May has been a busy month! And it appears that June is going to follow suit. If there was a recent phase where I wasn't picking up my camera in favor of the quicker iPhone snapshots, I have done a complete 180. I have a gazillion pictures awaiting blog posts and I'm back to unloading pictures from my camera to my computer on the daily.
This was such a fun weekend. My sister turned 30 on April 15th and my cousin Brittany will turn 30 on June 21st. So we decided to do a girls weekend in the middle to celebrate their milestone year just like we did for me a couple years ago. (P.S. - don't look too closely at my 30th birthday weekend - I hated my hair at that time - yick!) Memorial Day weekend was the perfect choice to give us an extra day in there.
We left on Saturday morning and drove to Frankenmuth where we would be staying for the next two nights. Upon arrival, mom and Aunt Shirley wanted to eat the famous chicken dinner for lunch at the Bavarian Inn.
I had eaten a kind of big breakfast at home before leaving and wasn't all that hungry, so I just had a soup and salad and it wasn't very good. But everyone else seemed to enjoy their meal. I did cap off lunch on a high note with an adult root beer float (with Baileys and Kaluha, etc).
And everyone else had little sundaes that came with their family style meals.
Downstairs from the restaurant, there were lots of shops that we browsed. This silly thing was a fun photo-op.
The birthday girls. Cheers, ladies!
These were magnets (I think?) in a wine store. :)
We walked through the shops in downtown Frankenmuth for awhile. Some of the girls bought cute new scarves. I got a new rug for my kitchen that I love. And it was a beautiful day!!
Haha, Aunt Shirley!
LOVE LOVE this one. So cute!
Pretty ladies.
Love my sis and mama!
Cracked up at this inside one of the shops:
There are way too many of these in Frankenmuth.
The next few are blurry but so funny. There was some festive German music being played and sung nearby and mom and Casey busted a move!
Brianne and me. Wedding festivities are just around the corner for Bri! Can't wait!
Our group. LOVE these women with all my heart!
We did hit up Bronner's (the store where it looks like Christmas threw up all over the inside of a warehouse) but it was a quick walk through. And then we got checked into our hotel room and walk downtown again to watch a hot air balloon show that was going on. Frankenmuth was a hoppin' place this weekend!! There was a big dog show, this hot air balloon festival and a wedding that we saw. Turns out this evening, they were just blowing a couple of the balloons up and keeping them on the ground. We really didn't know what to expect. But later in the weekend we saw more floating by in the evening that were much prettier.
On the walk back to the hotel, we picked up a pizza and ate in the room along with the other snacks (veggies, salsa and chips, fruit, etc.) that were brought along. Oh, and let's not forget the yummy drinks we had too! It was late by then so we took a dip in the hot tub and went to bed. We were all exhausted!
My camera didn't come out until late afternoon on Sunday. We woke in the morning and ate the continental breakfast in the hotel. Somehow, we got into a big conversation about religion, which seemed appropriate on a Sunday morning. About mid-morning we headed to Birch Run outlets and did some MAJOR shopping. Major. We all immediately had lots of success in the Ann Taylor Loft outlet. And then also at New York & Company, which I hadn't been to in ages. Lots of stores later, it was way past lunch and we were debating whether to stop and eat at a restaurant or just grab a snack. So around 3:30-ish (?) we decided on smoothies with some chips and guac at this yummy deli place near the A&W restaurant. No wait time, no dinner spoilage. Just the perfect pick me up to rejuvenate our shopping stamina. :) All of the smoothies sounded really good, so it was a tough choice:
Probably setting a game plan for the rest of the afternoon/evening:
My smoothie was a tropical thing with pineapple, coconut and some other flavors and it was soooo refreshing! And the chips and guac were delicious too.
Case had a really good berry blend smoothie.
Refreshed, we headed back out there. Shopping is exhausting work. But we powered through! It's a skill really... passed down through generations. LOL
When we finally called it quits, we headed back to downtown Frankenmuth to eat dinner at a place called Tiffany's. Great food and lots of great choices! Homemade pastas, yummy drinks, delicious appetizers. We'd highly recommend.
We saw some more balloons floating by while we waited for our table!
Mini cousins' photo shoot:
Two of the hippest ladies I know:
Love!
More balloons!
Back at the hotel, we all got cozy in our jammies and sang Happy Birthday to Case and Britt with a cookie cake.
Then we gathered up our things (drinks, games, nail polish, snacks) and went down to the deserted hotel lobby to use the tables and chairs that were available there. Our room was really nice (modern, clean and nicely decorated) but didn't offer much in the way of game-playing tables.
All of us painted our own nails and/or our mom's nails using the manicure supplies and color choices I brought along.
And then a hopping game of Dominos ensued. Fun!
Again, we were all pretty exhausted and crashed pretty hard. The next morning, we were up pretty early to head home early. We ate breakfast, packed up and drove straight home by 10:30-ish. (Loading up the vehicle was a small challenge because of all the new purchases going home with us. :) )
And a couple final balloons floated by as we were leaving.
Thanks for a really fun, memorable trip, ladies! Happy 30th, Casey & Brittany!!
Let's make this Memorial Day weekend a routine trip to Birch Run. The sales are too ridiculous to pass up! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment