31st Birthday Blind Date

As per what seems to be our tradition, Katie took me on a blind date for my 31st birthday. As you will be able to tell from the picture below, the main theme of the day was... TACOS! It was quite the fun day in Lansing.

 The first surprise... Pablo's Panaderia
I apparently forgot how to smile with a blindfold on. I promise I'm actually excited.

Breakfast tacos!

The second surprise... Mini Golf!

And not just any mini golf, real grass mini golf.

Trying to save par

Katie making a comeback

The third surprise... a gift appropriate for my old age and an awesome card made by Katie

The fourth surprise...

...more tacos! This time from a sketchy Hispanic grocery store

Fifth surprise... taco truck tacos

I was so full tacos I only ordered two, but they were delicious.

And then after relaxing and letting our stomachs settle during the afternoon, the last surprise was Katie made me dessert tacos for dinner.
Sugar and cinnamon shells filled with cream cheese and berries. One of them had chocolate hazelnut spread. One had cookie butter spread. And the third had extra sugar and cinnamon. 

Double Blind Birthday Date

Our love of blind dates (well, technically blind-folded dates) is no secret. So, we were happily surprised to hear that my sister had cleverly planned a double blind date to celebrate both of our birthdays. Yes, both Brandon and I have birthdays in July. July is definitely a superb month for birthdays. 

The first destination for the blind date was to be revealed via mail, so we headed to my parents house to pick up our mail and see what was in store for us. After sorting through several envelopes we found a gift card to Marie Catrib's for dinner that night. Hurrah! Marie Catrib's is my favorite restaurant in the entire world. And, Brandon, while not giving it "entire world" status appreciates their delicious fare as well (aka they have tacos for him). 

Holding our Marie Catrib's gift card with our eyes closed

We were instructed that we had to be done with dinner at Marie Catrib's by 7:15 pm and would be given instructions via text on what our after dinner entertainment would be. 

We arrived plenty early to Marie Catrib's to avoid the dinner rush and make sure we met our 7:15 pm deadline. While we waited for our food, we played around with the table decorations to make different shapes. 

Brandon built a rocket ship

My parents had taken us to Marie Catrib's the week before to celebrate our birthdays together. I feel pretty spoiled to have gotten to go there twice already in July. There are so many great dishes on the menu that it wasn't hard to find something different from the last time. As always the food was spectacularly delicious. 

Me with my giant "We Got the Beet" sandwich

Brandon with his Ancho Lentil Tacos

Since we were celebrating birthdays and had a gift card we splurged. Brandon also got an order of the seasoned potatoes, which are so amazing and addicting that he has renamed them "crack potatoes". He saved most of the potatoes to nibble on throughout the next couple days, because we also decided to split the homemade chocolate pudding. The chocolate pudding is pure, thick, rich, chocolate-y deliciousness decadently topped with real whipped cream. So good. 

Best chocolate pudding ever

While finishing up our meal we received a text from my sister saying that the next stop on our birthday blind date was a Grand Rapids Football Club game. She also texted us tickets to get into the game. We had been to their game the week before and had a lot of fun, so it was a great surprise to be able to go to another one this week. 

Dinner had gone smoothly and quickly, so we had some time to kill. The weather was cool, so we took a nice, after-dinner walk around the neighborhood. When it was time for the game to start we made our way to Houseman field to see GRFC play Lansing United. 

The game was a lot of fun to watch and pretty dramatic. Both teams got a red card in the 12th minute, so the rest of the game was 10 on 10. GRFC ended up winning 3:1. The third goal was dramatically scored during stoppage time right before the official end of the game. GRFC has an enthusiastic fan base making the game even more exciting to watch. 

GRFC vs. Lansing United

Watching the game and enjoying our birthday blind date. 

And that was the end of our double blind birthday blind date. Many thanks to my sister for planning an awesome evening for us. It was also a much needed distraction for me, since I'd come down with a nasty, week-long, upper respiratory virus. Yes, I try to eat well and exercise and take care of my body. Yes, it's the middle of summer. Yes, I've been incredibly irritated to be sick. This blind date evening was a bright spot in a week of sickness. 

29th Birthday Blind Date

I love my birthday and look forward to it every year. How could I not? Brandon always helps make birthdays so special. My 29th birthday was on Friday, and Brandon took me on an awesome blind date to celebrate. 

I started out in the car blindfolded with a homemade birthday card from Brandon

As it turned out, our first stop was The Ledges at Grand Ledge. The Ledges is the only place to climb outdoors in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. I had never been to The Ledges and had been wanting to check it out, so I was very excited that Brandon planned this stop. 

On the edge of the ledge

Of course the climbing at The Ledges isn't on par with that in Red River Gorge, Kentucky. But, despite most of the routes being only 30 feet high or less, there are some good, challenging routes. And, it was nice to be outside, active, and doing something we both love on such a beautiful day in July.  

