Memorial Day Weekend | Frankenmuth, Wedding, Detroit

Our holiday weekend was quite a doozy. From the time we left Grand Rapids Friday morning until the time we arrived back home Monday evening we were go go go.

We drove the two hours East to drop Duke off at my in-laws and then headed two hours North to Frankenmuth for all of the wedding festivities. We stayed at the Bavarian Inn Lodge which is one of the most iconic locations in Frankenmuth and a place I stayed at frequently growing up. It's a must if you're going to stay overnight and want the full Frankenmuth experience ;) Not to mention it was within walking distance of the festivities!

After dropping our stuff off we headed to Frankenmuth Brewery for the rehearsal dinner where we ate, drank a little, and mingled. We love breweries, we do live in Beer City after all ;), and this one didn't disappoint! I loved that it was right on the river too!

Once dinner was finished and the bridal party had completed their rehearsals we headed to the baseball fields for a night of softball! While it probably isn't the smartest decision to play a competitive sport the night before a wedding, it was a blast! I even hit the first "home run!" Who cares if technically it was a single... because 3 errors later I was crossing home plate ;)

Something unique that happened during one of the games was that a handful of hot air balloons flew directly over the baseball fields! Apparently, this weekend was the hot air balloon festival (as well as the Dog Bowl) so they were out practicing on Friday night. There was so much going on in such a little town.

Once the games ended we headed back to our hotel (across the parking lot!) to quickly shower off and then got a few drinks and a snack at the hotel bar, Loreli's Lounge. One side note I'd like to mention about Frankenmuth; despite being 1-800-FUN-TOWN everything closes at midnight, maybe 1am. We were not happy about this!

On Saturday we had some time to kill before the wedding so we wandered around town, ate lunch at T-Dubs, and checked out the Dog Bowl before heading back to the hotel to get ready.

The ceremony was right behind the Bavarian Inn Lodge on the Cass River and they did a beautiful job with the decorations! It was probably the quickest ceremony I have ever attended, but it was perfectly Nich and Lauren. The rest of the evening was spent playing corn hole, drinking, eating, dancing, and drinking some more! It was such a GREAT wedding! Here are a few snapshots..

Before heading back to Metro Detroit we had to stop at Bronner's, the world's largest Christmas store! I got an awesome customized speech-language pathologist ornament that I can't wait to hang on our tree this year. It was a great trip to Frankenmuth and an even better wedding!

Next up was exploring Detroit with my cousins who were in town visiting from Oregon. Our first stop was Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, which has come a long way in the last few years since reopening! It was packed, but still a good time. We walked around a little, grabbed some ice cream, and took in the views. The Detroit skyline off of the river was awesome.

From there we headed to Punch Bowl Social where my cousin was very ambitious and order two ginormous liquor bowls! One tasted like a jolly rancher and the other like a mint lemonade. They were delicious though and the atmosphere was awesome. Thomas & I definitely want to go back and spend more time there.

We had dinner reservations at Slows BarBQ in Corktown so as soon as we finished the bowls we headed over there for some much needed food and of course it did not disappoint!

Monday morning came quickly, but we headed to the Plymouth Memorial Day parade and ceremony where we remembered those and their families who gave all so that we could enjoy weekends like this! I feel like every year it gets more and more emotional for me, but I feel like that's typical for a Veteran family. From there we headed to my grandparents for lunch with my family and to give my cousins a fun send off! We had a great time with them and now we're in the tentative planning stages of a trip out to the PNW for next summer.

We ended the weekend with a BBQ at our friend's new house in Wixom. The food was delicious (hot Italian sausage, chicken, quinoa, fruit, etc.) and the company was even better! We're so lucky to have the amazing friends that we do and the booked solid social calendar ;)

It was definitely a weekend to remember and one that ordered some serious down time these past two days. In my opinion, summer has officially arrived and I know it's going to be one of the best ones yet!