GR Beer City Ale Trail | New Holland Brewing Company

Last month while we were in Holland for the Tulip Time Festival we stopped at New Holland Brewing Company, another brewery on the GR Beer City Ale Trail, for an appetizer and drinks. Thomas got a flight with 6 beers and we shared the Pepperoni Pinwheels appetizer. The pinwheels were delicious, they're basically like pizza rolls, and way bigger than we were expecting. New Holland is expanding this fall and opening a location in Grand Rapids, which I'm sure will be awesome as well!

Tour Guide Round Two

On Monday it was round two of playing tour guide in our awesome city as my grandparents visited one final time before our move and brought my great-grandpa along with them! Actually, my 92 year old great-grandpa was the one who insisted on this trip seeing as my grandparents were just here.

Once they arrived in town we headed to Founder's for lunch. We all enjoyed our sandwiches and the boys enjoyed their beer! Next up on the itinerary was visiting the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. We spent roughly two hours walking around, learning all there is to publicly know about President Ford ;). Afterwards we took a break to check into their hotel and rest for a minute, before heading to dinner at The Mitten Brewing Co where we enjoyed a pizza flight! Six different pizzas and each one was delicious. We ended the evening with a walk to Rosa Parks Circle and froyo.

Tuesday morning started with breakfast at San Chez, the same place we went the last time they were in town! From there, and after a $20 parking ticket, we headed over to Eastown. We walked around, got more macarons, and a few GR souvenirs. Once Thomas got off work we met him at Fredrick Mejier Gardens and Sculptures. My grandpa and him decided they didn't want to do the gardens again so they went to a bar while my grandma and I walked around with my great-grandpa. We took the tram ride and boy is that slow moving! Lol We ended their trip with a late lunch at the Twisted Rooster.

I'm so glad they came to visit us again, especially since we won't be seeing them again for a while and since our living arrangements are still up in the air come July 18th. Now it's time to gear up for our next group of visitors this weekend for our GR Fireworks Party. Nine of our out-of-town friends are coming in for it and I know it's going to be a blast!

Washington DC Days 3 & 4 | Arlington & National Zoo

After all of the walking we did on days one and two we decided to slow it down for our last two days in DC. On day three we headed to Arlington National Cemetery. The weather wasn't the best, cold and rainy, but kind of fitting. Visiting the cemetery with two disabled veterans was an experience that's hard to put into words. It was humbling to say the least. We walked around the grounds, Robert Lee's house, the Kennedy gravesite, and watched the changing of the guard at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Weekend | Weekend in Grand Rapids

This weekend was exactly what we needed after so many weekends spent away! We relaxed, checked items off of our GR Bucket List, went to the beach, and enjoyed the hot weather.

Friday

- Started packing

- Had a phone interview (and scheduled the in person interview, ahh!)

- Watched season 1 of Bloodline (such a good show!)

- Grilled dinner and hung out outside

Saturday

- Slept in until 10am, which is unheard of for us

- Visited the farmer's market

- Stopped at another Brewery on GR Beer City Ale Trail, Elk

- Beat the heat by hanging out in Duke's kiddie pool in the backyard

- Enjoyed an ice cream truck Spongebob

Michigan | Holland Tulip Time Festival

Holland, Michigan is best known for two things: tulips and Dutch culture! It's an adorable town right off of Lake Michigan and every May they host the annual Tulip Time Festival where they showcase the millions of tulips that bloom. Yes, I said millions. Who knew there were so many varieties of tulips? I certainly didn't! Given that Holland is only a 30 minute drive from Grand Rapids it was a no brainer to check it out.

We drove into town, parked the car, and just started walking. We walked through the neighborhoods and then ended up on 8th Street, which has a ton of shops and restaurants. The Tulips were everywhere we looked! We stopped a New Holland Brewing Company for lunch and then walked around for another hour. Unfortunately, due to our lack of researching/planning, we never made it to the windmills. I guess that just means that we'll have to go again :) My favorite tulips were the neon pink ones!

Midweek Ramblings + Purchases

          

Ramblings
GR Sunset: How beautiful does the sunset from last night look over the Grand River?! What's even better is that T&I are getting anniversary pictures taken tomorrow night at roughly the same time on that blue bridge! I'm crossing my fingers for another gorgeous sunset!
Job Hunting: Unfortunately, the two interviews I went on last week didn't pan out and I'm still on the hunt. This has been way more difficult that I could have imagined, especially when it was so damn hard to get into grad school in the first place, but I need to keep reminding myself that it'll all work out in the end. Whoosa Whooosa (anyone know what movie?!)
Packing: Now that we're less than a month out from the move it's time to start packing. I packed two boxes in the office yesterday and then felt completely overwhelmed. Overwhelmed about everything related to this move.
Dog Friendly Restaurants: Last night we had to be out of the house so that the new tenants could measure the rooms. Of course we walked downtown and decided to stopped at One Trick Pony for a drink. We sat on the patio since we had Duke with us and our waitress brought him a bowl of water and bone from the meat market. He loved the bone and we loved it because it kept him occupied!

Purchases
Besides a $230 tire the only thing we purchased this week was T's outfit for our pictures tomorrow night. I also booked myself a hair appointment at Bang BlowDry Bar here in GR and a makeup appointment at Sephora. These pictures better turn out amazing ;)

Washington DC Day 2 | Tours and Army Buddies

We were up bright and early again on day two. After walking 10 miles on day one we were still pretty tired, but really excited to tour the White House! Our tour was for 9am so we grabbed breakfast and headed towards 1600 Pennsylvania Ave!

We had to go through 3 separate security lines and metal detectors before we were able to enter through the East Wing. Once inside we stopped at the gift stand and then made our way through the "approved areas." We saw the East Colonnade, East Garden Room, Vermeil Room, China Room, Library, East Room, Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room, State Dining Room, and exited out through Entrance Hall. The tour took us roughly an hour and it was amazing to see such an iconic building!