Unlike the Labor Days of 2007 and 2008, this one brought very little pain, aside from a slightly aching shoulder. Also unlike most prior family gatherings, this one didn’t actually take place on the holiday itself, but rather two days earlier, on Saturday, September 5, 2009. It was all part of a conspiracy…er, rather an extravaganza that also included a boy/girl baby shower for Chris and Sarah and the baby Olivia, who is due at the end of October. So at 3pm, a group of family members descended on Karen and Joe’s Coke Avenue home to commence with the merrymaking.
The shower itself mostly a pre-show for the picnic, but it did include a few games courtesy of Susan and Karen. Susan set up a “Price Is Right” style array of baby products that we were asked to guess the actual retail price without going over. My Kroger experience didn’t help me too much in attaining victory in this game. Then we played a rather strange game by which we were asked to guess the brand of candy that had been melted inside of a diaper. So for a short time in our family history, we all sat around sniffing baby diapers with a brown, gooey mass inside. Who says you can’t get crazy without alcohol?
Sarah: pregnant, barefoot, and in the kitchen. A cliche come to life.
Jan, Nikki, Sarah, and Karen ponder whether the price is right
Ashleigh fills out the price sheet
Darlene pensively examines the diaper, while Grandpa wonders “what is this crap?”
Stephen shows Ashleigh one reason not to have a baby quite yet
Adam chose not participate in ‘pin the diaper on the baby’ so Andrew took his turn for him
Chris and Sarah had a nice congratulatory cake and a gift-opening session. I’m sure the highlight was the Kroger gift card that I gave them. But the ultimate high point (besides the good company of course) was the food, which included meatballs, fruit and dip, beer cheese, buffalo dip, oriental salad, cookies, snacks, desserts, and sody pop – basically any and every delicious unhealthy morsel of goodness imaginable, and which I could not stop eating.
The proud parents-to-be
New baby clothes. Although it’s hard to tell, Chris is particularly enthused.
The apple of my eye, Megan
Kids at play: Sammy, Megan, and Abby
Andrew mounts Aaron as he peruses a cool-looking book
Adam finds a suitable toy to enjoy, a very large plastic rat
Megan likes the crinkle-crinkle sound of plastic bottles
Stephen and Ashleigh. Let’s have an intervention and convince Stephen to lose the headband and lip-ring
Candids always bring an odd configuration of people: Bob, Abby, Mom, Megan, and of course Jan
The famous you’re gettin’ set to pop there, honey pose
The smaller Brad, with tongs at the ready and chip tray on head
Bev and Karen with an under-enthused Abby
Ed and Allie
A couple of pops and sons: Jim, Eric, Andrew, and Joe
Susan, Denise, Chris, Ashleigh, Stephen, and me. The Sunshine Crew – except for Stephen.
And it was especially nice to spend time with Chris and Sarah during their stop back in Ohio after their extended stay in Italy, before they move on to their next life adventure. In fact, it was only ten days later that Chris was on the road again – heading to Salisbury, North Carolina, to take up residence and a new job at a small college therein. It was good to both chat with Sarah and play football with Chris.
And speaking of football, the picnic ended with the passing of two intimidating footballs among Chris, Charles, Ben, Eric, and even Karen. I joined these festivities with trepidation since I hadn’t even held a football in many years. Fortunately, I was rather pleased with my ability to adequately throw, catch, and even run a bit. A slightly sore throwing arm was my only malady at the end of the night, but it was well worth it.
Mom, Jan, Bob, and Bev take this party outside
As Sarah might say, Chris is a man out standing in his field. To which I’d tell her that her corduroy pillow was making headlines.
For the record, in attendance at the shower/picnic were: Grandpa Murphy, Cathy, Debby & Mike and little Brad, Mom & Bob, me, Ashleigh & Stephen, Denise & Aaron and Megan and Adam, Bev & Ed, Susan & Charles and Charley and Sam, Chris & Sarah, Karen & Joe and Andrew, Abby, and Allie, Ed’s sister Virginia, Jim & Jan and Ben, Nikki, and Eric, and Darlene.
I left around 8pm, taking home my marionberry pie and bag of BBQ potato chips which had accidentally been left under the table and uneaten. No matter. I was able to enjoy them over the next couple of days. On Sunday and the holiday itself, I did very little aside from be lazy. Summer’s memory is nearing its end. The Fall season has arrived. Football is here. And it’s almost time to hibernate for the winter.
2009 will continue…
Out of curiosity…how does one convince Stephen to “LOST” the headband and lip-ring? Whaaaa…you mean Mr. F*rrell makes typos TOO!!! Too bad he publicly points out my mistakes…karma, karma, karma 😛
staceysoleil
September 20th, 2009
This is all Heidi’s fault. She’s supposed to be my proofreader. Will you be my backup?
Brad
September 20th, 2009
Loved this posting. Loved the pictures too.
Bev
September 20th, 2009
Your shoulder hurt? Well I lost my entire right arm, as evidenced in the last picture.
Thanks everybody, especially the hostesses, for a great time!
Chris
September 21st, 2009
Okay. We’ll play football again.
Chris
September 21st, 2009