CHRISTMAS DAY 12/25/2011

After a short night and in our usual Christmas morning sleep deprived state, Ann and I were woken at o-dark-thirty by our cheerful son exclaiming it was time to continue the Cowley Family Tradition of a special Christmas Morning Feast.  So, loving to participate in it's preparation, we joyfully bounded out of bed and headed towards the kitchen. 

 With bacon and sausage, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns

 hot cocoa, orange juice,

and toaster stroodle, we prepared for a long day of feasting and present opening.

 The kiddies were released from their bedroom, where they traditionally had all slept together on the floor and we were almost ready for the feast to begin.....

 ...when Mommy remembered one last item to place on the table.

 Then the feast began.  With Bing Crosby and Perry Como singing in the background we had our breakfast while the gazes of the kids was directed towards the tree and the bounty underneath.  Needless to say, the kids did not eat much!

 Then the other feast began!!!

 But first we opened the stockings that Santa had left....

 ...and Grandma found her stocking labeled "NICE"!!!  It is wonderful to know that Santa has Grandma pegged as that.  It is a natural state for her (You can see that she is still a little fuzzy from lack of sleep!)!

 The revealing process and bounty counting begins and lasted quite awhile!

 Then we cleaned up and went to church together as a family.  That was nice.

 When we got back from church, the preparations began for our Christmas Dinner.

 A yummy feast of Ham, mashed potatoes, mission sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, and tons of other stuff, topped off by Ann's famous pies and ice cream made pigs of us all!!!  But then the feared of all calamities happened.  That oft ignored peril of every family feast!

 The attack of the finger-eating, killer olives! As they covertly attack and attach themselves to the fingers of innocent, unsuspecting, feasting children.  They make the eating of all other food impossible until each child must remove them one by one and eat those dastardly little black buggers.  Fear coupled with amazement is seen on the face of every little child thus attacked!

Will this horrible annual holiday torture of small children ever cease or are we destined as a human race to suffer this terrible plight every holiday?  Oh, the horror of it all!!!!!

But worse yet, is the misguided placing of incorrect labels on innocent grandfathers' stockings across the world, as they lovingly and trustingly hung by the chimney with care, the night before, their little humble sock for Santa to fill.  Naughty????  Now, we all know better than that!!!!  We, the members of the Paternal Order of Grandfathers Inc., to be thus treated!!!  It makes one question the whole of humanity!!!  Naughty????  Who could be behind this nation threatening plot!!!  Is it the makers of "Via-Rogue"??  Could it be the the same political leaders that introduced us to the "Age Gate Conspiracy"???

 

Merry Christmas!  We plan to stay in San Benito TT until Jan. 6th when we will head south for warmer climes!!

CHRISTMAS EVE 12/24/2011

On Christmas Eve we drove 2 1/2 hours north to spend Christmas with Jared (#2 son) and his family.  The drive up was peaceful and beautiful.  The drive through our mission area in Oakland and then through San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge during beautiful blue skied weather was amazing and it felt good to be on the road again, even though we had left our trailer back in San Benito TT.  Anyway, it was very pleasant!
Then we spent the evening having a special Pizza Christmas Eve dinner and then spent the evening telling stories and playing, then their family tradition of opening a present each of new Christmas Pajamas.
Here The Hulk is overwhelmed by his.

 Oranges gets excited by hers.

 Bananas gets carried away by trying them on backwards.

 And Superman realizes he still has some growing to do for his.  Never fear, at the rate he is growing, it won't take long!

 Angi gets excited by her silky PJ's and tried to take pictures at the same time.

 And The Hulk gives a standing ovation approval of his dad's new PJ top.

 Wayne thinks these 4 grandkids are super special because they all love eggnog, so we all had a cup of it together.  Bananas left some on her upper lip for later.

 Then before bed, it was time for a little growth comparison.  You know, the ol' "I think I am as big as Grandma!" thing. 
Here are L-R, Jared and Superman.

 L - R Jared and Ann (Mom).

 L - R The Hulk and Grandma (Ann).

L-R Superman and Grandma (Ann).  I think Grandma is losing her foot hold!!!

  Then it was time for the excited young'uns to head to bed so Santa could come.... but first we had to get Santa's cookies and the reindeer's carrots ready.  Oops, looks like Santa got one less cookie than planned for!!

After the kids were in bed, we got to help Jared and Angi do what we had done for years while our sons grew up.  It was fun to sort of pass the baton on to the next generation!

SETTLEING IN AT SAN BENITO TT 12/23/2011

Well, after 2 weeks at Morgan Hill TT and spending some time with our friends, the Casauses, we hitched up and hauled down to San Benito TT located near Hollister, CA.

Here we set up in a remote section of the park.  To have the solitude we had to park in a space that had 50 AMP service and water hook-up, but no sewer.  But, that's okay, we are able to manage just fine.  We like the view and the solitude.

Ann got busy decorating our trailer and making it more seasonally festive.

So, we hung our outside lights.....

  .... put up our newest inside decoration....

 ...and some older ones....

 ....and Ann wished for more holiday type weather....

  ...while Wayne worked on Family History, Christmas Letters and the like.

 Ann did not get snow, but the night time temperatures have gotten into the teens and thought the days are sunny, it has only warmed up to the mid 50's.  We will stay here a couple weeks so we can spend Christmas with Jared (#2 son) and his family.  Then we plan to head south to catch a little of the warmer weather.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER FOR HIRE! 12/15/2011

I remember when I thought I wanted to be a professional photographer.  Easy!! Just ask people to smile, point and shoot!  Duck soup!!  I have repented of the stupid thought.  Here you see my efforts with a perfectly normal, sedate family.  It all started out quite relaxed, but then could I get them all to sit still and smile all at the same time????  I give up!  I am a professional photographer of mountains now!!!  But seriously.... I think this was the funniest 5 minutes I ever spent.  No matter what I did, I just made it worse.  Bethany and Anna, where are you when I need you????

Look on Jared Cowley's Facebook and you can see the one shot out of about 40 where I got them all to look at the camera at one time!!!  Are they all Cowley's or what??  Whew!!!