This week we headed over and had lunch with Kris's Grandma Miller, which is the kids Great Grandma. She lives in a small country town tucked away in the middle of MN and a place Kris spent so many of his younger years. We met up with her in a small hometown diner, you know the kind where everyone knows everyone and has to stop and chat. The kind that looks at newbies as an oddity. This is so foreign to me, I grew up in the city and really have never left the city even with all our moves and transfers.
Kris has a lot of nostalgia in that little community and I love listening to the stories of him going through town, or in his Grandpa's hardware store, or out on his grandparents farm. It's such a different fascinating world to me I can't help but picture it in my mind as he describes it. After we had lunch and visited with his grandma we took the kids over to a little park by the river to run off some steam.
To say that the park is a throw back in time is an under statement. They have almost everything you don't see around anymore...old fashion rocking horse swings, a 15 foot slide, and the old metal merry-go-rounds! When the kids find those old fashion merry-go-rounds their eyes sparkle with awe. They spun and spun till they were sick only slowing down to get rid of that dizzy feeling then they were back at it again whipping and twirling around until they couldn't hold on anymore and were flung off.
Kris and I even got in on the fun and were laughing right along with the kids. We didn't leave unscathed though. Derrick got a big hole in his knee when they hit the ground while he was holding on for dear life. Alexis jumped off to save herself from being flung off and ended up gouging her foot opening and I crushed my shine up against the metal trying to get on while it was moving. Luckily the littlest ones were spared injury!
It was all worth it though...when you look at how fun everything looks how can you resist?