Ready for the first climb

Taking a rest on a ledge halfway up the route

Almost to the top of the route

My fabulous, adventurous, blind date planning husband preparing for the climb

This route was more difficult than the first couple we did, but Brandon conquered it with impressive skill

I took a nice long rest on the ledge halfway up the route before continuing on

My arms were screaming by the time I reached the top 

The next surprise was a late lunch at El Oasis taco truck in Lansing. Brandon and I enjoyed hot, freshly prepared tacos, and the al pastor were definitely the best. 

Blindfolded with no idea what deliciousness lies behind me

Tacos are perfect post-climbing food

An adventure involving climbing and tacos would have been a sufficient birthday blind date, but Brandon had even more planned for the day. Our next stop was Lansing Brewing Company. Neither of us had been to the brewery, so it was high time to check it out. We sampled a flight and our favorite beer was their classic Amber Cream Ale. 

Drinking the Amber Cream Ale at Lansing Brewing Company 

And, it still wasn't over. The final surprise was a trip to an instrument shop. I also just realized that the place is called Elderly Instruments...I can only hope that wasn't intentional on Brandon's part. Regardless, we went there to look for a ukulele for me, which was super exciting. I tried learning how to play the banjo at the beginning our sabbatical, but I found the fingering to be difficult and didn't get very far. When we visited our friend Becky in California we were exposed to her marvelous ukulele skills, and I found the ukulele strings to be much easier to handle. I have been wanting a ukulele to play around with ever since. 

The instruments may be elderly, but not me. Plus, Brandon will always be more elderly than me. 

There were so many fancy ukuleles to play around with. We didn't buy anything at that moment. We have more researching to do. Hopefully I'll have one in my hands by the end of July. 

The instrument shop was the official end to the birthday blind date, but we still did some fun evening activities. The Grand Rapids Football Club had a match against Ann Arbor that we went to with Adam, Rachel, Alex, Tabitha, Amanda, and Josh. It was really fun to all hang out, and GRFC ended up winning 3:1. Adam, Rachel, Brandon, and I left a bit early to make it Furniture City Creamery before it closed. It seems silly to me for an ice cream place to only be open til 10 pm in the summer, especially since it's a popular place. Their homemade, eclectic flavors are delicious, so it was worth it to make it there on time. 

Rachel, me, and Adam with our ice cream

That was my 29th birthday! It was a truly spectacular day, and the big 3-0 next near will have to be pretty amazing to top it. 

Our Final Days in Holland

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the summer always goes by way too fast. And this one especially has flown by, probably because the end of this summer means the end of our time here in Holland for now. It's crazy to think we pick up the moving truck tomorrow (Thursday, September 3rd). But we've made the most of our last couple weeks here. 

Last week our good friend Pauley had to have some knee surgery, which is never a fun thing to go through, and especially no fun to go through by yourself. But luckily it got scheduled while we were still around, so we were able to help him out. We took him to/from surgery and made sure he was able to get around alright the following couple of days. 

Pauley received the "Star Patient Award"

Both before and after surgery, he was a non-stop parade of entertaining banter. He wanted to make sure everyone was having a good time or at least laughed once. And as part of that he also wanted everyone to know how much he appreciated their help. We got to enjoy the slightly drugged up version of our friend post surgery. His shining moment was when his nurse who he had been joking around most of the day was taking off for the day he stated aloud, "You're just like all the other women in my life, leaving me when I need you most". It was both awkward and hilarious all at once. A perfect Pauley moment. Needless to say I don't think anyone could stop laughing for several minutes. 

Pauley's recovery is going well. Like I said earlier, we were able to stop in and hangout the next couple days after the surgery. He really didn't need us around, but it was still good to hangout anyway. We made sure he got to eat more than just frozen meals. There was a lot of youtube watching. We played some Pandemic. We also made sure he could make it to his first PT appointment. Katie wanted to scope it all out to make sure they were doing good work on him. 

Pauley has more than once claimed that he owes us. And normally we would refuse any kind of repayment because honestly we really are just glad we were able to use our time off to help out a good friend. But that doesn't stop him from trying. And he knows we won't turn down tacos. So on the way home from PT we stopped at Donkeys in GR and gave in to the delicious "repayment". 

After all that came the weekend, wherein by dad came up for his annual visit/to celebrate my birthday. Some of you may remember that my birthday is not really a recent event, but that's just how we roll in my family. Birthday celebrations can happen at any time throughout the year. 

Our tradition is to pack the weekend with golf and good food. We usually get in two rounds of 18, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, and then squeeze in a round of mini-golf Sunday evening, especially if there is a need for a tie-breaker in case we each win one of the two rounds of normal golf. 

