Frugal-Lisa Friday

Last spring I bought a raffle ticket to the WGVU Travel Raffle. The $40 ticket paid off. Not only was it a donation to public radio, but I won two-nights stay and a $125 gift card for the Amway Grand Plaza downtown Grand Rapids. (Our favorite "fancy" hotel!)

Enjoying the view from our 18th story window

Beautiful view of the Grand River

We planned for an afternoon of ice skating at Rosa Parks Circle ($2/person to skate, rental included), but found that there were no children's sized skates left, and their wait list was so long that they stopped adding to the list. The girls were a little disappointed, but the warm pool at the hotel was calling their name.

Handmade ice cream from a vendor at the Downtown Market

Saturday night, Kyle treated us to dinner at The Chop House across the street from the hotel. Josie and Ellie agreed they could eat that dinner every night of their lives. (Salmon, steak, creamed corn and asparagus. We all could!)

Requisite photo in front of the fountain and chandelier

First time we've had a tablet as an interactive menu

Instead of dessert at the restaurant, we used some of the gift card and rode the elevator to the top of the hotel and enjoyed beautiful night views, dessert and after-dinner cocktails at Cygnus27.

Our footwear for dessert at Cygnus – Kyle and I only brought boots
the girls insisted on wearing the flip-flops the brought for the pool

After indulging in a room-service breakfast (the rest of the gift card and a first for Ellie and Josie), we walked back to Rosa Parks Circle and were able to try our hand feet at ice skating. Both of the girls agreed that it is a lot harder than it looks!

We had a fantastic weekend as a family, and aside from the dinner Saturday night, quite a bargin for a $40 raffle ticket and $8 in ice skating!