Goin to Grandpa's

***Warning - LOTS of pictures***

Thursday we took off on a trip to go see Brad's dad. It is a looooooooong drive, especially with two little kids, one of which is NOT a good traveller. On the way up, Brenna slept all of 23 minutes, Brooke not at all. However, it wasn't *too* bad considering the 7-8hr drive. It definitely could've been a lot worse, but both were relatively happy for a good portion of the drive anyway.

So we got there late Thursday (in time for dinner) and we checked into our hotel, which is in a town 10 miles from Grandpa's house (his town doesn't have a hotel). We stayed there for the night, ate dinner, unpacked, and re-cooped for the night. Early the next morning, though, we drove over to Grandpa's house in Chillicothe. This is pretty much the extent of the town that you can see in this picture. A few houses (Grandpa's included) behind the water tower and a church and that's about it.

Here's Grandpa's house...

And here he is showing Brooke old pictures of Daddy...you know, ones that look NOTHING like Daddy. :P

While Brad was fixing up some things around his house, the girls enjoyed coloring on the couch and 'sharing' Grandpa's donuts. :)

Brenna was a little shy, at first, but definitely warmed up after the donuts. The way to a girl's heart....

And both girls LOVED Grandpa's dog, Buddy. Every time we'd pull up, we'd hear Brenna start yelling from the backseat, "Buddddddddeeeeeeeee!!!!!!"

Daddy took the girls 'exploring'. Basically they went down the road (this is the neighborhood he lives in...all the roads are like this, such a sleepy town) and went next door to an old abandoned house that looked like a danger zone!

Then we went to the only place to eat in Chillicothe - Dairy Queen, of course. :)

Our hotel, in Vernon, was a nice one! We had a two-room suite so we could put the girls to bed and still have a separate living area to stay up and watch TV or whatever. There was also an indoor pool, so we were sure to bring our swimsuits! That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for both girls!

Brenna was fearless, as usual, didn't want a float and was soon jumping in from the side to Daddy. Here she is counting...1,.....2,.....3, ......JUMP!

You might notice that Mommy is not in the pool. Yea, well for good reason. While the pool was indoor, I swear it wasn't heated. It wasn't as freezing as it was last time we were there, but it was definitely chilly. So I just stayed out and watched. Well,...and took pictures. :)

That night we had a home-cooked meal, crockpot spaghetti at the hotel with corn and bread and pudding for dessert! Then sent Grandpa home with all the leftovers. Yum!

Here's the girls sleeping arrangements...Brenna on one side of the bed in the hotel-provided crib, Brooke on the other on her aerobed. (and you can see our living area in the above picture)

The girls slept rather well there and both took naps as equally good. They were up a little earlier than they usually would've been, but otherwise, they did great!

The next day we decided to drive over to Wichita Falls (an hour drive) to go to the park and see the waterfalls. The girls were excited to get outside to run and play!

Though, here's Brenna getting a free ride. :)

We played in the park first and then we took the 1/2 mile hike to go see the waterfalls. The scenery was really pretty here!

We finally got to the waterfall and it was really nice! You could actually walk up the stairs to the top.

Here's Brooke explaining the waterfall to Brenna. LOL

And Brooke and I at the top...

The problem with a 1/2 mile hike to the waterfall is that you have to go the 1/2 mile hike back as well. And supposedly the weather was wonderful back home but where we were, it was COLD! Anyways, Brenna was done "hiking" and ready for some sleeping! I swear she almost fell asleep on top of Brad's head!

We stayed over and ate lunch in Wichita, then headed back to the hotel. The next day was our leaving day already, but first we went to Church with Grandpa. We added 6 add'l people to the congregation as visitors (Sammy and Tara too) and the members were excited because they had a record 24 people in attendance that day! Love it! Here's the girls with Grandpa before leaving Church...

We were already checked out of the hotel by this point, but headed back to Vernon to eat one last lunch with Grandpa before leaving, give him some pictures and such and say our good-byes.

Then our adventure home started...another loooooong drive. We try to break up the drive a bit and stopped halfway at a mall to get out and around and eat dinner.

The girls took turns riding in/pushing the stroller.

And the Rainforest Cafe is always fun to go to and look around...

And then the last stretch of our ride back home. The girls started by watching a movie, but just when we were about 45 minutes from home (about 10 at night!), they conked out!

Even Brooke!!! And she NEVER sleeps in the car!

So, now we are back home, unpacked, laundry done (thanks Mom!), and getting back into the groove, all the while trying to catch up on some sleep. We enjoyed visiting with Grandpa and hope he can come see us sometime soon!