May Family Reunion aka Spring River Trip

In case you're not familiar with my family and our crazy ways, here's the story. My father's mother's maiden name is May. Every August, the first Saturday in August to be exact, we all get together with that side of the family. A majority of the family lives in Trumann and/or Jonesboro. But we find it necessary to pack up RVs and go camping at Many Islands Campgrounds which is on the Spring River a few miles north of Hardy, Ark.

Last year we missed the reunion. Dad's doctors were not comfortable with him making the trip. So this year Dad was really excited about going. Unfortunately, they started him on a new chemo treatment last Monday and he was in no shape to travel or spend time in the blistering sun come Saturday. It was not easy for me to leave Mom and Dad at home and go to the reunion without them. It was very hard, actually. But Mom insisted that Tony and I go ahead as planned. We went and had a great time but I thought about my folks the entire time we were there.

Tony and I left for the river Thursday afternoon. We were pretty fortunate that we didn't have to pull a camper or pitch a tent for ourselves. Tony's folks own some land up by Saddler Falls and on the land they have a camper and house trailer. After years of helping my parents set up the camper and tear down camp before going home, I can really appreciate going to the river and not having to touch a thing. It's really nice! That night after Tony fished, we went down to Many Islands to visit the fam and have dinner.

Friday, Tony and I slept in and hung out around camp until noon. Then we went into town, had a little lunch and toured the shops downtown. I bought a birthday card for my mom and a framed picture to put in our front bathroom. After shopping we went back to camp and the Condra's came to check out the Story property. For dinner everyone drove up to Mammoth Springs. We went to this fish place called Fred's. Tony made a new "friend" while we were there. I won't go into the whole story but let's just say my family now has something to tease my husband about. {Sorry honey! Thanks for being such a good sport!} After dinner we went over to the Mammoth Spring Park to feed the ducks, geese and fish... and also enjoy the big waterfall. I took this opportunity to snap some fun pics.

Saturday morning, tony got up early and went fishing. Then he came back to camp to wake me up and we went down to the family's camp for breakfast. My Aunt Charlotte makes the *BEST* gravy and there was no way I was going to miss that! After breakfast Tony picked up his fishing gear and went back down to the river while I chatted with Aunt Jo and Uncle James. Then I couldn't stand the heat any longer. So I changed into my swimsuit and headed down to the water. I hung out with some of my gal cousins and gossipped in the shallow water for a few hours before lunch. Good thing I put on my sunscreen! I acquired a few more freckles and got a nice tan but no blistering for me this year!

Lunch was nice. We usually grill out but since it was so hot this year we just did sandwiches and stuff. We were down in number too... only 50 or so this year. But it was a good crowd.

After lunch everyone went to their campers to enjoy some ac and so did we. Tony and I went back down to our camp and took a nap. That night Tony and I joined my Uncle James and cousin Donna at the races in West Plains.

Sunday morning I slept late again while Tony and his folks went fishing. They came up to the camp about lunch time and we went into town to get something to eat. Then after a lazy afternoon of napping and watching DVDs, we all headed back home. Even tho I had a great time I was happy to walk back into our little house with real AC and a normal sized shower.