Vacation, take one

I promised, and now I can follow through, at least part of the way. For more, head over to my Picasa album. I'll be uploaded photos as I get to them.
Our first stop was with Grandpa. His room is very nice, as is the rest of the retirement center, which we toured before lunch. We were early for lunch, and the kids entertained some of the other residents while we waited. Lunch was liver and onions! (The staff was kind enough to let Jim and the kids have leftover lasagna instead!) After lunch we spent some more time talking with Grandpa, and learned more about his childhood. Did you know he lived on a large family farm - without any indoor plumbing? Because of the farm, they did not suffer during the depression. Did you know he used a boat to get to school? Did you know he met Grandma at a wedding where they were the attendants?
Here is Jamie, sharing an old train magazine with Grandpa:







Our next stop was in Painesville, to stay overnight with Andy and Sharon. The kids were overjoyed to be able to run and play with their cousins! We enjoyed a Sunday morning church service at their church, and then a nice lunch - and we all fit around the table!







On to Norwalk, our "base camp" for the rest of the week. From there we headed off to Kelley's Island for a day trip. It was beautiful there, making me wish for the island life - until I remembered that the summer tourist season hadn't really started up yet, and we had come to a relatively deserted island. We had our picnic lunch in town, and then started the 1 1/2 - 2 mile walk up to the state park. The kids got too tired, so we stopped along the way to let them rest:







Yeah, running and hopping on rocks is my idea of a good rest, too. :-) We eventually made it up to the park, and walked around the glacial grooves. They are very intersting to look at, to imagine the power of ice!







We then walked to the beach, where we warned the kids that we had no changes of clothing, no swimsuits, and no towels, so we would only be wading... That worked well as long as we were watching them like hawks. Someone decided to sit down in the surf:










Thankfully, the campground/playground part of the park is nearby, and we were able to relax (and dry off!). With a promise of ice cream running through their minds the kids were able to make the hike back to town relatively quickly (it didn't hurt that Jim carried Jamie for a good part of it!). We found some new favorite ice cream flavors - Toft's "Buckeye Bites" and "Coconut Cream Pie".