Grandpa Ken is Here!

Ken (Matt's Dad) tries to visit every year - this year was no exception! When we figured out a few days that worked for everyone, we put it on the calendar and we all requested the two days off from work (all 5 of us!). 

Ken drove to the Quad Cities from the Chicago area on Tuesday afternoon. That afternoon he got to be a passenger for my taxi service, ha! We picked up Maddie from volleyball camp, took Kaitee to work, picked up Will and a few hours later, took Maddie to a different volleyball session. Matt ended up having to work late so Will, Ken & I headed out to enjoy a wonderful dinner at Central Standard while Maddie was at her volleyball practice. 

We ended our night with Whitey's ice cream shakes! 

Wednesday morning, we all woke up and hit the road for the day. We had a couple of ideas of where to go/what to do, but finally decided on driving north on The Great River Road. This ended up being a wonderful plan!

Our first stop was in Clinton - Eagle Point Park. We visit this park every year during the Christmas season to enjoy their light display. It's a fun tradition. To drive through the park during the day...without any lights strung up...was a bit strange!

As we drove by this slide, I told Matt that we needed to stop so the kids could slide. This was, by far, our best decision of the day! We slid down the slide for at least 30 minutes. Lots of laughing and fun!

Somehow, Kaitee managed to flip onto her stomach every single time she went down!

Maddie & Alex were wearing shorts and found that going down this slide was a bit hard (skin burns!).

After all of the kids went down the slide (the first time), I decided to give it a try! As soon as I got to the top and went to sit down, I wondered what the heck I was thinking! It was a bit harsh on my right hip...but it was worth the bruise! FUN (I might've screamed)!!!

Alex grabbed the blanket from the van to see if that helped speed up the ride for her and Maddie.

Kaitee on her tummy again!

Will & I spotted this huge jungle gym and headed over to climb it. Yikes - the bars were VERY far apart so we couldn't climb very high.

Across the road, the park had a beautiful display of flowers and a cascading waterfall. 

Is that Sasquatch lurking in the shadows??

On our walk back to the van, I decided to give the slide another try. Probably not the best decision - since we'd walked around in the heat/humidity, my jeans were a bit more prone to stick than slide. I ended up flipping over on the third turn and moving my feet to maneuver my way down the rest of the way, I'm sure it wasn't pretty...but Kaitee & I had a good laugh over it. 

We pretty much had the park to ourselves, which was really nice. As we continued driving around the loop, us girls stopped at the "castle/tower" to climb up and enjoy the view. 

We drove from Clinton up to the island city of Sabula, IA then crossed over the Mississippi into Savannah, IL. We stopped at Manny's in Savannah for some delicious pizza and garlic bread. 

As we left Manny's, Maddie caught this little butterfly!

You'd never guess that the butterfly was dead! LOL

We drove up along the bluffs in Savannah to get a better overview of the river. When we passed this staircase, the girls asked if they could run down and meet us at the bottom. 

In "dad" fashion, Matt thought it would be funny to drive away and make the girls chase after him...

Matt, Maddie & Alex drove to Savannah a few times last summer to prepare for the Great Lakes Letterbox Gathering that Matt was hosting. These big ice cream cones became the standing joke for Matt - because it drove the girls crazy whenever he pointed them out...which was often (every time they drove by)!

We left Savannah and continued north towards Galena. 

Just outside of Galena, we stopped at Gateway Park for a bathroom stop and to walk down the path a bit, enjoying the amazing wildflowers (and a funny sign)!

We drove through Galena, enjoying the sites of the quaint town. From Galena, we headed to Dubuque (back across the Mississippi River) and to another Eagle Point Park. A few of us got out of the van and enjoyed the spray pool, the playground and swings. 

After we drove through the Dubuque Eagle Point Park, we crossed over into Wisconsin and drove through Potosi to see the church where Ken's dad (Matt's Grandpa, Covell Hart) served his first Pastorate. From the church we continued to the river to Potosi Point Recreational Area. This spot has become a favorite for our family. We usually stop here on our drive north during the fall foliage months. Always a beautiful stop. One of our favorite parts is the rutted gravel road with major dips. Seriously!! It is like a roller coaster ride as you drive to the end of the road! We were devastated to find that they they had added more gravel and leveled out the road. Sad, sad day!

Maddie tried to catch some tadpoles - she didn't have much success.

As we drove north, Matt & I discussed taking the ferry at Cassville (WI) back to the Iowa side. As we got closer to Cassville, we looked up the hours and found that the ferry was still running for the day.

The river was so peaceful as we cruised across to Iowa. I loved seeing the ripples - and they changed as we reached different areas of the river. 

We were surprised by the fall colors that these bushes displayed!

We started our drive back south towards home with plans to stop in Dubuque for dinner - a family favorite, Texas Roadhouse! 

Some breathtaking country views on our way to Dubuque!

Breitbach's Country Dining - the oldest bar and restaurant in Iowa (located in Sherrill).

We had a bit of a wait to get a table for dinner. While we waited, the kids walked across the parking lot to walk around a book store. Ken, Matt & I enjoyed a few quiet moments of sitting and enjoying the evening. We enjoyed a great dinner then hit the road for home - getting home a bit later then we had planned. It was a wonderful day of sight-seeing and enjoying the natural beauty of the Mississippi River and surrounding area. So thankful we could spend that time with Ken!

Thursday was pretty low key for all of us. Everyone slept in a bit and had a lazy morning. There wasn't much on the agenda - enjoying our time together and eating ice cream. 

This smile tells it all!! Ken's top two loves of the QC - his grandkids and Whitey's!! We *may* have overindulged a bit with the ice cream but, you know, it's good stuff!!

We did work off some of the ice cream calories after dinner. We showed Ken how to play 4 Square! He got the hang of it real quick and ended up being in the server box for quite some time!

Ken left the next morning to head back to Chicago. We had a great time with him - lots of laughs, hugs, talking/catching up, food and ice cream. We really enjoyed the downtime as a whole family - it seems the days of everyone being home at the same time are very few and far between. It was wonderful to spend time together with all 7 of us. We will be counting the days until our next visit, Ken! Looking forward to celebrating next summer (50th Anniversary for Ken & Connie!).