John had been working a lot during October and November and the boys & I were really missing him. We were already planning on going to
Manya and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving, so we decided to take a couple days off before that and have a little family get away. We decided on Frankenmuth, MI. I hadn't been there in decades and John has never been. It wasn't too far out of the way and we love to explore small towns. The boys were super excited, mostly for the hotel pool. John was excited for the famous Frankenmuth chicken dinners.
Our first stop was to meet Aunt Joy (our sister-in-law) when we got close to Frankenmuth. Fortunately, she was headed in the same direction and was able to take Lucky (our chihuahua) to my parents house for us. Next stop, Cracker Barrel. Over the years, that has become our road trip breakfast restaurant. yum yum
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| at Manya & Grandpa's house |
So, after Lucky and breakfast were taken care of, it was time to check in to the hotel and unload. Jax was ready for a nap and Daddy is always ready for a nap, so they went down. Lincoln, Spencer and I were ready to get the party started, so we headed out to explore the town. We headed over to the visitor center to get some ideas. It's like they knew we were coming. They have the coolest thing to do with kids. They have a gnome hunt! How fun!! You get a gnome log and a map and you have to go hunt down all the gnomes in town and find out their names. Most of them were in stores, but not all. What a great way to promote the local businesses. The moms get to go shopping and the kids are super excited to go in the stores. As the only female in the family, that doesn't happen for me, ever. A couple of our gnome names were illegible, but I was able to read most of them from our log. I won't tell you where we found them, though. That would have been enough to get my kids energized, but BONUS, for every ten gnomes you find you get to pick out treasures from the treasure chest. We've had a thing for gnomes ever since we saw "Gnomeo and Juliet" last summer.
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| Schultzie & Clara |
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| Nester |
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| Gus |
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| Percy |
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| Kase Wedge |
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| Klaus von Winterstein |
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Bubbles
(a couple of the gnomes made Jax angry)
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| Heinz |
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Pullietta
(Can you find the hidden Mommy?) |
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| Jaami |
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| Phinnious Fudge & Melbert Fudge |
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Lincoln, Jackson and Spencer gnomes
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| Rau D. Konfektmaker |
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| Jack |
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Choco Kimmel
(way up on top) |
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Choco Kimmel
(up close) |
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| Spirit |
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| Spaetzel |
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| Pursella |
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| Herb |
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| Frankie |
We found a few gnomes right away and did some other exploring before we went back to get John and Jax. Then we headed to dinner at the
Frankenmuth Brewery. That worked out perfect, it was Tuesday and they happened to have buy one get one free pizza that night. It was exactly what the kids were asking for and it was delish! It had a very cool, yet kid friendly vibe to it. It's one of the oldest breweries in Michigan and know around town as, "Das Good Bier". I would definitely eat there again. Then we headed back to the hotel for some pool time. Stay turned to our next post for the lighthouse elements of this trip.
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| of course, I had to get a souvenir ;') |
What a fun thing! I didn't know they did that in Frankenmuth. Kudos to them for making the shopping experience more bearable with little kids. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI have a little "tradition" to share with you about Cracker Barrel with the kids. My younger grandkids are convinced that there's magic in the lanterns on the tables there. Each table has a glass lantern in the middle, and there's a hole under the table with a little post that holds it in place. If you have the kids say a magic word and slowly raise their hands toward the lantern, it will rise off the table to follow their motion. That is, of course, if mom's or dad's hidden hand happens to be under that table. This is especially useful when you have restless kids waiting for their food to arrive. I'm assuming that all Cracker Barrels have the same lantern setup... it's worked for us in numerous locations. Let me know if you try it!
Merry Christmas all!
Nancy
That is hilarious, Nancy! I just showed this to John. We are definitely doing that next time. We did notice the holes, when we tried to slide them out of our way.
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