Tulip Time!

Warning: Long Post

The Turner family took a little vacation last weekend and headed about 2.5 hours east of Chicago to Michigan (those "Pure Michigan" ads have gotten to us, I guess)... We had such a fantastic time. We stayed in Holland, MI, but on the way there stopped in Saugatuck. We loved both little towns and can't wait to return. Here are some pictures of the trip!

We first stopped at a little park in Saugatuck to reward Hank for napping the whole trip! Yay big boy! Here are some pictures of the fam playing at the park.

Then we all strolled down to The Butler, a restaurant that has been in town for 50 years. Not out of this world food, but very fun and very local... And right on the water! Hank couldn't take his eyes of this one man at the next table who had one of the biggest laughs I've ever heard.

After lunch, we strolled around town, and then let Hank run around another great little park. He is practicing being gentle (with people, pets, and plants...), and he got to try out his skills in the park. Despite the fact that the picture makes it look like he is decapitating this tulip, he did not in fact do anything of the sort. He was just petting them all, like he does dogs :) So cute. We were in this park for a while before packing back into the car for the short drive to Holland.

We made it to Holland in no time at all. When we booked the trip, we knew that it was a big weekend in Holland - Tulip Time! We missed the dutch dancers on Saturday, but did spend all afternoon walking around downtown Holland. It is SUCH a cute town. We stayed in the center of town at the CityFlats Hotel (http://cityflatshotel.com/phototour.html). If you ever find yourself in SW Michigan, I highly recommend staying here. Perfect location, the room was fantastic (Hank LOVED it), and the room service was great (if you are putting your toddler to bed at 7, this is a great feature!). The shopping was wonderful downtown too - I was really impressed. My favorite store was JB and Me (http://www.jbandme.com/) - kind of like a local Anthropologie... I got some really cute things while Craig and Hank were playing in their kiddie area (complete with play kitchen - genius).

Our hotel...

(Gee - we took this picture for you - our hotel was green :)

Craig and Hank "shopping" with me downtown.

Tulips!

The next morning, we got up and had brunch at the hotel's rooftop restaurant and then headed out. We drove up the coast of Lake Michigan to Grand Harbor (MI is beautiful, just like the ads say it is!). Cute town, but not much to do on a rainy day, so we decided to head back to Chicago so we could have a nice afternoon at home. On the way home, we stopped and ate at Crane's Pie Pantry... can't wait to go back when more fruit is in season! This place will ship you freshly made pies, so if you're in the market... http://cranespiepantry.com/

We had an amazing "off" weekend, and we can't wait to explore more of the Midwest!