Over the river and through the woods. Or more like through the air and over a bunch of hills...

This is my grandpa:

Handsome for 95 and three quarters, isn't he?

We took Elizabeth to meet him last fall, and this fall, even though Lilli is younger than Elizabeth was, it was her turn. When you're dealing with someone of this age, you don't wait around!

So we flew up to Pennsylvania the weekend before last.

We have discovered that Lilli doesn't like to fly very much ("I can't! I can't fly!", she sobs), but I don't know where she comes up with stuff. I looked over at her before we took off, and (I am not making this up) she had out the flight safety information and was carefully perusing the pictures. She really seemed to be preparing for some sort of disaster. I had listened to the How Stuff Works How to Survive an Airplane Crash podcast episode (what I always do before a flight), so I was feeling pretty comfortable, but I guess she was not. I tried to get a picture of her reading the pamphlet, but she got shy on me, so all you get is this:

We arrived in Pittsburgh, to find it chilly enough that Lilli got to wear her winter coat and hat and mittens to Denny's for dinner. She was thrilled. I thought the coat was pretty cute, but we ate at Denny's three times on the trip, and that is 2 and a half times too many. Of course it was better than the liver and onions I had to eat (that or look picky. And also starve) at my grandpa's assisted living facility. I still shudder when I think of that.

The next morning, when we needed to drive two hours north (after another trip to Denny's, so who can blame her) Lilli was not in a cheery mood, but she passed right out in the car.

And woke up all smiles in time to have some pizza for lunch:

When we finally got to my grandpa's room, Lilli took to him right away, and I think it was mutual. Here she is singing for him:

Based on where her hands are, I suspect it was yet another rendition of 3 Little Monkeys.

We talked to David and Elizabeth a lot, because the girls really missed each other. Elizabeth refused to talk to me for the entire 4 days, but I got several calls from David saying "Elizabeth wants to talk to Lilli.":

There isn't that much a 95 year old man and a 2 year old can do together, so there was a lot of book reading, and Lilli was perfectly happy with that. His eyes aren't so great any more, so my mom is spotting him on the fuzzy words in this picture:

I do feel that need to point out that I doubt that when I'm 95 I will be riding an exercise bike. But he does this for short spurts multiple times a day:

He also works out with exercise bands. He actually has frighteningly large biceps now, and took great delight in showing them off. Apparently he was told to get strong by one of the nurses at the facility since he's had the flu followed by pneumonia two springs in a row, and he was pretty weak back in April. Not any more, I can tell you!

Just like we did for Elizabeth last year, we took Lilli to the little park next door to where my grandparents used to live. It's one I grew up playing in. She took an especial shine to the dandelions since she'd never seen them before.

I have an entertaining (but too long to post) video of her beating the dandelions against the ground when the fluffy parts wouldn't blow away fast enough.

She also thought the swings were wonderful. Probably since this one was about a foot off the ground:

When I was little, I LOVED these suckers:

They are older than me, and probably older than my mom, since before they came to this park they lived at her elementary school.

I thought they were wonderful, especially the turtle, but Lilli refused to get on them.

As a child, my mom loved the duck, and that apparently has not changed. See?

A couple days later, after a very nice and too short visit, we drove back to Pittsburgh, and after another night there (and the last trip to Denny's, it was right next door to the hotel), we went to the airport. It's a nice airport, since it has a kids play area looking out onto the field so you can watch the planes, and pretend to drive one:

And also has a Qdobo. Which I had never had before, and even though it didn't give my beloved Chipotle too much competition, it was definitely better than Moe's, which is all I can get around here in the burrito-as-big-as-you-head department.

Lilli loved her quesadilla. See?

When we finally made it back to Southwest Florida, my dad picked us up. Bringing Elizabeth in full princess regalia, and hair that had not been brushed once in my absence.

I thought we were going to have to cut out some of the bigger tangles. David and my dad are lucky I did not have to!

Next up: Living history guy- talking to my grandpa about way back then.