Hello, dears!
GUESS WHAT? I recently got to meet one of my pen pals and blogger friends, the amazing Charis Rae! She and her family visited our farm and spent the night in our guest house last week, and we all had SO much fun together, ahhh!
Charis is pen pals with Megan and I, and her sister is pen pals with my sister Carmen. It was super neat to see each other in real life for the first time! The rest of our siblings got along wonderfully too, and it was just all around a lovely time. 🙂
Enjoy some of my favorite photos from their visit!
Charis’ family came on a Thursday evening, so we didn’t do a lot that night. We mostly jumped up and down and shrieked and hugged each other, and then ate watermelon and chips while we all talked in the great room. 🙂 The next day, we showed them around a bit, and brought out a few bunnies to pet. (Can you spot a bunny in the corner of this photo?) Isn’t Charis pretty? ❤
After that, the kids loaded up onto the Mule (it’s like an ATV, not an animal 😉 ), and we had a blast driving all around the farm with them. Maggie came along too, of course.
Charis, Megan, and I rode standing up in the Mule bed; our brothers sat in the front; and the younger girls sat in the back.
Standing in the back has is pros and cons. You get a lovely strong breeze and a great view, but you also have no roof to shield you from overhanging branches and briers. Heh. But after a few close calls and plenty of ducking, we emerged unscathed. 😉
This pretty butterfly came along for the ride for a few seconds, while I tried to photograph it without falling off the Mule. Thankfully, I succeeded.
After an hour or so of exploring, we interrupted our Mule ride to explore one of the creeks on our farm. The shade and cold water felt wonderful after being out in the hot sun, because MAN, that was a hot day. (Side note: aren’t the girls adorable here??)
Fallen logs provide much entertainment. Especially for boys who like to climb.
Be prepared for many photos of this little cutie, because SHE. IS. ADORABLE.
“Can you look for rocks with me?”
Summer is… hot days and sunshine, Mule rides with friends, wading in the creek, and…
Building sandcastles by the water!
“WE’RE AT THE BEEEEEACH!”
This photo is a bit blurry but I’m adding it anyway because it makes me smile. 🙂
Here’s how the sandcastle turned out. It had turrets and lots of doors which Charis’ youngest sister put all around the bottom at one point, but maybe those additions were after this photo. Anyway, Charis’ brother also found a random jawbone which he and Jeff used it to make a smiling (or grimacing) face on one side. Beautiful, just beautiful.
After we’d finished building it, Jeff and Charis’ brother brought some huge flat stones to place in front of the castle. This is her brother’s contribution. O.o
When the castle was complete, we moved on to skipping rocks. Or attempting to. Jeff kept picking up big or oddly-shaped rocks and asking if we thought he could skip them or not. Usually we thought not, and usually we were right. 😛
A little blurry again (the lighting was bad in the shade), but I think this photo is so neat. Doesn’t it look like she’s is standing in glowing water?
After a more rock-skipping and the start of dam-building, we decided we’d better head back for lunch. It turns out lunch wasn’t quite ready, so we passed the time by showing Charis our room and playing teddy bears with her little sister. Guys, this photo… *heart eyes*
The kids ate lunch outside on the trampoline, finishing off with some tasty popsicles. Our siblings obligingly let us get an “aesthetic” picture before they consumed them. 😛
A few more popsicle pictures…
Mmm, now I’m hungry. XD Anyway, by the time we were done with lunch, they were almost ready to go. 😦 Thankfully we had time to get a group picture, plus play Psychiatrist together. (Ever played that?) Here’s the “normal” group picture…
And of course we had to get a goofy picture too. I must say, we girls did a pretty spectacular job with our expressions. *nods* Apparently the boys didn’t share my opinion. :’D I don’t think they got the memo, heh heh.
*happy sigh* It was a wonderful two days. Hopefully they can come visit again sometime soon! Meeting Charis made me extra thankful for the internet, because we wouldn’t have known each other existed without it! For all its problems, the internet can be pretty great.
Which photo was your favorite? Have you ever met a pen pal or online friend in real life? What is your favorite summer activity?
Thanks so much for reading, dears, and have a lovely day!
***Allison***
P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D3400 and a 35mm lens. Edited with picmonkey.com.
P. P. S. YAYAYAY, the Summer Bored Games have officially started! Check out the first challenges here.
Allison Marie 
Ah yay! I loved seeing these. 🙂 They were RATHER nostalgic. 😀 Also I think it’s so funny that Carmen and her friend have such similar glasses! XD ALSO THE BOYS IN THE LAST PICTURE. XD
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I’M SO GLAD! I know, right? ❤ Ha ha, YES, I noticed that too! And HAHAHA YEAH.
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That sounds so fun!! It’s great that you could meet such a good friend from the internet! My favorite picture was the second to last, great post 😂
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It WAS fun! 😀 I love that photo too. 🙂 Thanks, Lizzy!
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That sounds awesome! And super fun!!! Last year I started writing to a girl who I met through a Focus on the Family Magazine. We still have not met, but know each other so well it seems like we have! I can’t wait ’till the day I can make a post like this. Ha Ha! Have a GREAT day Allison!
