This is where it all began...
This is my Grandma and 10 of her 11 children! My grandparents lived in rural North-Arkansas and in the mid 40's they took off to California to try to make some money to support their family! They worked in CCC Camps. They picked and worked in every kind of fruit, veggie and cotton they could! In three years they saved up $10,000! So they took their earnings and headed back to Arkansas to buy a farm! That farm is still belongs to our family and it is the place that we always go back to for our reunions! The old family farm house isn't there any more, but my late Uncle Tap's house IS! This is where everybody from out of town stays and has stayed for the past 50 or so years! Just a few warnings about the preceding pictures:
This is my Grandma and 10 of her 11 children! My grandparents lived in rural North-Arkansas and in the mid 40's they took off to California to try to make some money to support their family! They worked in CCC Camps. They picked and worked in every kind of fruit, veggie and cotton they could! In three years they saved up $10,000! So they took their earnings and headed back to Arkansas to buy a farm! That farm is still belongs to our family and it is the place that we always go back to for our reunions! The old family farm house isn't there any more, but my late Uncle Tap's house IS! This is where everybody from out of town stays and has stayed for the past 50 or so years! Just a few warnings about the preceding pictures: 1. There is NO air conditioning in the house that everyone is staying in.
2. It was about 100 degrees each day! Sweaty! Sweaty! Sweaty!
3. No one in the family packs there "good clothes" to come to Arkansas. We're lucky to keep some of them IN their clothes...Sky and DAD!
4. We would spend the evenings soaking in the creek trying to keep cool!
5. My Dads family mostly go by nicknames and that is just what I was raised calling them, so if my captions look funny...well they just are!
L to R-My Dad, Aunt Annie, Aunt Pete, Uncle Chub and Uncle Duck.These are the remaining Bassham's (minus Uncle Rusty who had just left to go back to Michigan).
John, Sky, Lake, Dad, Aunt Annie, Summer, Mom and Me
This is My Dad and his family and Aunt Annie
Uncle Chub and Sissy
Sierra, Dennis, Chris, Micah, Aunt Pete, Patty, Valerie and RioAunt Pete and her Crew
Back: Adam, Kate, Chrissy, Diane, Uncle Duck, Kathy Front: Heather, Alex and Don Uncle Duck's Bunch
My cousin Dennis brought his grandsons with him and they and my girls had a great time hanging out!
Sierra (7) and Lake (5) had a fun time running around catching bugs...
and other critters 
and bugging their older siblings!
Summer (9) and Chris (11) had fun playing the Wii, swimming, and being the "COOL" big kids!
Dad, Dennis and Micah
Sky telling PawPaw "How it is"!My girls really enjoy this time of year because they really do get to turn into little redneck hillbillies and they LOVE it! They love going to the creek and swimming each day! The creek is where I spent ALL of our vacations!
Here's Proof! This is ME at the creek when I was Sky's age! Now my kids get to do the same thing. The kids wanted walk to the creek and as I was watching them walk down the old dirt road I noticed the little pink flowers that MY Grandma had planted, that still line the sides of the road! I wish I would have had a picture of her Great and Great-Great Grandchildren STILL enjoying the old farm that she worked so hard for! I just think that is a pretty cool Legacy!
The girls had fun collecting shells...
and skipping rocks!
And of course, SWIMMING!
They liked riding back to the house on the back of Pawpaw's truck too!
We even ventured to the old rope swing by the old Steal Bridge with our cousins Garrett and Lindsey! Doesn't this just remind you of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn!
Summer got brave enough to go for it! She said it was sooo fun!
And you can't have a visit with Aunt Annie without playing games and the nightly Root Beer Float! Aunt Annie LOVES to spoil my girls...and me! She brought me a big box of Kogels hot dogs and... (are you ready for this?)...REAL MICHIGAN CONEY SAUCE!!!! It was SOOO YUMMY! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
We even ventured to the old rope swing by the old Steal Bridge with our cousins Garrett and Lindsey! Doesn't this just remind you of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn!Summer got brave enough to go for it! She said it was sooo fun!
And you can't have a visit with Aunt Annie without playing games and the nightly Root Beer Float! Aunt Annie LOVES to spoil my girls...and me! She brought me a big box of Kogels hot dogs and... (are you ready for this?)...REAL MICHIGAN CONEY SAUCE!!!! It was SOOO YUMMY! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!I truly love this time of year when all the family gets together! As you can see it is VERY CASUAL and laid back! Everyone really enjoys seeing each other and has a great time! I also enjoy getting to just "Veg" at my parents house for a couple of weeks! Mom cooks and helps take care of my kids. And they even felt sorry enough for their "Prego" daughter to turn the A/C ON and leave it ON the whole time I was there! That's probably the most that air conditioner has ran in the past 17 years that they have lived in that house! Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us barge in on you for so long! And thanks to my wonderful hubby that stays home and works hard while I'm off enjoying my family! You're the BEST!
1 comment:
Haha That does remind me of tom and huck! I just read that book!
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