Olivet, Michigan... Really?

Today we didn't really have any big plans. I was going to work on some party stuff for next weekend, do the laundry, (Yes readers, I'm always doing laundry. It's a never ending task around here) and odds and ends kind of things. Then Greg got a phone call from his mom that she and his aunts and uncles were in Olivet at the car show and the Lion's Club was giving out free bike helmets if we were interested. We debated about going because the weather was iffy and looked like rain, plus Greg was in the middle of watching the second to the last day of the Tour de France. Once the bike race was over we did end up heading out and got on the road to Olivet.

For those of you not from around here, Olivet is NOT our kind of town at all! It's about 30 miles south of us. It's population is about 1800 people, there's not a whole lot to do there, and it's pretty much farming territory. It is home to Olivet College, but other than that not a whole lot going on in Olivet, MI. It's the kind of town where if you blink you'll miss the downtown. My good friend Marie teaches at Olivet Middle School which also has Olivet High School attached to it. Yeah, really small school readers, really small. I always joke with Marie because she lives in Bellevue (which isn't any better than Olivet and teaches in Olivet and I don't know how she does it because seriously I would go insane if I lived somewhere like that! Nothing around, smells like cows all the time, and have to drive a far way to get to places! No thanks.

Anyway, we decided to go so the kids could get helmets and we thought Evan would enjoy looking at the cars in the car show since Greg's uncles had their two cars there. We got to Olivet and we met up with Greg's mom and aunts & uncles for lunch. We went to this place in downtown Olivet called The CoachLight Inn. Readers, I have to admit for a little podunk town this restaurant had pretty good food! Not a bad way to start our visit in Olivet. Here's the restaurant we had lunch at.

After lunch we headed down the road by the College to where the car show was. Evan did enjoy looking at the cars and Em actually liked some of them too. Greg's Uncle Don had his 1998 Corvette in the show and his Uncle Bud had his 1969 Camaro. Evan liked the Camaro the best, but he wanted to go for a ride in the Corvette. Em had fun sitting in the drivers seat of the Corvette pretending she was driving. Here's the two cars.

This isn't the best picture, but here are Evan and Em in the Corvette.

Besides the car show there were some other festivities going on. We happened to hit it just right after lunch and were able to catch the parade that went down the main street in Olivet. It was no MSU Homecoming Parade, but all and all it was enough excitement for the kids to grab some candy, see the firetrucks, and hear the marching band! On a scale of 1-10, I'd have to give it a 2. However, if you're from Olivet it's probably the most excitement that happens there so it would be a 10 for the locals. Here's a few things we saw in the parade...

An over the top UPS truck!

The Olivet High School Marching Band
(Oh, how it brings back memories of being in the marching band...)

And it wouldn't be a parade in Olivet without some tractors! Here's one of them.

So that was our exciting Saturday! I had no idea when we left that I'd be spending three hours in Olivet, MI. Really on a normal day without the festivities, I can't see spending much time there at all. Who knew there would be good times readers, good times.... that is if you're two and four! On a final note, we'd like to wish the Ellis' daughter Maddie, a Happy 2nd Birthday! Happy Birthday Maddie! We hope you had a wonderful day! Maddie is one of Em's four friends whose birthdays are all within three weeks of each other born the same year! (Yes, there was something in the water in our neighborhood at the end of 2006! LOL!)