FOOTBALL!!!!!!

Wayne, the least sports minded person around, has been blessed with 5 sons and several daughters-in-law that love sports.  Thanksgiving to them meant watching several football games on TV.  I'm not sure who was noisier at times.... the kids playing around the house or the "kids" watching the games.  Anyway, our hearts were warmed by the unity brought about by the love of a few muscle bound guys running around throwing a ball at each other.

Cheering on the overpaid Thanksgiving Gladiators! 

TWO SQUARE

While our sons and their wives cheered and jeered their way through several football games, the non athletic minded, playground supervising Grandpa, enjoyed himself doing what he loves best..... playing on the playground with the kids.
One activity we did was play two square in the back yard.

With a hose for a center line......

...and a semi flat ball, we cheered and jeered our way through our own sporting event.

Varying levels of skill, age and understanding of the game made supervising and maintaining "fairness" interesting at times.

But, that is what grandpa does best.... managing large groups of kids.

The best part of being a grandpa, is playing with the kids.  Being with, understanding and dealing with kids is what he spent his career doing and now his great joy is in continuing that process, but with grandkids.

The best part too, is that it is not full time!!!  Life is good!!!

FIRE CRACKERS!!!

Another Grandpa generated activity was the firecrackers.  Okay, they were not fire crackers.  They were those little popzits things.  But, with the excitement they generated, you'd have thought we were doing the big ones!

Throwing them at the patio was grand fun for us kids.

Throwing them at each others feet was even better!  What fun!

PASSED ON

Ann is the pie maker of the family with a few others following close behind her.  This season, she passed on some of the skills to a new generation.  Time marches on, eh!

SURF CITY

Being close to the beach provided us with opportunity to revive some of the old Cowley summertime activities that were such a strong part of our boy's growing up years.  Though this was not summertime, the Southern California weather was somewhat generous to us.  Skimboarding, sunset watching, kite flying, football, wave jumping all were done and fun!

By the way, the kite flying string was maintained on a collapsible steel fly rod given to great Grandpa Cowley by his family friend, Zane Gray.  He was a famous author of the early 1900's and was a neighbor to the Cowleys.

See the kite way up there?  The kite has been in the Cowley family for years.  It was given to Wayne by a former student's parents, who were kite makers for the Oregon Coast trade.

There is not much that does a parent's heart good beyond watching their sons be good friends and good parents.

Snuggly nap time!  The Good Life!

When we went to another beach with a playground that was a little further away, we drove.  Consolidating vehicles left Grandpa in the back of the truck with the best view of all!

The house we were in was a real beach house with an outside clean-up shower!!!

Of course any Cowley activity is accompanied by mishaps.  Sean was the injury king today with a wound from a skim board that hit his foot.  Doctor Amanda fixed him up and gave him a hug afterward for his good behavior.

Nurse Apple assisted.

Big Owie!!!!