I saw a mole come all the way out of the dirt?!?

I was standing in my grandparents' yard and I saw the dirt move like it was being heaved up the some dirt shoved up out of the ground and there's a hole. I step back just in case it was some animal I didn't want to meet close up. Nothing happens for maybe thirty seconds, then a rodent-looking animal comes out of the hole. It was around 5-6 inches long, it was all grey, it had a long, thin snout, short, chubby legs, and a short tail. I didn't pay attention to the paws. It set off at steady pace around one of the flower pots that are in a row. Later I look behind the flowers pots and there were a bunch of mole holes. My dad says that one time he flung a mole out of the ground and it ran around a bit then it died of a heart attack. My uncle says the moles very very rarely even poke their head out of the ground. So I'm not sure whether it was a mole or not. Does someone know?