We took our first family road trip a few days ago! Which since Kennedy has been born, has pretty much been my worst nightmare. There are SO, SO many thing that could go wrong. And of course, loss of control and the chaos that I have created in my mind feeds right into my anxiety. The two greatest “fears” if you will, were the car ride and sleeping through the night. The longest car ride Kennedy has experienced is about 45 minutes and recently, she has started fighting us when it comes time to get into her car seat. K is also a TERRIBLE sleeper! So, I knew that there was a huge possibility that she would not be able to fall asleep in a strange hotel.

You guys! With the exception of sleeping through the night, which lets be honest, wasn’t happening any way. Kennedy was SO stinking good. I was so proud of her! She  was great in the car on the way down. On the way back she even fell asleep it was a miracle!

On our way down we decided to stop In Grand Rapids  at a brewery called Hop Cat. OMG you guys! They make the most delicious Bloody Mary. Which you know, is how I judge a restaurant. When we stopped it was happy hour, so I treated myself to the spinach and artichoke dip. It was covered in hot sauce and made my mouth water!

We got to our hotel and settled in for the night. We got Kennedy down about nine o’clock.  It wasn’t a super easy bed time, but it was definitely not the worst we’ve ever experienced. Buuut around 2:45 am Kennedy woke up from her pack and play. Kenny tried to get her back down for a while. But, she wriggled and whined , fighting the temptation of sleep. We took turns going back and forth trying to soothe her and give her comfort in this strange place. There was not a clock  in the hotel room (Which is still so bizarre to me.) but I don’t that she got back down until at least 5:30. Kennedy never fell into a deep sleep, but ended up finding comfort snuggled up next her momma. This filled my heart with so much warmth and joy. Because Kennedy is not an overly snugly baby I tried to tough it out in this extremely uncomfortable  position I had found myself in. Lol

Any who, after a cup of delicious iced coffee we headed to Holland, Michigan for their annual Tulip Festival. I have been wanting to go for years, but always forget about the event until I see all of my friends headed there via Facebook. Tulips are my favorite flower.  I just love idea of walking through a city filled with them. Historically, Holland is a Dutch town and they take pride in involving many of their traditions into the festival. We watched some of the girls from the town perform a traditional Dutch dance in their wooden clogs. Before they preformed a women told us that they would layer 7-10 pairs of socks!! That was so insane to me.

We explored the rest of the city. Kennedy loved running around and smelling all of the beautiful tulips. There were so many vibrant reds, yellows, and pinks a true sign of spring! We hit a local coffee shop Lemonjellos for another coffee. It was so delicious! And worth a little extra walking. We had so much fun that Kennedy even fell asleep in her car seat on the way home, which NEVER happens!

We had SO much fun! We are definitely planning on making this an annual trip. I can’t wait to share more of our summer explorations with you.

Xoxo, Brit