This year marked our 18th wedding anniversary!!! Time seems to be going much faster these days. William just graduated out of his booster seat, and come November, will meet all the criteria to ride in the front seat! = 0 Alice turns 16 in August, Emily starts high school in the fall, and the twins will be heading to middle school. I'm glad the sun was out today because I needed the comfort. lol.
I digress. My mom agreed to a sleep over with the kids, and Billy and I headed back to Grand Rapids to see somethings we missed the first go round! Once again, Grand Rapids was not our first choice, but Ann Arbor was expensive, again, and Claire was booked, because it was St. Patrick's Day weekend!
When we pulled into town, there was an event, Irish off Ionia, going on. We saw tons of people dressed up to celebrate. I was really glad that we wore green, and a little sad that I hadn't grabbed some of our other accessories. We also saw tons of college kids walking around, so I guess classes were out on our previous trip, in January.
The hotel was easy to find, since we'd already stayed there once, and we were upgraded at check in! The room wasn't much bigger, but did have a coffee maker and the bedroom was walled off from the bedroom. I didn't take any pictures this time. After settling in, it was time to venture out!
Our first stop was a pinball bar.
Billy played the James Bond Pinball game, and his jet pack caught the ball to give him a bonus! It's hard to see, but I thought I'd give y'all a sporting chance to spot it; it's circled below.
Once we had our fill of pinball, we made our way to the Irish Pub that we missed out on last time, but the line was out the door, and halfway down the block! Despite the weather being better than it was on our previous visit, we decided to find a less packed location.
So, we stopped back in to Max's South Sea's Hideaway. We weren't planning on eating a meal there, so we sat at the bar.
We shared a Boo Loo, which was served in a pineapple!
I wanted to do something to celebrate the 'holiday' so I ordered the Emerald Viper. It wasn't very good, but it was pretty.
And I got this lovely picture of the bar, with my pretty drink in front of it. lol.
Billy got a Henry's Baby, it was not as pretty, but he enjoyed it.
Our next stop was for some food, at a bar with a secret back entrance!
We approached from the road, through the parking lot and across the alley to get to the door. It felt very secret. There was a street entrance on the other side, but I don't think we left that way either!
A place with a legit physical menu in Grand Rapids! What a novelty!
We played some physical pong. Billy beat me handily: 5-1 or something.
They were playing reruns of Nickelodeon shows, including commercials, so I saw some things that I've not seen in decades! It was pretty cool.
One of the concerts on our radar was in a bar with a long line, so we passed on it, and went to check out some specials in the building that houses the comedy club. We skipped on the comedy this time, but did get some lucky charms in our drinks! The flavors didn't mesh well at all though.
While we sat there, we saw more and more college kids heading in to celebrate! Lots of green. I had no idea that it was such a big holiday for people!
Without the concert or comedy club, we just spent time chatting, until dinner time. We went out to a hibachi grill. The 6:30 reservation did not show up, so we were seated alone, with our first white hibachi chef, Brandon! He was really good, and all of our food was perfect!
We attempted one more stop at a wine bar that boasts live jazz, but they had apparently, recently, closed for business. = / There were lines, in the cold, everywhere, so we called it a night and headed back to our hotel.
The weather turned on us again, and it was rainy and cold on Sunday, so we were not feeling adventurous and just headed home. Maybe next time, because I think we will go back when the weather is better!
