Family Visits & Jackson, MI

As our days in Jackson wound down, Nick & Stephanie arrived for a few days of visiting with family before we all would head over to the west side of the state for a week of fun and relaxation.

On their first day in town, we went to dinner at a local brewery in Jackson.

We got there just before happy hour ended, so we ordered drinks first.

Some people at the campground had recommended the grilled watermelon salad, which sounded interesting, so we had to try it . . .

it wasn’t bad, but really just tasted like warm watermelon.

Our dinners were much better – Tom, Nicolas and I had BBQ, and Stephanie had a burger.

After dinner, we walked around the downtown area, admiring the murals on the sides of surrounding buildings. 

These were murals from past years – the Bright Walls Festival is coming up in September, and there will be a new collection of murals added to those that already exist.

Some of them are very elaborate,

and others are more simple.

This bird was my favorite – fairly simple design, but lots of detail, and it appeared to be looking right at us from the side of the building.

Who knew Jackson was such an interesting town!?!

On Friday, we visited a local Farmer’s Market, and then showed Stephanie around Ann Arbor.  We walked all around downtown and the U of M campus,and went back to our old neighborhood to have dinner with Harriett and Rita. 

We all had a nice time visiting, and Nick & Stephanie also visited with Larry for a while before they returned to downtown Ann Arbor to meet up with some of Nick’s friends from grade school.

They’ve all grown up so much!  It was so nice that they were able to get together for the evening.

On Saturday, we were getting together with the Gimmarro half of the family.  We met up with Joe and Grandpa at a car show in Wayne, where they both had their cars on display.

We walked around to look at the various cars,

Nicolas loves the old cars and trucks!

Nicolas and Bryce favorites!

Cool old bus!

It was a really nice little car show, and in addition to all the cars on display, they also had bouncy houses for the kids, music, “Paws” from the Detroit Tigers, and free food for everyone!

We had some lunch, and then waited until Joe and Grandpa were ready to go home.  Nicolas wanted to ride in Joe’s car, so Stephanie volunteered to keep Grandpa company for the drive.

They were off!

We had a nice dinner with the family, and Bryce & Hannah were able to join us too – Bryce was on his way home from his internship in Pennsylvania, and he had lots of injury stories to share!

Fortunately, not too many of them were about him!  It sounded like he had a really good time – he had lots of time to try out several of the sports available at the camp.

Getting tips and feedback from the Pro.

Athletic Training Staff at Camp Woodward

Overview of the camp – looks like a nice setting out in the country.

Back at the campground that evening, we listened to the band as we stood around the really nice community campfire – it was chilly, so it felt good!

On Sunday, we had dinner with the Mills side of the family at my Mom’s house – I made spaghetti and lasagna, and the chocolate cake that I used to always make for my Dad’s birthday.  Yum!

We had a nice day wrapping up our family visits, and then on Monday it was time to pack up the RV and move to the western side of the state for “vacation time” – we were all ready, but especially Nick!