A Weekend in May

The kids' garden club project for May was an adorable wind chime made out of  metal bottle caps and an upside down decorative metal watering can.  We spent a lot of time getting this one done, but it was a lot of fun and worth it when you see the end product!  

J was really proud of it and couldn't wait until Mother's Day to give it to his Mom, so she got it later that day.  

Here you see Mr. GV getting attacked by J right after he came home from work.....Well, they were actually having a fun "Uncle-back ride."  

We pulled out the Stomp Rocket.  Yes, it's cheap crap from China (or CCFC as we refer to it in this household) but oh so much fun!  The rockets glow in the dark but we have yet to be out there after dark to give it a try.  

The next day, with his mom at work, J and I hung out at the town fountain, 

and had a picnic lunch.  

The days were really starting to warm up, so Milo was glad for the large concrete water bowl I put in the backyard, just for him.  (Ha!)  

Vacation Day 4: Bicycle Museum of America

Our ultimate goal of our museum tour was in New Bremen, Ohio at the Bicycle Museum of America.  Thankfully this was also Mr. GV's best day as far as his cold went.  We were there for quite a while and saw lots of bikes and biking paraphernalia.  The staff was great, and if you are ever in the area and have any interest in bicycles, I highly recommend a visit!

What 1816 had to offer

This is just a few of the many, many bicycles the museum has to offer.  There is also a basement full and offsite storage.   

This sign cracked me up.  Mountain biking was just a fad?  I guess you can never tell what is going to become popular.  

Remember Pee-Wee and his Big Adventure?  Here's one of the bikes used in the filming of the movie.  

There are three or so of the "try-it-out" bikes.  And yes, Mr. GV tried them ALL out.  

There are just so.....many.....bikes!  Which is a good thing, of course!  

Since we weren't feeling great, in the evenings we rested in our hotel, and I was able to start and finish a book.  I love Maeve Binchy's writing.  I want to live inside the neighborhoods she creates, and hang out with the people in her stories.  Sadly, Ms. Binchy passed away last year, and I have read almost all of her works.  

We stopped back at the same restaurant in Cleveland, and our meal was very similar to before, with one exception.  I tried pho for the first time.  I really enjoyed it, although I probably added a wee bit too much of the hot sauce.  

The noodles, they are long!

And that was pretty much it for our museum vacation.  The next day we drove home.  

Overall I very much enjoyed this vacation.  If we had both been feeling better, and if we hadn't needed to skip the Underground Railroad Museum, it would have been an almost perfect time.  

As far as souvenirs:  Thankfully in the past several years I have stopped trying to buy so many memories on vacation and instead try to just live in the moment.  Mr. GV and I do collect lapel pins if we run across ones we like.  It's inexpensive and doesn't take up much room.  My collection so far is on a hat, and my thought is someday when I am gone if my family doesn't want them they will be easy to get rid of.  

I also buy postcards and mail them to my nephew.  I remember the thrill of getting something in the mailbox with my name on it.  I still get that thrill when we get a postcard from some exotic international location from our Atlanta friend who likes to travel.