Tulip Festival

 

It was a COLD trip to the Tulip Festival this year.

I also forgot to charge my camera battery before we left and it died as we were taking photos.  Definitely disappointing, but I was able to take a handful.  It was just so cold and rained a bit as well so it just wasn't as enjoyable as in years past. 

If Dan and I look suspiciously young in the first photograph it's because I put some of my new photo editing to work on it.

For fun, here's the photo that was taken straight out of the camera (or SOOC)....

 

And here's after I played with it in Light Room.

 

I can now do virtual Botox! :)  AND bring blue skies to our cloudy Pacific NW!  I think I made Dan too Plastic-y.  I'm learning.  Seriously though, it was a fantastic class, and I'm really excited about all that I learned.  It does take a while (at least for me) to do an edit like the one above, but nice to at least have the tools to do it when I need/want to.



After we arrive we always head to the fields to take photos.   When the kids were little they ran willy nilly down the path by the tulips.  They field just called to them to run.

Love that Kitti and Grace are still wanting to do that.

 

You are not supposed to pick the flowers.  Soooo hard for this flower-picking-girl of mine.  That is asking a LOT.  But she did very well!

My boys don't enjoy posing in the fields.  But that's just part of the deal.  The little carnival area is what they really get excited about.  But they know it's important to me and so they go along with it.  I think it's good practice for them to do things like this for when they are married and their wives have requests along these lines! :)



I didn't get great individual shots of the kids this year.  Or many good ones in general.  That's okay ~ there's always next year!  I do like this one because of Matthew's arm hooked with Andrew's and Kaitlin daintily holding up the apron to her dress.



And another.....

 

It would be fun to see our collection of tulip photos with Shannon's girls, side by side through the years.  They start when Kaitlin was just 3 months old.  I remember going out that day and just feeling so grateful to be out in the sunshine.  This little crew is just growing up much too fast.



Andrew had turned his ankle at a birthday party held at a Trampoline park the day before.  It was quite swollen and he was hobbling around.  Dan had to carry him a bit.



The most disappointing part about that was not getting to do the bungee jump that the kids love.  So he was treated to cotton candy instead and he was quite pleased!



Matthew is so great at getting down to business and smiling for me.



He is so easy to parent. And just such a great kid.  Quite simply, a joy.

The Bug was quite pleased with the flower fields.



I think she would have happily played and posed for much longer had my battery not died.











And this is where my battery died!

We quickly ate some lunch and limited the kids to one choice at the carnival (instead of two) as the adults were ready.to.go.  It was COLD. 

Hopefully next year we'll have better weather.  But cold or not, the Tulip fields are so beautiful to behold and it simply wouldn't be Spring without our visit to see them.

Tulip Festival 2010

We made our annual trip to the Tulip Festival today. I told Dan that if it's any indication of how we're going to feel after going to Disneyland we should have started strength training 6 months ago!

Whew! There's nothing like a day out with the kids in fresh air, with lots of people, lines and activity to make me feel really old. :) Honestly though, we had a great time, and all returned home a little sun kissed!

We went with our dear friends, which always makes it fun.

The tulips were nothing short of spectacular, and I could have stayed all day taking photos and practicing my photography. But I had other family members with something else to say on that matter.

You AREN'T allowed to pick the tulips in the fields--and Kaitlin kept picking them!! I'm such a rule follower so I was completely embarrassed. Between Kaitlin's picking of the tulips and Andrew's falling on them there is an aisle of tulips that won't be quite the same this season after our visit. Such is life with small children. It did make for a sweet photo though. The tulips were one of the few things that made Kaitlin happy--she was a bit of a grump today! I'm not sure what has been going on with her lately, but she's been a tad grouchy and wanting to be held a lot. I'm hoping it's her molars moving in and my happy girl will come back soon.

The food was delicious! We agreed that we had the best sausage of our life today. It was so good. Sauerkraut and grilled onions....it was great. The kids were able to do some fun rides and activities afterwards, and the Bug rode her first pony! So I have more to share, but for now I'll end with my little men who treated me to some smiles amongst the tulips (and made me so happy!)

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

Tulip Festival

We went to the Tulip Festival this weekend. It was beautiful. It was also C-O-L-D. Brrrr!!! Which on one hand was great because there weren't scads of people there. (I don't like crowds). But on the other hand...it was cold. I didn't take as many photos as I had planned for two reasons. First, I was cold. (Have I mentioned that, yet?) And second, although I checked the battery on my camera the night before, I brought my manual in the car and was reading about some more advanced techniqes and was practicing as we were driving. (It's about an hour drive to the tulip fields). At one point I noticed that I used up 1/2 of my battery (and neglected to pack my spare)! So I had to be a bit conservative...That's okay.

First, here are some of my favorite photos of each of the kids....

Matthew

Andrew

Kaitlin

Me and my 3 little Loves...

The boys had a great time RUNNING down the rows of tulips.

Back and forth.

I think Andrew must have fallen around 5 times. Do you see him back there, laying on his tummy? He'd lay there like that until I arrived on the scene. Not crying or anything, just silent.

Maybe he kept falling because he runs like this....Bless his heart.....

After he fell, he'd literally lay there, face down in the dirt. Here's the proof....

Have I mentioned that Andrew is the master of pitiful expressions? He's got me exactly where he wants me. He truly has one of the sweetest, most compassionate hearts you could encouter, but he knows how to use these little faces to his advantage.

And looking at this next photo, would you believe he was diagnosed the day before (friday) with double ear infections? That's my Andrew. He's very prone to ear infections (he has tubes), but is always so amiable about it.

Dan took some sweet photos of me with Kaitlin.

Uh-oh! Still not steady on her feet. Good thing she's washable...

Daddy gives the best piggy back rides....

I love this...Kaitlin looks so bitty next to Dan. (Do you see why we have tall kids? Dan is just shy of 6'3"--I'm 5'6").

In addition to the Tulips there's a little craft area, and little play area and food. The boys were anxious to get to the play area. They remembered it from last year. It was fun this year as they went on their first pony ride!

Matthew was so cute while riding his pony. He was really excited, and was saying, "My horse is going fast!!"

I had my aperature set too low, so Andrew is blurry...still learning...

Kaitlin had a LOT to say about the horses. (She LOVES animals)....

The boys were brave enough this year to go on a jumpy-thingy (sorry, don't know what it's called).

I just love Andrew's expressions. He's such a kick.

Here's one so you can see what the "thingy" is like....(It has 5 different arms so multiple kids can jump at the same time).

We were all freezing by this point and so we went and got lunch. They have the yummiest food there...Some really good chicken tacos, and a local place that makes sausages and shoe string french fries...mmmmmm. We took it back to the van, turned the heat on high and unthawed! :)

It was a great time though and something I'll continue to look forward to doing each year.

On a side note, I might not be blogging much this next week. I'm needing to get caught up on some things around here (I'm tackeling my desk area) and I'm in planning mode for this summer. (Activities for the kids, etc.) Not to mention I'm implementing a new idea that I got from a friend to help with limiting the wii, Leapster, tv...electronics in general. I'm detoxing the boys so things might get ugly around here. :) That might be worthy of a blog post. Dan is going to try to help me to go multi-media with the blog and get a video up of the Bug walking and also something VERY exciting that Matthew did this last weekend. BIG, BIG news here. But I don't want to spoil it. It's so much more impressive to watch.

So, stay tuned. :) And Have a great week!