Visiting Grandpa O & Grandma J

 We made it to Grandpa Orin and Grandma Judi's house late in the afternoon.   We settled in, visited, and had a bit of supper.

Afterwards, Grandpa Orin showed Ramsey some old antique guns that have been in the family for a while.  Ramsey was ecstatic!

Ramsey knew what models they were, but Grandpa showed him all of the different pieces of the guns and how they worked.

Ramsey had to practice his stance with the gun (unloaded, of course!).  

After a good night's rest, we ate a great homemade Sunday pancake brunch and hung out for a while.  And, Grandpa Orin gave Ramsey a ride in the golf cart.  

Riding wasn't quite good enough for Ramsey.  He had to race.  He won, but it might have been s a mercy win!

Then, G&G showed us all of Grandpa's treasures in the shop.  They have a few large rooms full of collected items - mostly antique tools.  There were a lot of super neat things.

We went for a drive to the outlet mall and sight-seeing, then out for supper at a great Chinese place. Yum!    After supper, we visited more and Ramsey got some snuggle time in with G&G.

Ramsey brought his gun history encyclopedia on the trip, so showing it off to Grandpa Orin was a priority.

Grandpa listened intently while Ramsey talked about his favorite guns, plus various "fun facts" about world war history.   Grandpa offered his knowledge and opinions as well and they had some good conversation on the topic.  😊

I had originally incorporated the visit with a work trip (two birds, one stone!). Monday was the day I had to be on a job site for one of my projects.   The original plan was to stay with Grandpa and Grandma for a few more days and fly home on Thrusday.   

But... a new weather report came out that there was a large storm system coming, sweeping the midwest, mainly the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Illinois.  If we stayed, it would mean we might not make it home for another  6 to 7 days.  With my work schedule and Ramsey needing to get back in school (he'd already missed a LOT of school this year due to illness), we made the tough decision to change our flights and leave early.  😥

On Monday morning, we had a good breakfast, chatted a bit, and then had to say our goodbyes.

The goodbyes were tough.

But, I guess "some" time with G&G was better than none at all.

Ramsey and I drove to my job site.  I completed my construction walk-through with a general contractor and my crew.   Ramsey remained in an office, door closed, with his Kindle.  When my site survey was completed, we had our first meal at Chick Fil-A. Yum!

Then, off to the airport again.   Ramsey had fun on the moving walks, going back and forth.  I'm glad he still had so much energy!  My pep was depleting.

Our first flight from Columbus was delayed, due to weather and airplane issues (yay - more issues!).  While in the waiting area, there were "rumors" of the impending system; it was supposedly bringing wicked terrible winds and freezing rain.   I'm not going to lie, I was very unsettled!!    After a few hours of waiting, the plane finally arrived and we made it safely to Minneapolis. 

In Minneapolis, we had another rather lengthy layover, but Kindles and snacks made it more bearable.  Ramsey was a serious TROOPER and still had plenty of smiles!

I had smiles when we finally got settled on our last plane ride home.  We arrived at the airport around 11:30 that night.  It was COLD and yucky at home, but it hadn't yet started to snow.   

By the next morning, the wind had picked up and the snow was flying (more school snow days!).   We'd made it just in time.  And, incidentally, if we wouldn't have left when we did, we wouldn't have been able to get home until Sunday at the earliest, as the Minneapolis airport was shut down for DAYS.  It could have been later, due to the amount of people who were being rerouted/rescheduled.  Ugh.   Leaving early was a bittersweet decision.

After we had unpacked, Ramsey wanted to ensure that he had a good spot for his Junior Officer sticker he received at the Columbus airport, plus the gold wings he was given on the second flight to Ohio.

They are proudly displayed with Eric's law enforcement challenge coins and pins on the custom flag shelf in the hallway.