Family Road Trip - Day Five

On the road again....

Well - yes, but not leaving Minnesota just yet! On Sunday, we got back in the car and went to visit Mike's Grandpa Vernon. Taylor Anne and Anderson had met their Great Grandpa Vernon a few times, and were excited to see him again! Anna and Sylva came along for the ride down to Belview, where Grandpa Vernon lives. Anderson was 'into' his Leapster during the ride!

Sylva enjoyed the ride, too... and enjoyed playing with some of the 'car toys' we had along.

We were planning to drive through Granite Falls since we knew they had a neat waterfall and cool bridge there, but we didn't plan on HAVING to go through there! It turned out there was a detour because of some bridge construction, and we were detoured right through town anyway! We got out to stretch for a few minutes, and to see the sights in what the local's call "Granite".

The kids enjoyed seeing the rushing water and the white pelicans who were fishing in the surf. We all thought it was kinda weird to see pelicans!

Anna and sweet Sylva!

The bridge is really neat... it's a steel swinging suspension bridge with concrete slabs to walk on... the kids called it the 'bouncy' bridge.

Sylva thought it was pretty fun to watch the ducks under the bridge.

Anderson was thoughtful... I think... either that or he was being stubborn and wouldn't look at the camera... We climbed back into the van after the little bit of exploring, and went to meet Grandpa Vernon. We found him in his room watching the Twins play Baseball. We pulled him away from the TV and out into the 'heat' (it was MAYBE 85 degrees... nicer in the shade!)

Here's Mike and his Grandpa - aren't they cute? Vernon's apartment is the one to the right of the tree in the background... and the park below is RIGHT THERE! The nursing home is owned by the town, and the town park is right behind the home... they even have paved sidewalks from the building to the park!

Beyond the playground, was a Putt-Putt course... complete with a barrel of donated golf clubs, and balls... ready for anyone to play for free! The kids were SO excited!

Taylor Anne made a Hole in One!

After we played for a while, Anna and I went out to find some lunch... When we got back, Mike's Aunt Carol and Uncle Kenny were there too - it was a very nice visit! Anderson talked Kenny's ear off... apparently he's not used to kids being so chatty with him.

It was a great visit with Grandpa Vernon!

Most of us napped on the way home, but we did manage to pull off of the road to get a look at these cool Windmills - we don't have those in North Carolina!

The Saga Continues... Day 6 coming soon!