The long awaited post on Memorial Day

I know. I know. You have all been wondering when I was going to tell you all about the folderol and shenanigans over Memorial Day.

Never fear, I am finally ready to tell you every gory detail.....



You'll be glad to know I'll be strong and only share a few. Like the fact that we went camping with my Mom's family, but I convinced my sister in law (married to Studmuffin's brother) to bring her kiddos over and spend the day with me too...While she helped her hubby, oldest son and Studmuffin work cattle.

Isn't my generosity overwhelming?

My brother had lots of fun. He even caught a fish! Isn't it the biggest minnow you've ever seen?

Wait! You mean it's NOT a minnow? Hmmm...I was sure he told me it was a giant minnow. I guess he is still lying to me after all of these years, and it is indeed a tiny sun perch....Liar, liar pants on fire!

Of course, the giant minnow story is way better, don't you think? And, it's possible I made the whole giant minnow thing up myself for better blogging purposes. But, don'cha think he'd have totally tried that one on me if he'd thought of it first?

This is my cousin's little boy. I adore him. He takes me back to childhood. He laughs EXACTLY like his dad, looks like him, and acts like him...I love getting to see him. And that is mulberry juice on his chin, not blood...

At one point while he was fishing, I told him he was standing in poison ivy. In flip flops...He said, "Oh, man! I've been walking through that all day."

Here's a story for your entertainment: I brought our croquet set. My cousins only ever played croquet at our house. And I always won.

They claim I cheated. I deny that claim vehemently. However, I do NOT deny that I would go out of my way to hit their ball, ESPECIALLY if they happened to get ahead, just so I could whack their ball as hard as I could completely off the course...

I don't call that cheating. I call that strategy.

We picked mulberries. There were about 4 plastic cups left over that didn't get consumed instantly...Of course not one responsible adult put them away, and after sitting in a cup for a few days, they were moldy and had to be thrown out....Dang. I had really wanted to make a cobbler.

Not enough to actually put anything away, mind you. But still. I was really looking forward to a cobbler and home made ice cream. Dadgummit.

Okay. That's all the pictures for today. Can you believe that? After all that hype, I only have the energy to upload a few pictures! Ridiculous.

However, I will type a little tale about Anita, the aforementioned sister-in-law whom I convinced to let me babysit for her while she did farm wife work...She actually had to be convinced to leave the kids with me!

For real!!!

Apparently with a pond, a blow up pool and poison ivy everywhere, she was concerned about being the mom on the news who's kids drowned because everybody thought everyone else was watching the kids. In fact there were 14 kids there at one point. However, after her concern I never let her kids out of my sight. Unless of course it was to send my nephew to fish with my dad. Or to have my mom keep an eye on my niece while I brought drinks to the fishermen...But I DID know where they were at all times.

Unfortunately that can not EVEN be said about my own kids. They were given a whistle to wear by one enterprising adult, and sent on their merry way, to be seen by me mostly at mealtimes and bed time.

But, hey! I didn't end up on the news!

That's all I have for you today. Later next week I will tell you about the little boy in the yellow shirt who will go forever down in history as the nemesis of our camping trip...

I know, you can hardly wait!