THREE PIECES OF JULY: SECOND PIECE 7/19-24/2013

After all the preparations for the reunion, the first to arrive was our youngest son, Kevin and his two children, Batman and Pineapple, were the first to arrive.  Unfortunately, Mommy Megan had to stay home to work.  Kevin and crew arrived a week earlier than the actual reunion, so we had a full week of just work with Kevin in him helping us get ready and a full week of playing with just two of our grand kids!
They participated in all our life here too, like a potluck birthday luncheon at church to celebrate all the birthdays for July.

 It was once again grand to have family with us and involved in our everyday life here in our little Gold Beach.

It helped to just have a few grand kids for Bobby to acclimate to, rather than 12 all at once.  Bobby was more than happy to introduce batman to the fine art of tug-o-war.

 The kids also tested out the local beaches to make sure it would be good enough for their cousins when they came to visit soon. Building a fort of driftwood was a must!

"Now see, Pineapple. If the pirates come this will be our spear to stab them in the foot."

Then father and son had to haul some drift wood down to the water to make sure there was not too much on the beach when the rest of the family showed up.

"Yeah, we be the men!!!"

And of course Batman had to try out all Grandma's and Grandpa's toys to make sure they were in good working order for his cousins.

Pineapple had to try out all the lawn chairs to make sure they were safe.

Oh, so much work to do to help Mom and Dad get ready for the hoards of family soon to descend upon us!  That's what the youngest son is for, right?

Then there was the testing of the hammock that Uncle Jed brought home from his mission in El Salvador!

And don't forget all the books that need to be read to make sure they have no missing pages!

And all the cupcakes that needed making.  Good thing Grandma had all this help or we never would have gotten those cupcakes made and tested too!!

Grandma and Batman pour while, Pineapple, the quality inspector, watches on.

There!  Another one successfully poured!

And of course, as pirates, they kept all the scallywags from stealing the cupcakes before they were iced!

Ah ha!  Caught two of them the next morning attempting to make off with a few cupcakes!!

Then we had to check out the Rogue River and see if the water was good enough to be used by all the grand kids, so we went on a picnic and swim.

 We decided it was so right that it was exciting!!!!

Really Exciting!!!!!

 So, Bobby decided to mark the spot so we would be able to find it later!

  Kevin decided that making a couple rocket launchers would provide some entertainment for the oncoming troops soon to descend upon our quiet little home.  What a fun project that was as we all worked together to make them!

The supervisor watches on to make sure no launcher is assembled unproperly.

The cheerleaders!

Batman, in attempting to help in the clean up, found out that the shop vac was good for other things than just sucking up dirt!

Kevin's finished product.  Next job, to test it!

But atmospheric conditions were not perfect (It was too windy.) so the safety inspector decided it was time for some important diversions.....

....like looking at old photo albums.....

....and Nintendo games....

...watering the lawn....

......and making sand candles.....

...and calming Bobby down.

Finally, the next day, the conditions were right for lift off!  Pump the air in the launch tank pressure chamber....

...remove the pump and step back.  It is ready for launching.

And we have lift off!!!!!

The rocket recovery team found the landing spot was in Grandpa's garden!  After many more very successful launches we were ready for all the rest of the family to begin arriving the next day.  Much work had gone into preparation for the onslaught of more family.  We were ready!

And we were all exhausted!!!

But, we were excited too!  Tomorrow comes the rest of the Cowley Crew!!!