Bead & Button Show - 2nd Annual Trip

This weekend my Mom and I went to Milwaukee, WI for the Bead and Button Show. We left Thursday morning and took the back way because the GPS was set up to avoid toll roads. By taking this way we ended up going through China Town in Chicago, this is when we started to get a little nervous. Amazingly enough we found our first stop, Gurnee Mills. We spent a couple of hours shopping and got lunch. We finally arrived in Milwaukee around 5:00. We checked in to our hotel to find out our double bedroom was given away and we were given a room with a king bed. Then we found out that the parking wasn't included and it cost $20 a day for parking....YIKES! The hotel was cool. Here are a few pictures from the hallway on the 16th floor and the view from our window.

Thursday Night the Bead and Button show is only opened to those that pre-registered. We spent a couple hours on Thursday night walking through the show and finding what booths we wanted to hit again on Friday. The show has 9 aisles with hundreds of booths.

Each year the show has pieces on displayed. Here are some of those pieces:

Friday afternoon we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. This was my first time at a Cheesecake Factory and it was a great experience! The dinner was good and the cheesecake was AMAZING! Saturday we toured the Pabst Mansion. The tour was an hour and half long. The Mansion had awesome wood work and a lot of interesting storage areas. There was one room that had secret panels that only opened when the right button was pushed. We weren't suppose to take any pictures on the tour, but I quick took a few. My Mom and I really enjoyed the tour.

After our tour we drove an half an hour out of Milwaukee and hit the Prime Outlet Mall. We shopped the rest of the afternoon. We ended our day by walking the Bead and Button show.

Below is a picture of a wax statue in the conference center. It is very creepy how real the statue looks.

Sunday was our last day. We slept in and then hit a breakfast buffet. We walked through the show one last time, hoping the vendors would mark their stuff down even more on the last day. We both found a few more items to purchase, but didn't think sales were any better than the days before. We got home around 6:30. It was an excellent trip!

Happy 50th Anniversary Grandpa & Grandma Hoekstra

WOW.....50 years of marriage! What an AWESOME reason to celebrate! Our whole family had a dinner in Allendale at 48th West in their common room. The meal was excellent and no one left hungry. It was nice to know that Grandpa and Grandma were feeling better compared to last weekend. Hopefully, they continue to get good news about their health and enjoy each day to the fullest.

Denielle handling the punch bowl.

My mom, me, Amber, and Sarah

The boys table....Christopher, Collin, Derrick, Jason, & Brandon (L to R)Grandpa & Grandma enjoying their dinner.
Lee & Cadence

Aunt Linda, Uncle Craig, Great Aunt AnnaMae, Grandpa & Grandma, Great Aunt Josie, & Great Uncle Floyd (L to R)

Sarah & Chris

Jennifer, Josh, Ashley, Denielle, Uncle Doug, & Jesse (L to R)

Uncle Don & my mom

Aunt Sandra, Uncle Don, Mom, Dad, Uncle Dave, & Aunt Dawn (L to R)

Grandpa Hoekstra's siblings

Grandpa with his sibilings

The Hoekstra Family
Me with my Grandparents
And last but not least....Scot & my candid moment

Memorial Day with Family

What a WONDERFUL day! I don't think we could have asked for nicer weather. Today I slept in, read in the sun for two hours and then took Trigger for a walk. I really enjoyed my day. Tonight we had a cookout at my parents. After dinner we had a competitive game of horse shoes. Scot and Chris won one game and Dad and I were able to take one game. I think we all need some more practice! We ended the evening with a nice bonfire. Sarah bought a rainbow stick for the bonfire.

Cadence, Sarah & myself

Lee & Cadence

Eli sitting at his own picnic table munching on strawberries.

Amber & David

Sarah took Eli for a Gator ride. Eli love's Aunt Sarah's gator.

Our horse shoe games......

The Start of Our Memorial Weekend

Saturday night, Scot and I went to John and April Roger's home in Caledonia for a cook out. Luke and Erin Vander Meulen were there as well with their son, Case. It was a great time catching up with friends we don't see often enough.