Holland!

Aunt Sara and Uncle Pat invited us to join them at the Tulip Festival in Holland, MI quite some time ago. My parents and sister decided to come too. A few days before the big event, Uncle Pat fell off a ladder and was unable to make the trip. What a bummer! We discussed cancelling, but we had made plans to stay with my good friend Andrew and his family, so we wanted to see them too. My parents ended up joining us and Claire stayed at our house in MQT.

It was fun that my parents could be there, and they had the huge house at the beach all to themselves, so we had a good time down there too. The girls played in the water as we had some wonderful weather. The tulip festival was interesting to see, and odd to be in a real Dutch windmill where everyone spoke English. Still some tulips left to enjoy. Holland is a really nice city. They have heated sidewalks so there's no ice in the winter and the location is right on a lake feeding into Lake Michigan. We also got to see the old licensed Delftware maker in North America and a wooden shoe workshop. Enjoyed a lots of good food and a really nice Mother's Day brunch along with a trip to the Dutch Supermarket and Andrew's amazing coffee shop, Aldea. 

Made stops at Tahquamenon Falls and Hartwick Pines (the last bit of old growth forest downstate) and the Cut River. Fun to show parts of Michigan to the girls. Before we left on the trip, we bought a couch and trailer from French Claire. Won't need to borrow the neighbor's anymore. I was also working on building some structure into the garage that should help support the roof under heavy snow loads. Tricky getting those heavy beams up to the ceiling. Hopefully I can finish that project this week. 

Yummy lunch from Auntie Claire and the girls.

Goodbye, old couch.

Still need to install Naomi's birthday present.

This trailer needs some work.

The big waterfall.

Logging museum and old growth forest.

Holland, MI.

Still some tulips on Windmill Island.

A beautiful day at the beach in Grand Haven.

Dutch Cheese!

Cut River Bridge.

Lots of steps down to the lake.