On the night of July 25 a few family members arrived and or were picked up from elsewhere. There were sleeping arrangements and a little visiting, but the real activity began on July 26. We started off with a breakfast of french toast and fixin's ala Grandma.
Eating in shifts as people got up and came in from various sleeping locations.
It must have been good food. We consumed 3 loaves of bread and it made Uncle Sean stronger than normal!!
Then as some more ate or some ate more, the house and yard became the playground we had hoped it would be used for. Unfortunately, the hammock got a little more use than was good for it and eventually had to be removed. But it was fun while it lasted.
The Cowley Family Ping Pong tournament was begun.
The Cowley Family Wrestling Tournament began.
The Cowley Family Stair Climbing Competition began.
Monkeys galore!
The sky's the limit!
Up The Down Staircase!
Then Grandpa's rocket launcher was brought out and water bottle rockets began flying into the neighbor's yards!!
That all took place the first morning after breakfast! Then it was time to go up the Rogue River for a picnic and some swimming!
Aren't all our grand kids cute!! They all look like glamorous models!
The Rogue River has been such a strong part of the Cowley family since 1970 and it continues on into the third generation of Rogue River Swimmers.....
..... and cliff jumpers
What a blessing it is to live in such a beautiful place and be able to share it with our family generation after generation!
Dancing with Uncle Kevin!!
The picnic today was all food prepared a few weeks earlier and frozen. BBQ chicken, cowboy beans and potato salad.
It must have been good stuff cuz it went so fast. Even the crows got into the act and stole our chips and cookies!!
The Rogue River, food and family. Can't get much better!!
Uncle Luke, Uncle Sean, Aunt Bethany and Strawberry make serious work of their meals!
The park we were at was called Huntley Park and has a beautiful day use and campground 7 miles up the Rogue from Gold Beach. Wonderful place!
While we were at the park picnicking, Uncle Jared and his family minus Aunt Angi got in to town and joined us. Aunt Angi will join us tomorrow. Now we have four sons with us. Only need Uncle Jed and his family to arrive!
Aunt Bethany and Aunt Megan, our only two daughters in law that were with us yet as Aunt Kate and Aunt Angi were to arrive tomorrow. Aunt Amanda was never to arrive as she was busy back home with a niece that was having her first baby.
Uncle Jared is always the obliging jungle gym uncle it seems! A few days later Wayne was trying to straighten out Jared's back and pulled some muscles in his own back. Wayne must be getting older!
After lunch and sufficient wait time, it was back to the river and surfing on the waves made by Jerry's Jet Boats that go up and down the river several times a day packed with tourists that want to see the wild and scenic Rogue.
Here come the tourists and the waves from the boat! What fun!
Then the peaceful swimming time. We all got a little pink this day!
Finally, we went home and divided off into more "Cousin Groups" for play, gossip, stories, arguing and all that other fun cousin stuff! Here are three cousins from three different families! Apple, Bananas and Peaches in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
Toys galore for our little Pineapple!
And our oldest grand child, Superman gets creative with an Etch-a-Sketch.
And the older boys get going on more ping pong.
While some of the others demonstrate their skills at Nintendo stuff. That's Oranges, The Hulk, Captain America and Batman.
Then dinner time rolls around, so Uncle Jared and Uncle Kevin man the BBQ for the Sish-ka-bobs.
Some of the kids hammock it up.
Aunt Megan supervises her husband's BBQ'ing in our back yard.
Then, as usual in this big of a group, the eating begins in shifts and people scatter all over the place to eat.
And Pineapple claims her throne of honor.
After the meal, it is time to start a campfire so we can make our desserts. Captain America learned last summer from Grandpa Cowley how to build a fire and he proved that he has not lost the skill!
Then it is time to settle down for some campfire time and some serious marshmallow roasting!!
We went through 6 or 7 bags of marshmallows during this week!
Can't imagine how??
Must have been Uncle Kevin!
But even with a sugar high, we lost a few to the casualty of exhaustion!!
But, what a grand day it was and there were more to come!!!
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