Holland, Michigan

Every Spring, there is a Tulip Time Festival in Holland Michigan. This has been a big event here for years. As a matter of fact, one of our residents who is in her late 70's has a picture of herself when she was a teenager, dressed up as a Dutch dancer. There are a lot of young people who dress in authentic old style dutch garb, including wooden shoes and do dutch dancing throughout the week. People come from all over to see the different events and the tulips which are beautiful. I try to avoid going to Holland during the actual week of the Festival because of the crowds, but Cheri and I did some shopping there this week. (the Festival was last week) Here are a few pictures from Dutch Village.

The Village is set up like the old towns in the Netherlands, with canals running through it.
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There are lots of tulip beds!
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Here is a bridge across a pond that leads to an outlet shopping center, which is also built to look like the old Dutch buildings.
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I kidnapped this picture from Cheri, so you could see what these fields of tulips look like. Aren't they beautiful?

Look what I got today.

When I came home from work today there was a box waiting for me. I hadn't ordered anything recently so wondered what it could be, until I saw who it was from. It was from Short Stop Sarah! She recently had a giveaway to celebrate her 300th post. She gave away this package that included a Barefoot Contessa cookbook and a brownie mix and I won it. I know I'll enjoy looking through the cookbook and Sarah says these are the best brownies ever.
Thanks Sarah, for a great giveaway and congratulations on 300 posts.
If you've never visited Sarah, you need to stop by. Check out her adorable boys and read some of her words of both wisdom and comedy!

Bob and Andy's Camping Adventure

You will have to excuse this late post - I'm still catching up! This is from Bob and Andy's camping trip that they went on last weekend.
Ever since Andy was about 10, he and Bob have taken a few days and gone camping in the Manistee National Forest. They rough it, going in a tent and have no electricity or running water. They target practice, take lots of walks and just enjoy spending time with each other. This past weekend they were able to spend a few nights doing this before Andy left. They've never done it this early so it was a little colder and not very green, but they had a good time, regardless.

Here is their tent sitting in the middle of the woods.
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The scenery was beautiful, even though there weren't many leaves on the trees yet.

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This is a panoramic shot Andy took of the lake

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You always need a campfire, right?

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Even when there's a lot of beauty around you, but don't forget to look up!