the relatives came

grant acquainting himself with jackson 

poppy watched
(he and gigi came to be part of the welcome crew)

cousin luke trying out the rope swing

ezra showing off his rope swinging skills

 when my brother and his girlfriend and their three kids arrived last night from arizona in their 30 foot rented r.v., it reminded me of the book, "the relatives came" by cynthia rylant.  they all spilled out of the r.v. (kids first of course) and ran around the backyard with ezra who was so excited to show him his rope swing that grandpa made and how he plays with the donkeys' toys in the corral.  it was a happy time with lots of laughter and running around seeing all that was to be seen.  later on driving to the pizza parlor we could smell the horse and donkey smell on the boys, but ezra took the prize in being the most stinky as he was out there all day while michael and i packed for the move.  thankfully, there were no other patrons at the pizza parlor once we settled in after 9:00 p.m. with our party of 4 boys under 8.  the level of noise and hysteria was amazing.  (chuckle, chuckle...)  we are not used to being with more than one boy being the parents of an only son.  it was quite a surprise for us to sit across from these four rambunctious boys, 3 of whom were so excited to be on a vacation to california and camp in an r.v. at the beach for a week.  it was all part of the fun and there was only one incident when luke fell off the bench on our way out.  i don't think anyone was hurt.  they leave today to head down to leo carrillo state park.  we will be joining them there during the day for our last two days here in california.  hopefully, this june gloom will not last longer than half the day because it's been a chilly 60 some degrees all month.