of equipment left over from the old hydroelectric plant, crumbling buildings from the Civil War prison and steel plant.  We got back to the bridge and finished crossing it just as the sky started sprinkling rain.  We grouped together again for a group picture and then went home.  The big trip on Saturday was our trip to the Maymount Zoo and Gardens and the following lunch/dinner at Mimi's Pizza Place.  At Maymount we stopped first at the petting zoo and petted the goats and watched the chickens.  Then we walked and saw deer and raptors and owls.  We didn't see the bear, but that was ok.  Halfway past the animals and halfway to the Japanese gardens we stopped to explore a bamboo forest full of little pathways and so dense that once you were in it it seemed hard to believe there was a whole city and zoo outside the bamboo poles.  Actually, the whole Maymount zoo and gardens was like that- once in, it was hard to think it was surrounded by buildings.  The trees were so tall and old.  We loved the poplars, which were great for climbing.  The Japanese garden was beautiful and probably wouldn've been peaceful, if not for the 14 kids exploring and climbing over the rocks and looking at the brilliantly colored giant fish.  It was fun to jump from stone to stone across the fish pond and to see the huge old trees.   Even though everyone was having fun it was kind of sad to walk up the steps to the Italian garden and see the stairs leading up to the rest of the park.  But everyone was a good sport and climbed them and looked at the waterfalls and flowers.  We walked to the carriage houses to look at the multiple differently shaped and colored carriages.  Ones of note were the children's buggy pulled by a dog, the governess's wicker basket-like buggy, the big family carriages, and the warm and cozy looking winter sleigh.  Then Uncle Kurt, Jared, and mom went to get the cars while the kids climbed on the huge old magnolia trees.  Right as everyone got into the cars it began sprinkling again.  We drove to Mimi's pizza for a well deserved rest and ate a lot and a lot of pizza.  Then we drove home again and played.  The girls set up a beauty salon and curled hair.  The boys grabbed their guns and swords.  On Sunday we went to church.  It was amazing that we, 18 people, fit onto one bench and everyone sat more-or-less quietly.  On Monday we left for home after saying goodbye to the cousins, who were leaving for a day at D.C.  We came home to a quiet house (funny how quiet a house can be, even with 8 kids) and started to go on with regular life again.  We had so much fun do everything we did.  Hopefully the cousins can visit us and we can visit them more often.