Mother’s Day Getaway

In the past, I’ve shared my Mother's Day protests. But this year marks the first time since my boy started playing club soccer that I celebrated Mother’s Day on Mother’s Day and did not spend it on a cold soccer field. Now, he did actually have a game on Mother’s Day as usual, but I—bad mommy that I am—blew it off (*shocked gasp*) and instead celebrated this year by spending an entire Mother’s Day weekend with my sister and my mom! Yeah, baby!

We road-tripped to Holland, Michigan for their annual Tulip Festival!

We started out cruising through the arts & crafts show, then took a tour aboard the Tulip Time Bus. Here’s our knowledgeable tour guide:

We viewed some of Holland’s historical sites and areas of particular beauty, and learned some interesting facts. For example did you know that Holland, Michigan is the second happiest city in the nation?

The only bummer was that because of the cold spring we’ve been having so far, many of the tulips and flowering trees hadn’t bloomed yet. But we still managed to see some beautiful blossoms…

After hitting the festival, we drove to our hotel. We’d booked a spa package at the J.W. Marriott. While I got a massage, my sister had a pedicure and we gave mom a manicure. Side Note: The masseuse told me I was carrying a LOT of tension in my neck and upper back and should really consider having massages a couple of times a week until all the knots are worked out. (Uh…hubs, are you reading this?)

Annnnyhoo…

After our spa treatments, we got all dolled up for an awesome dinner at Holland’s Alpen Rose restaurant. After completing my recent travel writing project on Austria, it was so cool to get to eat real Austrian cuisine made by an Austrian chef from Austria. Like this dish of fresh handmade spaetzle dumplings sautéed with cherrywood smoked bacon, spinach and Swiss cheese. Yum!

After dinner we attended a performance of Cheating Cheaters at the Holland Civic Theatre. It was a cute performance, but I think we were all a little wiped out from our busy day and I noticed mom kept “resting her eyes” during the performance. Ha, ha!

We headed back to the hotel and had a glass of wine in our room. We turned off all the lights to enjoy our lovely view of Grand Rapids’ by night.

After sleeping in and enjoying a delicious Mother’s Day, we road-tripped back home. Thanks mom and sis for a FABULOUS Mother’s Day!

And a Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all the other Moms out there!





All photographs © Holly Bowne with the exception of the following:



DeZwaan Windmill Image by: Becky Anne
Dutch Dancer Images by: Benimoto
Welcome to Holland Image by: Bazooka Joe