Grand Rapids - Adventure

Alice and Emily did another intake appointment with the endocrinologist last week (we were just over the returning patient deadline.) Our hope is that we can get them enrolled in CSHCS to help cover the cost of dental care, because we believe their teeth have been impacted by hypophosphatasia, despite having no other noticeable symptoms.  It was a little weird to be there without William, Grace, and Juliet, but I think they enjoyed their time with Avia* who picked them up from school and took them out to the ice cream shop for dinner! (picture courtesy of Avia) 

Because the doctor sent us for blood work and x-rays after the appointment, we didn't have time to make the drive to a new state park afterwards, but still found adventure!

We drove down to a very commercial area of Grand Rapids, and wound up by the mall.  Billy saw an on the border, which triggered a craving for Mexican food.  We saw a world market, and I thought Alice and Emily would enjoy seeing all the exotic things there, so we stopped in.

They did enjoy it, but the one thing that Alice picked out was over what she was willing to spend, so we didn't buy anything.  We did find lots of Hello Kitty things that we've logged away, mentally, for future use.

Alice and Emily's first time at World Market!

Not Billy's first time at World Market.

When we were inbound, Billy saw a sign for a restaurant that was Mexican food and Pizza.  It sounded interesting, but nothing came up in a google search.  We drove outbound, watching the informational signs for the Mexican & pizza place. 

We finally found it!  We drove way out into the country, and found.... a gas station.

They did indeed have Mexican cuisine and Pizza, but it was not at all what the stylized logo led us to believe.

We had a good laugh, and then got back on the road to find a true Mexican resturant.

We ended up in adorable downtown Ionia!  El Mariachi matched our notion of a Mexican restaurant perfectly.

It gets a pretty good rating, Billy gave the salsa a 5/10, and sadly the queso tasted like alfredo to me, so 2/10? the tortilla chips were good! And the girls enjoyed the lemonades they got.

We ordered one of their specialties called the Lava Bowl and split it 4 ways.  It was huge!  We all enjoyed it, 10/10!

The tortillas came in the cutest sombrero basket!!!

There was so much food in the lava bowl, that even with all four of us eating it, we still took a takeaway box!  I was busy loading the boxes when our desert came, so I didn't get a picture before everyone started into it, but it was pretty!

We left nothing, so I would say 10/10!

I would go back, if we ever find ourselves in the area!

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The stack of tortillas sat in our fridge for a few days, so I chopped them up, fried them, and added cinnamon and sugar.  Had we added ice cream and whipped cream, it would have tasted just like our desert! = )

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later days

*speaking of Avia, she is the one that sweetly funded our outing!  I brought 2 rounds of sandwiches (lunch and dinner) but when the state park was out (it was going to be two hours and change there, and then two hours and change home, on a school night!) we decided to find a more urban adventure.

edit 10-26-24: backdated for continuity.