I lived in Maryland for about four years, and in that time I went to my grandmother's house a lot. Every Time my cousins and I went over to that house, we would always do the same things. I didn't know it at the time, but we were very predictable. Even to this day we still do the same things, it's kind of weird, and it never gets old.

When I was about 8 or 9, I don't remember, I went to visit my grandmother in Maryland. My cousins and I got out of the car, knowing exactly where we were going first. We jumped out of the car and ran straight for the pool. When we got there, we threw off our shirts and jumped in. My brother jumped in first, and immediately complained how cold it was. “Shut up Nick,” Id then respond . Even though I was the only swimmer there, I ironically jumped in last. We got used to the water, but then got bored fast. My cousin Harmon then came out of the shed with a boogie board. We all give each other the same look, and then we all go get boogie boards. We all go to the deep end of the pool and get into a line. We put our boards into the pool and back up. We then ran into the pool and jumped onto the boards. Our plan was to surf across the pool, but of course it didn't work very well. Our boards ended up stopping as soon as we jumped on them, and if we were lucky, we’d sink with the board, but we would mostly just completely fall off.  We would do this for hours on end and then finally decided to stop. Then we would try to do front flips, but soon get bored and go inside.

After getting changed and drying off, we then adventured back outside. We’d then bring whatever we could , things such nerf guns, walkie talkies, and gear to make us look cool. That was pretty much the only reason we had walkie talkies, and we barely used them. I was always on a team with Harmon, I don't know why but I always was. I imagined that we would have a lot of our parents playing with us, but then I quickly rejected it because it was a horrid sight. I didn't miss that though. Harmon and I would then go to our side of the yard and plan our attack. Our plan was to go left and take them by surprise. Our didn't go very well and we’d eventually split up. I ran into the other team, this was bad because it was me vs them, no Harmon to back me up. I ran. I don't know where i was running, but I just ran.  I remember hearing “I'm out!”  I quickly turned around and saw Harmon hit Nick with the nerf gun.  I thought that was sweet, and gathered the courage to turn around and shoot my pursuer, I shot towards his general direction and hit him, surprisingly. Harmon and I high fived. Then we proceed to gather ammo, and restart. My team would win and lose, it was pretty balanced, but somebody would always say it wasn't. We would play until it was too dark, then we would go inside and do the exact same thing. I had a nerf shotgun, so i was really excited to go inside because it was close quarters combat and my gun sucks at long range.  I could finally do some lethal damage. Nick, Harmon, and Denver all had long range weapons, so i was ready to destroy them. We go inside and split into teams, this time it was a free for all. No teams. The first game started, I darted for cover and found a nice “suprise point.” I get ready to demolish and see my first target, Harmon. Unfortunately he sees me too, and I see him throw up the symbol for a truce. I solemnly agree and wave for him to follow me. We ran towards the laundry room and held out position. We waited and waited, but we saw nothing. We investigated the silence and were ambushed by Denver. Denver shot at me and missed by an inch. The bullet had hit the wall and bounced on the floor. Harmon and I had eventually got to cover, but I saw an opportunity and took it. I turn to Harmon and fire at him. He goes down. I feel like a such a bad teammate but I don't really care. Then I hear Nick run down the stairs shooting at denver. I wanted to help Denver out, so I quickly shot at Nick, all three of my shots hit nick right in the chest. “HA YES!”, I say. It's just me and Denver, and before I realize to shoot at him, Denver shoots me right in the face.  I was too slow. These nerf games were always so much fun, I always look back on these moments and realize how awesome I was. We clean up and get ready to start a new game, but I heard Grammy (my grandmother) yell “Dinner Time Boys!”

We all got to the table in a flash, sitting in our regular seats. Harmon was at the head of the table, I was on his right, and Denver was on his left. Nick sat next to denver. My Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, Grammy, and my Grandfather all join us. Hamburgers, my favorite. We all sat in our seats, awaiting our awesome dinner. We got our food and scarfed it down. Harmon and I both order our parents to give us more food. They rolled their eyes and got us another serving of mac and cheese.  Grammy asks us about our day and like kids we were we just said “awesome”, thats it, nothing else. We never really cared about their questions. Looking back at that moment I realize that was a stupid thing to do. We continue to talk. My parents talk about how good I am at school. I think to myself: “what else could she say to make me look like a perfect child?” I was happy to say the least. After about an hour of talking and eating, it was time to leave. All of us sighed and dragged our feet towards the car. We slowly get into the car and I run for the fridge, I grab four sodas and run back to the car. Mission Accomplished. I look back on all these moments and remember them so clearly. Something about Family Memories are so vivid.

Have you ever seen the movie Home Alone? Remember when one kid gets left when the family goes on vacation. When the kid realizes he's alone, he jumps up and down, and he goes absolutely crazy. But after a few days of being absolute bonkers, he starts to miss his family.  Then when his family comes back home, he is ecstatic to see them. Family memories are like concrete in your mind. Look back on Memories, how many are with Family. Yeah a lot I know. Family memories are remembered, Always. Don't let them pass you by.