Helen Turns 21

And in a surprising turn of events, Leah and I chose at the (almost) last minute to go visit Helen in Ohio for her 21st birthday!  We had WAY too much fun, and I'm sure Ohio will never be the same after experiencing the Vance girls.

We started our weekend by arriving in Cedarville at 2:30am on Friday morning.

Then we got up at 8 in order to go to breakfast at the bakery before heading over to the chapel for the Inauguration of the new President of Cedarville.  Pretty cool, actually, as we got to hear Dr. David Jeremiah preach.  If you don't know who that is, then I'll pray for you.

After over two hours of sitting, we then were able to meet up with our "Aunt" Linda for a little "family" reunion lunch.  She was there celebrating her... something year... class reunion.  Also pretty cool that Helen is going to graduate from the same college as "Aunt" Linda!

We concluded the birthday eve with a movie on the lawn: Ratatouille.  So fun to laugh with my sisters while watching one of my favorite animated films... outdoors... on a huge screen!

Saturday, the birthday day, we met the Yellow House family at the local diner for a little birthday/family brunch.  And by brunch, I mean we were there from 10 am- 12 pm. Delicious food, great atmosphere, and Caleb & Helen now have a great place off campus to go for a little food and fellowship! The owner of the diner, who took a liking to us, was kind enough to snap this photo:

After brunch, we ventured off on our own to see the sights!  We snapped a few pictures in Clifton Mills, were we saw what we believe to be the farm house from the Wizzard of Oz:

And a few pictures in Yellow Springs, where Helen was sung to several times and had the steel drums played for her once.... and received a free bracelet from a street vendor (wearing a birthday sash and crown in Yellow Springs is a REALLY good idea!):

The microphone is an inside joke, but she's never had an actual mic. 

So I bought her one for her birthday.

 And a few pictures and a few pumpkins at the Orchard Farm Market:

And a few pictures at Young's Dairy, where we ate the most delicious homemade ice-cream in crunchy chocolate-dipped sprinkle cones:

And finally, a few pictures at the Indian Mounds (I think?), where we explored NATURE... which definitely got all over me (bahaha!):

After our adventurous day, we headed back to campus, where we ate supper in the dining hall, watched Helen open her gifts, and skyped with Mom & Dad.  Oh, and watched a movie together before bed:

We accompanied Helen to her Ohio church on Sunday, which was a huge blessing in and of itself, where we enjoyed Sunday School, worship, Doxology (a traveling singing group from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), and a great sermon!  Oh, and also hugs from my favorite brother!  We finished our visit by lunch-ing in the dining hall.  

And that's it.  Our little adventure to see Helen.

Reminder to those of you that receive this via e-mail: you may want to visit my blog on the actual interwebs because I've posted extravagant picture footage of this fabtastic weekend!