Labor Day Story - 2002 - We went to the Holsomback's place on Lay Lake (err...Jessie Lake) for Labor Day and had a fantastic time. Sydney had a church thing to do that afternoon and couldn't go with us, so Julie, Ryan and his friend Chase, and myself loaded the canoe on top of the truck and headed to Shelby Alabama...or is it Jessie, Alabama?

Jessie wasn't feeling good, so he and Hannah stayed at home while Beth, Jordan and Wil Holsomback drove down to meet us. {{As a side note, later in the day, Beth described Jesse's illness to me. After several cocktails, it became apparent to me that Jessie had contracted the much publicized West Jessie Virus that has plagued much of the Southeast and which is transmitted by the prolific Jessie mosquito...surely you have heard of it!!!}}

Upon our arrival, Ryan and Chase took the canoe out for some fishing in Jessie Cove, but were unproductive. We later heard that fish are really biting in that cove, but they only seem to be able to catch them by fishing the hot new plastic bait called the Jessie Worm. Go figure.

Next, we loaded up the Holsomback Party Barge, called the Jessie Bell, and Captain Beth took us out for a delightful afternoon of boating. We went down to the narrows and swam a bit then everyone went tubeing. Julie and Beth got into a real wrestling match with Big Bertha, the inner-tube that we were using...you gotta see the pictures of this cat fight below.

We then motored down to Jesse swing, and Ryan and Chase took a couple of turns flinging themselves off the side of Jessie hill, holding onto the rope and pirouetting as gracefully as a Jessie mosquito into the beckoning water below.

We cruised on down to the dam, Jessie Dam of course, and decided that it was time to head back. It was starting to get late and we had been on the water for about four hours. All of the kids, big and small, wanted to ride Big Bertha again, so we put all four of them on it and pulled them all of the way back to the house. They head great fun!

After tying off the Jessie Bell, we sat on Jessie pier and fished some as the sun set over Jessie cove. It was a beautiful sunset. We had some luck, but the girl fishing a couple of piers over caught six brim and two Jessie fish.

You can see some pictures of our outing below. We sure wish Hannah and her dad...what's his name...could have been with us.