This year the first course we played was Diamond Springs. Katie's dad also joined us for that round. The most positive thing we can say about the day is that the course was quite lovely. Both my dad and I compared it to the TPC course in the QC where they play the John Deere Classic, except it was 1/3 the price. Everyone agreed the course was worth going back too, which is somewhat surprising considering how terrible we all did. The course is pretty tough, but on top of that none of us could string together two good shots in row. Those two things combined makes for a long day. Add in some rainy weather and it makes you wonder why we ever picked up the sport. But at least the rain kept the course pretty empty. So I guess that's another positive for the day too. Someday we'll have to return when we're shooting better. My dad technically won that round between us, but I'm sure it didn't feel like much of a win. 

The next day went much better for both my dad and myself. We played Kaufman Golf Course in Grand Rapids based on the recommendation of Katie's dad. The course was again quite nice. Not quite as fancy as Diamond Springs, but it was much more forgiving. We both shot 47's on the front nine, which was impressive considering neither of us got any better then a bogey. That basically means we were playing very consistent decent golf, which is very rare for us. The back nine was a little bit rougher, but I still managed to get a 51, still with no pars but no worse than one 7. My dad started out strong with two pars but then fell apart on the last few holes when his back started bothering him. Walking 18 holes of golf two days in a row, one of which was terribly hot and muggy, it'll wear on you. But he still had a shining moment on the last hole when he sank a 40 put putted from across the green and downhill. But even with that I still won that round.

After a little bit a rest and some dinner we got out one last time, this time with Katie, and played 18 holes of mini-golf at Holland's very own Sundae Sundae Golf Golf. It was a close game at first, but I managed to pull away with two hole-in-ones, making me for the first time ever the overall winner of the weekend. Katie also did very well and was quite proud of her performance. 

Post mini-golf picture at Sundae Sundae Golf Golf

It was a wonderful weekend. It's always nice when my dad can come to visit. We filled the non-golfing time with sharing stories of what's been going on throughout the summer, watching some movies, and of course eating delicious food. I'm not sure where we'll be doing this tradition next year, but I sure hope we still try to make it happen. 

The last thing I'll mention about our final days in the area is Katie's sister's birthday blind date. Katie and I decided we needed to start treating others to our "blind dates", so her birthday was a perfect opportunity to do just that. We picked her up at her house, blindfolded her and took her first to Marie Catrib's for dinner and then onto a paint event thing where with some instruction we painted our own version of a painting. Katie's sister got to eat and paint "mostly" un-blindfolded. Good times were had.

Unknowingly hanging out at Marie Catrib's

The surprise activity for the evening: Making a painting!

Our masterpieces. 

And that's that. Tomorrow (Thursday) we move, so we've been filling most of the rest of our time with packing/other moving details. It's quite exhausting, but we have had some nice opportunities to take small breaks still here or there, like to eat brunch with some good friends of ours and stop by Katie's former coworker's start of retirement celebration/open house. And speaking of packing, I should probably get back to doing just that.

Cheers

Brandon's Birthday Blind Date

Near the beginning of our relationship, we started doing what we called "blind dates", where one person is blindfolded and the other gets to drag along the blindfolded one for a random adventure. Katie is especially good at these, both because she is super awesome and considerate as well as the fact she seems to have an endless supply of West Michigan insider information.. aka her former patients. And as you might expect, this year for my birthday she did not disappoint. She took me to Traverse City.

After just a little bit of headache due to 131
North being completely shut down, we arrived
at our first destination in Traverse City,
Right Brain Brewery.

I sorta guessed we were coming here once I
deduced we were heading up to Traverse City.
But it was still exciting.

Upon arrival we got a flight and a delicious
sandwich made with waffles instead of bread.

But then the real surprise of the day was that I
got to fulfill the bucket list item of getting my hair cut
at the Salon Saloon which is attached to the brewery.

The reason this is so special is because you're
allowed to bring in a drink while you get your hair cut.

Sporting my new fancy hair cut.

Next stop was The Filling Station.
A railroad themed pub put in an old train station.

They had a good variety of styles to try.

We tried the triple IPA and the bourbon porter.

Hanging out on a dock afterwards with my cool wife.

Here's the lake the dock overlooked.

We then drove up to the Leelanau State Park
which is at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula.

We explored the park a bit.

Lake Michigan

She is the coolest.

We also camped there. So we
 made a fire to cook dinner.

A view of both the old and the new light houses.

My best attempt at a pose from one our
favorite movies, Moonrise Kingdom.

Katie's "Moonrise Kingdom" pose.

"This is our land..."

The next morning during breakfast we
met a very friendly chipmunk. We
named him "Chocolate".

So friendly he basically wandered right up
to me and let me feed him a piece of
my banana.

And then on our way back home we
stopped by Traverse City's Moomer's Creamery
for some ice cream for lunch.

And that was my awesome birthday blind date. So all that to say, Katie is the best! Thanks mi amor for being so fantastic and making my birthday so special.