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IT WAS GREAT! Ahh, really? That’s super neat! I hope you get to meet your friend too! Thanks for the comment, Fiona. 🙂
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My pleasure!
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Looks like you guys had an AMAZING time!!
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We sure did!
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Ahh, what fun!! It’s so great you got lots of beautiful photographs so now you will never forget!! Haha, I love the last picture! I laughed when I saw Logan’s serious expression next to all your goofy ones.
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YESSSS, I was so happy that they turned out! HAHA yeah, the last picture was hilarious. XD
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Beautiful looks like WVA! Lol. 🙌❤️ a fun time by all captured!! PS. I shoot a Sony Camera!! 🙌❤️
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Thank you! 😀 That’s great!
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L-O-V-E all these photos!!! I have had multiple pen pals in the past, they are so much fun to have!!!
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Aww, thank you! YES, pen pals are the best. 🙂
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Especially since technology is such a big part of this world now, its alot of fun to send letters instead of texts!
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Definitely!
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Do you have any suggestions to where i could get another nice penpal? I lost touch with my penpal unfortunately.
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Aww, that’s too bad. I’m not sure… So far I’ve mostly been pen pals with my blogger friends. Maybe ask some of them you know pretty well if they’d like to be pen pals with you? I wish I could be your pen pal, but I can’t keep up with the ones I already have. :’D Hope you find one!
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LOL, I get that, thanks so much!!!
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Yay! That sounds like such a fun time!
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It sure was!
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Oooh that was so cool!
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YESSS! 😀
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Oooh, it looks amazing! You sure did have a lot of fun. 😀 Popsicles are perfect for hot days (I’m not sure if they beat ice cream though… :P). 🍡🍦
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It was great! Heh heh, I agree. 😉
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AHHH, THIS MADE ME WANT TO MEET YOU GUYS EVEN MORE. It seems like you had a great time, and you got some lovely pictures! I really love the colors in this one:
This was such a fun post to read! 😀
-Clara ❤
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AHHHH I KNOW, SAME. Now I want to meet ALLLL my pen pals. XD We definitely had a great time, and thank you! Ooh yes, that’s actually one of my favorites for the same reason. 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed the post!
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Aw, this is amazing! Glad to see you all made some awesome memories! Check out my blog if you would like 🙂
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We did indeed. ❤ Sure, I'll go check out your blog! 🙂
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This whole post just made me so excited for the day we get to meet y’all!! 😀 That is so awesome that y’all got to meet another pen pal! 😀 I love the last picture. XD XD Also, Charis’s little sister. IS SO CUTE. Great post and awesome pictures! 😀
-Laura ❤ 🙂
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YESSSSS SAME. It was so much fun! And hee hee, me too. XD YES. I. KNOW. She is absolutely adorable. I’m so glad you enjoyed the post, dear!
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😄😄😄
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Oh!! Sounds like you all had so much fun and I love all of the photos!!
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We sure did! Thanks, Kaelyn!
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Awesome!!
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Why does Charis’s arm look so weird in the last picture?
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Heh heh, because she has double-jointed elbows like me! 😛
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I still can’t believe y’all met each other! So fun 😁I love how much all their siblings look alike. Great pics too! I did get to meet some online friends last summer which was so much fun 😀 I would love to meet more blogging/pen pal/online friends though!
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I KNOW ME EITHER. O.o Yeah, it’s so fun to see family resemblances! Thanks so much, Isabel! Ahh, that’s great. Meeting blogging friends is super fun. 🙂
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A wonderful time was had by all. It is so nice that both families really liked beingwith each other. Photos are great. Good Job Allison.
Marion
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You’re exactly right! Thanks so much, Marion. 🙂
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Thank You Allison for sharing your time with your pen pal.
Joan
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My pleasure, Joan!
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Allison Thank You for all the pictures of you and your pen pal. happy that the youngest to the oldest had fun being together.
Marilyn
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My pleasure, Marilyn! 😀 YES!
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AHH I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED. I’m still in shock. I had the most LOVELY time with you, Megan, and the rest of your beautiful, sweet family. Thank you all so much for such an amazing time and wonderful memories! *hugs*
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ME. EITHER. :O Awwwwww, I’m SO glad to hear that, and SAME, MY FRIEND. It was absolutely wonderful to meet you guys in real life. ❤ *hugs you back*
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Hey Alison! Your pictures are so awesome! I use my mom’s phone, and she wants me to use her Nikon camera, but it’s so complicated! Could you do a step by step in how to do it? Because yours seem so nice, I want to learn from the best! If not, you could recommend some videos to me.
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Thank you so much! Oh yeah, I totally understand – DSLRs ARE super confusing at first! I’ve thought about making a DSLR settings post before, so I think now I’ll actually make it. 😉 I don’t have any specific videos to recommend to you, but have you heard of Skillshare? They have TONS of great educational videos about photography, art, and more. You should check them out!
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Mor Plaisir! Well, at least I know I’m not alone! Yeah, I’ll check it out!
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