The 2011 Labor Day documentation begins

I'm a little overwhelmed at the thought of documenting another family event. I'm not sure where to begin, what the middle will be or the end. When writing, that's a pretty big problem. But, I'm gonna step off into it anyway and see where it goes.

Coordinating a weekend like the one we just had in Texas is no easy feat. From Wednesday to Sunday, 35 people came and went from many directions using many vehicles. Of course, the only reason the coming and the going matters is for sleeping purposes. When you have a tiny house, it must be determined where people will be stacked for sleeping. So just for fun let's see if I can list who came and went and when and how they did it. AND where they slept. As well as the events between the coming, the going and the sleeping.

It all began with Wednesday arrivings: Melanie, Maggie, Grandma, Cammie, Maisy and Maya arrived at the farm in the afternoon and were greeted by this.

A huge limb broke off our shade tree and had to be wrangled by, first a neighbor, then by Randy and Owen. Arrival in Corsicana is always interesting because you never know what you're gonna find.

And even though the fallen limb was a big deal, all my eyes could focus on was Maisy celebrating her arrival with a well placed YEE HA! Cracked me up.


Also on Wednesday Carrie arrived that evening. Her's was a tale of back and forth as you'll see.

Sleeping assignments on Wednesday: Maggie in the front bedroom, Melanie in the living room, Carrie and Grandma in Gran and Grandma's bedroom. Easy enough with four people. At the end of the first day, there were 4 sleeping humans and 3 sleeping dogs.

Thursday arrivings: Randy, Ellie and Grace got to Corsicana in the afternoon and John, Emma, Olivia, Owen, Rosie, Addy and I got there at about 9:30 that night.

Sleeping: John and I slept in the little room for our first two nights. Emma and Olivia joined Maggie in the front bedroom. Randy was assigned to be a living room sleeper and Owen took up residence in Carrie's vacant bed for that night only. He was the one person sent roaming for beds over the course of the weekend. When we got to the farm on Thursday night, we were pleasantly surprised to discover it wasn't as hot as expected, and to celebrate, some of us enjoyed a Brahm's ice cream dessert while sitting on the back porch.

Leaving on Thursday: Carrie left for Dallas late Thursday night because she had to work on Friday, freeing up the bed for the Owen boy as previously stated. At the end of Thursday there were 9 sleeping humans and 7 sleeping dogs.

On Friday John woke early to go to Collin Street to purchase pastries for the still sleeping people only to discover a bus full of traveling old people had already swarmed in as if they were locusts and bought the place out. You have to get up VERY early to beat out a bus full of hungry traveling old people. Then John went to a neighbor's house to hunt for arrow heads. He was gone for hours but was rewarded for his efforts.

I will not even address the amount of time and devotion it took for him to withstand the heat for hours in order to find a little flinty thing buried years ago after being made by an unidentified Indian. I'm absolutely certain if searching for me, he'd have given up after 15 seconds figuring I'd eventually turn up. That's all I have to say about that.

As Friday unfolded, we found that the previous cool night was only an illusion. It got so hot, as to quote Randy, "It feels like I'm standing in front of a dryer." It was HOT. The heat eventually overtook us, and most returned to our then current beds for napping purposes so we could miss the hottest part of the day. Although our ventures were successful, it was still hot when we all woke up.

Friday arrivings: Lindsey and Bill made their way to Dallas to attend Bill's Christmas....or better known as the opening game of LSU football at Cowboys stadium. They stayed at Becky and Keith's house which did not affect our sleeping in Corsicana. Caitlin and Carlie got to Corsicana a little before dark and then Carrie came back from Dallas not long after them. Jared, Whitney and Mollie arrived late that night at 10ish.

I took the following photos of Carrie and Owen with the lovely sunset behind them. I was pleased with the results.


Also great.


Love it.


There's no little boy anywhere in sight. Sigh. Pretty cute though!


Friday sleeping: Melanie, Grandma, Maggie, Randy, Carrie and Olivia were successful in remaining in their original beds...sounds pretty fishy to me. Emma took up residence with the Gmaw, Carrie returned to her original bed, Caitlin and Carlie moved in with Maggie and Olivia in the front bedroom, and Owen, Jared, Whitney and Mollie moved in with the living room sleepers. At the end of the day on Friday, there were 15 sleeping people, but we were holding steady with 7 dogs. The two "annexed" travelers, Lindsey and Bill, slept in Dallas.

On Saturday morning there was a successful attempt to secure deliciousness from Collin Street and then the afternoon of sitting and sweating began. Other stuff happened but since I don't carry a notebook around with me to record it all, the events have escaped me. Just envision people jockeying for position in the house as well as the shady parts of the back porch while hydrating, eating, talking and watching U.S. Open tennis.

Some of the Saturday morning people, including a reappearance by Maxine. Caitlin and Olivia must have considered Grandma and her predicament of the encroaching sun, "her own personal problem."


More back porch dwellers.




There were lots of stylish sunglasses with a HUGE inventory of Raybans. That's all I have to say about that.


Maya was looking for shade as well. Unfortunately, she left her sunglasses at home.


I'm fascinated that Ellie, clearly a "city mouse" would even consider laying in the dirt.


Some inside tennis watching dwellers. Olivia's enjoying one of the many homemade cookies, Cammie's hoping for the food drop. Owen? Don't even know. Carlie seems suspicious.


Owen's keeping in touch with his peeps, Olivia still not sharing with Cammie, Carlie's returned to obliviousness, Maya's detecting suspicious activity outside.


Owen's the same, Olivia needs to try for some modeling gigs with those awesome poses and Carlie's trying to put on the, "Oh hey! I didn't see you standing there." Maya's hiding and watching.


Saturday arrivings: Becky arrived in the early afternoon with no animals. Meredith, Jeff, Ella, Maddie, Ava, and Lola got there in the afternoon. For the little ones, swinging commenced immediately. Also on Saturday Brooke and Ben drove to Dallas for the LSU game before coming to Corsicana the next day, along with Lindsey and Bill.

Besties reunited.




Ella with the cute freckles.


Whitney and Ella.


Ella and Maddie having a sister moment.


Blurriness can ruin my day.


Cutie pies.


Hair halo on the the edible Ava.


Now two hair halos.


Cookie eating is a good pastime when swinging.




A bit windy Ava?


A tornado of hair.


Carlie swung peeps.


And Becky swung peeps.


And Owen swung peeps.


And then there were swinging spectators. Wait, that doesn't sound right......


She's even cute from behind.


This concludes the first installment of the Corsicana Labor Day weekend which only encompasses the time through early Saturday afternoon. There's more late afternoon sun photos from Saturday. Love love love late afternoon sun photos. Also, did anyone else come on Saturday? And where did the new arrivals sleep? Who moved to different beds? Did we need more beds for sleeping purposes? It's like a mysterious cliffhanger. Only not. Please return for the details at a later date and time. Of which I can't promise when about either.

I'm off to a football game for the first time in maybe 17 years.

OMG. Details to follow about that too!

Go Warhawks!