Wednesday, August 7, 2013

THREE PIECES OF JULY: FIRST PIECE 7/1-24/13

July has come and gone!  What a busy month this has been!  We began the month so full of vim and vigor! This was the month of our five sons and their families to come stay a week with us at the end of the month for a big family reunion!  We were completely excited!!  But first there was work to be done to get ready and our regular lives to live!
We began the month with relaxing Fourth of July breakfast with some friends at the Chowder House here in Gold Beach.  After that we spent several days baking and cooking meals we could freeze for the reunion; spaghetti sauce, cowboy beans, fried chicken, chili, home made bread, etc..  Also, we began shopping in Brookings and Gold Beach for all the food we would need to feed the 22 people added to our little household of 2.
  Then one of our friends moved back from Utah and got married on Ophir Beach.
It was a beautiful location, but oh so windy!!!
At the reception held later in a very large pasture in the woods, we were well fed and then entertained by a friend that plays the saw.  Beautiful music!!
 Some of the groom's family was from Canada and Wayne was shocked that one of the groom's brothers was an almost identical twin to Wayne's Uncle Frank!
Then came a few more days of cooking and arranging of rooms and putting away stuff that had not been put away from our move in 7 months ago.  We took a break one day and went to a car show that one of our neighbors had his car entered in.  This is his.
Ann and Wayne looked at all the cars and each decided on our favorite.  This little GTO was Ann's.

 And this little completely original restoration was Wayne's.  These cars were so valuable that They had police there to keep people from touching them.
 There was a Malt Shop nearby called Happy Days.  We decided to have a milkshake and to our surprise found another car show inside and a Surf Music Band playing a lot of good music.  Plus, they had, along with many other cars on permanent display one of the cars used in the movie, American Graffiti.
 
Do you remember the car race scene?
This was one of the cars from that scene and many other cruising shots in the movie.
It was thrilling to see that car that played such a big part in the film.  Apparently it belongs to one of the locals here in Gold Beach.  Mark Gosson, if you want to see it, you must come before the end of the summer as the Malt Shop is only open in the summer tourist season.
This is the interior of the malt shop and if you look closely you can see the band in the background.
Then a few more days of reunion preparation was interrupted by a church project  dreamed up by our missionaries, Elder and Sister Kieffer.  All the local members baked cookies.  We ended up with over 5,000 cookies.  Then we bagged them individually and froze them in many freezers located in members' homes.  Then we gathered one day at the church and taped invitations to come to church on the bags.
 It was a several hour process to tape them all.  But many hands and lots of talk made the task lighter.
Elder and Sister Kieffer, our task master!
The work crew for the day!
A few more days of preparation and then our garden began to produce.  Carrots, cabbage, grapes, blue berries, raspberries, radishes,peas, beans, turnips, tomatoes, etc.  We spent several days beginning the harvest and processing it all.  Didn't get much in the way of pictures, but here are a few of the berries we had with a breakfast one morning.
Then some more preparations and it was time to set up our church booth at the local county fair.  From this booth our missionaries and many local members gave away the cookies to passers by and answered many questions about our church.  They ended up giving away 3,500 cookies and 65 Books of Mormon and answered lots of questions.  But first we had to set up the booth!
Busy Bees!
This is how you do it....shake it and growl at it!!
Okay, maybe all you have to do is work together?
We did it!!!
A few more days of preparation and we were ready for our first guests, our youngest son, Kevin, and his two wonderful children to show up!  Then the work really began!

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!!!