Granddad's Visit!

In early March, Granddad hopped a plane from Abq & came out for a visit.  The kids were super excited to see him!

Bright & early, the first thing on the agenda was a little Jedi Fighting... they are lucky he's a good sport!  Brandon also enjoyed showing Granddad how well he can read.

We still had some snow left, so Brandon was quite eager to get out with the snowboards... & even got Granddad to try it out! 

Brandon (left) & Granddad (right)--- on your mark, get set, GO! 

My dad used to teach cross-country skiing but had never been on a snowboard before... not bad for a 72 year old! 

Gram & Melanie's cat, Pearly May, even came out to check on the snowboarding action!

The National Eagle Center is in Wabasha, MN (about 30 min. from us) & we've never been... so I was pretty sure both the kids & my dad would enjoy checking it out, so we ventured up one day for an excursion.

It looks fake, but that is a live bird behind them!

They have 5 resident Eagles, 4 Bald & 1 Golden.  All were injured & cannot be released back into the wild, so now they live at the Eagle Center. 

Granddad got to help demonstrate what it would be like to have eagle eyes...  

Again, real bird... but looks like it is part of the background.

We got to watch this eagle eat its lunch... it was quite fascinating!

 Brandon & Melanie tried out being future eagle center workers!

We walked next door afterwards to grab lunch at the Flour Mill Cafe... we had some amazing pizzas!

They had some fun bottled pops, so Melanie thought she was pretty cool with her cream soda...

 We took the alternate route back (i.e. followed the Mississippi back on the Wisconsin side) & went through Nelson, WI.  When in Nelson, you have to stop at the Nelson Creamery for ice cream... YUM!

Brandon had Cub Scouts while Granddad was here, so he got to go with Mike & Brandon & help make some bird treats to hang outside.

Grouse was on the menu one night as we had some in the freezer courtesy of Mike... tried a new recipe that was a hit with all! 

 The Grandpas with the kids!

We had a really nice visit with Granddad... as always, it was sad to see him go!