When I was a little girl, this was a big weekend. We would travel down to Osceola Arkansas and spend the night with my Grandma (my dad's mom) and then the next day travel to Blytheville to my dad's aunt's house for a huge family reunion. My dad had eleven aunts and uncles, so you can imagine the amount of people at these reunions.
These past few years, the reunion has been held at my uncle Don's house in Osceola. Very nice place, outside of town, surrounded by farm land and trees. Relaxing environment. There were a couple dogs, a cat that has never been seen allowing anyone to pet it....till now. The cutie patootie they call 'badass' purred and purred and let me scratch behind the ears and down the back. The little sweetie did not, however, enjoy Nicole as much....bit her...twice.
Jason went along with us, and drove most of the trip. He said he just wanted to get there alive. Huh... We stopped twice, including a horrific gas station that Nicole and I braved with a very dark scary building across the street with 'Haunted Inn' written large and proud on the outside of the building. Jason and Mom took one look inside the gas station and got back in the car, Jason drove them to the nearby McDonalds....nice.
We did arrive alive bright and early. Haley slept most of the trip except the possibility of food was presented. That's my girl! We nosed around and explored the property (Jason said I get that from my dad, I'm sure I do, but Jason was right on my heals looking around as well). Haley had a great time playing with my cousin Justin's little girl Katilyn. They were everywhere but seemed to really enjoy playing in the dog house:
Nicole, who appeared to forget she's been going to Arkansas since she was a little girl, wanted me to take a picture of the field because she had 'never seen anything like it in my life'. Okay..
Then we ate, and we talked, and we just enjoyed each others company. And spending some time with my uncle who looked very healthy considering the changes he's been through (chemo, radiation, etc) was great.
And then, it was picture time! And everyone wanted a picture with Uncle Don:
Jason and I
Nicole (did I mention it was windy?)
Melissa, Mark, Sara, Chris, Jessica, and Donal
My cousin Brad (Don's son)
Uncle Don, my aunt Brenda, Brad, and Brad's girlfriend
My Dad's cousin Brenda and her husband
My Uncle Don and Aunt Marilyn (my dad's siblings)
My mom, Uncle Don, and Brenda
And one more because the dog walked up and posed as if to say 'hello, I'm a part of this family too'
We left around 4 and Jason chose to drive all the way home - guess he wanted to 'arrive alive'...whatever. And we saw first hand the water along 55 just south of the 60 mile marker. It had rose from our trip down earlier that morning. You see all water in this picture, on a normal day that is all farm land. Sad sad sad. You could see the equipment out in the fields so you know this was someone's livelyhood just gone.
Another relaxing reunion with good food and great company. Got to love it!
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