Our Greenville Adventure

After arriving late at night and discovering that we were blessed with a great place to stay, we decided to go check out the fine learning institution of our wonderfully talented sister, Laura.  Her schedule for the day was on the lighter side, which was definitely in our favor!  After figuring out how to find the agreed upon "mailbox landmark", we set out to park in the garage and make it to our meeting point. Our goal was to make it there without breaking any regulations that would embarrass Laura in her final days of college. We were also meeting up with the Hayden Sr's (That's George & Martha, not to be confused with the Senior, Laura Hayden) Not that we're often prone to mischief or anything, but you never know what ridiculous scenario we might find ourselves. 

We successfully met up with Laura and made our way through somewhere on campus to visit Laura's Band practice class.  It wasn't as if we could sneak in, after all there were 9 of us, so they kindly set up chairs off to the side and got down to their business.  The children were really impressed and enjoyed listening to the band play, as well as listen to the delightfully animated conductor of the band.  It's been years since I've been to a band practice. It was so fun to hear the conductor speak and instruct with language as only conductors can do.  After having a nice lunch together at a place I'll call Cafe La Bleu, it was decided that we would go to a park.  Gramps was to serve as our tour guide, and he would take us to some park that we were sure to love.  As we made our was through parts of Greenville that we'd best not travel after dark, I was a little less sure if we had chosen the right way to spend our afternoon.  Would I have to use my Ninja skills after all?  No, surely it will be fine...I should just relax and wait to see what we find.  Finally, after driving past a photographer doing a photo shoot in a colorful alley way, I began to relax.  If it's safe for him to carry all his gear down here, that shows promise.  Everything will be fine now. 

And sure as the day is not night, we arrived at our destination.

 We were at Falls Park ! The website boasts, "Far more than a nature lover's paradise, Falls Park, located in downtown Greenville's Historic West End, is one of Greenville's greatest treasures. "   
 The website failed to mention that Laura was almost mugged here one evening, but during the day it was charming.  Truly, it was pretty.  The weather was warm, it was sunny, and a delightful 76 degrees!  Since it had been snowing in Dayton the day before we left, we were pretty much basking in the warm weather.  You can see a nice shadow picture of our family that I took from the bridge.  Can you recognize us? 

 After viewing the falls from the very cool Liberty Bridge, we decided to go take a walk down by the ducks and see the waterfall up close. 
Little did we realize, Spring was in full force down in the green grass with all the duckies and geese!  We arrived to see what looked like a scene from a National Geographic movie.  Typical boy ducky chases girl ducky wucky for the furtherance of all duck kind.                   Emily thought they were playing tag and that the girl ducky, who was quacking her ever living head off, was laughing about how she was running faster than the boy ducky. This is, after all, a family friendly blog here, so that's all I'm sayin'... 
 Hey KIDS, let's go look at the waterfall!! 
 The waterfall was pretty and there were a lot of people who came by as we were there to have their pictures taken near it. I did have a fleeting thought about how the water probably contained mass amounts of toxic waste and therefore we should not touch it, but I am told that is all in the past. Nevertheless, "Swimming is Discouraged" by some carefully placed signs by the attentive folks from City Hall.  

As Ethan was tromping around on the rocks, looking at cool stuff, he happened upon a very small Copperhead snake.  This little fella thought that Falls Park was a fine place to come out for a little sunbathing.  Little did he know, Copperheads are NOT welcome.  I'm not sure what was in store for this little fella's future but, I'd venture to say he may experience relocation, etc.  
Here is a birds eye view of the park, courtesy of Whitty & Al.  (In case you're wondering who are Whitty & Al.. Who knows, but through the magic of google images, I found this picture on their blog and decided to borrow it. Thanks guys, you're the best!)

Also, on this adventure to the park, we happened upon another new phenomenon in Greenville.  It isn't often that you get to view something that many folks have not observed before.  We were so privileged to view this in its beginning stages. 

OH, wait!  That's Laura! What?  Why is she carrying those gorgeous red roses? ...and who is that ever attentive gentleman by her side?  Why, I do believe that young man is Nathan, her new beau!  ...I bet he gave her those roses... 
Stay tuned, for the continuing saga of "Our trip to Greenville".  The future is promising!