In June we took a quick trip up to Michigan for our friend Shena's wedding... which happened to be on Paul's birthday. First we spent a few days with family in Western Michigan, including a surprise boat cruise on the Grand River to celebrate Paul's birthday and some time hanging out in downtown Grand Rapids.
After our family visit, we drove over to the east side of the state and spent some time with friends, visiting downtown Detroit and going to the wedding in Livonia. We had some Lebanese food at a restaurant called "Sheesh," which then became our favorite term of the weekend. As in, "sheesh, I need another beer" or "sheesh I'm tired!" In Detroit we visited the Eastern Market, rode the people mover, and walked along the river.
Shena and Kyle's wedding was gigantic (375 guests) and we had a great time hanging out with old friends from Kalamazoo. Bonus: there was an ice cream bar at the reception. Congrats to the couple!
Eastern Market in Detroit is brought to you by Kid Rock.
Hanging out on the Detroit River.
Downtown Detroit from the people mover.
The Renaissance Center.
Hart Plaza.
The "Spirit of Detroit."
"Welcome Neighbors" cookie with the Kzoo kids at Shena's wedding.
Gettin' hitched!
Little kids getting down on the dance floor!
Of course we made a quick stop for Tim Bits before leaving.
Our friend Leslie is getting married! Thankfully, it's to a wonderful lady named Lauren! Lucky for us, Leslie agree to let David and our friend Shayna plan the bachelorette party. We surprised Leslie with a trip to Chicago to watch the Atlanta United play back in early June. Nine people went in, only eight returned....nah, just kidding, everyone's still alive ;)
Here are some pictures from our super fun Chicago weekend full of shenanigans, soccer, food and feels for Leslie!
Three cheers for the bride to be, taking a bite out of Chicago!
David's cousin Taylor graduated high school at the end of May, and a bunch of his family came down to celebrate her accomplishment. We made a few days of it and drove down with David's parents and Aunt Marianne. On the way down to Warner Robins to pick up David's family, we stopped in Macon for dinner and discovered a new video game bar had opened! Fun!
We stopped in downtown Macon on the drive down, and found a video game bar!
After the long drive, we had dinner at David's Uncle Rick and Aunt Terri's house. They recently moved inland from closer to St. Petersburg to a big house in New Port Richey. We went and found some local beer to share from Big Storm Brewing Company (which was hit or miss). On our way to our hotel we had a colorful Florida experience at a local 7-11 in which we also managed to find a terrifying treat. You know...basically, Florida.
What nightmares are made of!
The beer scene is growing in the South - Big Storm Brewing Company
The very next day we went to Busch Gardens for Paul to get his roller coaster fix. The weather was a little sketchy so the park was pretty empty. Score!
First stop - Montu!
Paul's not afraid of Tigers!
The new "Pantopia" section is very colorful and has a fun free-fall tower...
...that Paul was crazy enough to ride!
It was a rainy day but the water rides were still popular.
Bacon pretzels and craft beer! Healthy theme park food.
After hanging out at Busch Gardens for a few hours, we met up with David's cousins (Vegas and Florida crew) in downtown to check out the river-walk and grab some food at the Tampa Pizza Company. More bad weather led us to a video game bar in Ybor City called Game Time for an hour.
Tampa has some nice old buildings in downtown and in Ybor City.
Streetcar in Ybor City - small loop that runs into downtown.
Taylor and Zach sucking up some ghosts in Luigi's Mansion
Paul celebrating one of his many victories in Mario at the Olympics game
Ybor City is really cute with lots of bars and walkable areas
There were chickens all over Ybor City. It was weird.
Tampa's bike share is pretty much identical to Atlanta's, right down to the color scheme.
That evening, we bailed on the family (sorry family!) and went to check out Tarpon Springs. This city has an interesting history focused on the sponge. Basically, the sponge diving industry in Europe was wrecked by a blight and lots of Greek people immigrated to this community, which had the correct conditions for sponges to grow.
Today, Tarpon Springs has the highest percent of people of Greek descent of any American city. It has a touristy waterfront with lots of Greek restaurants. There were even people walking down the streets speaking in Greek. It's pretty odd, but worth a look if you're ever in the neighborhood! We stopped for dinner and treats for the family at Hellas Restaurant and Bakery.
Water in Tampa Bay is like glass!
The Tarpon Springs waterfront.
That's not how sponges work, Paul!
Super cheesy, but pretty good food at Hellas!
Paul's leading a secret double life down in Tarpon Springs!
Taylor's graduation party was on our last full day in Florida. It was great catching up with family and celebrating David's cousin Taylor! Taylor is planning on attending the University of South Florida in the fall.
Congrats cake!
There's a lot going on in this picture to the trained D'Onofrio eye...
After party location at a beach bar!
It's not a D'Onofrio family gathering until these guys start singing!
