Haymarket Tulip Festival

A couple friends of mine posted pictures on facebook of a tulip field in the area.   I've had a special place in my heart for tulips for a long time now, so this immediately turned into a must-see thing for me.  Growing up, my Mom and I would go to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Washington and it was always amazing (plus, the two hour drive there meant for extra one-on-one time with my Mom, which made it even more fun!).  And, my Mom's best friend Janine loved to spend time planting tulips all over her yard ("playing in the mud," as she called it).

Now, you probably already noticed, but I am not the fun one in our family.  I'm usually pretty happy to just stay home, and it's Craig's job to make sure that we actually leave the house and do things every now and then.  So I think Craig was a little surprised when I announced that we needed to do this.  And he may have been less than thrilled when I further announced that it would cost money, but I didn't care and we were going anyway.  But he was game, so after the baby was fed (okay, the second time after the baby was fed-- it's hard getting four kids out the door!), we loaded everyone in the car and headed out.

The first thing that happened when we got there was the lady who planted all the tulips announced that since they were starting to fade a bit, she wouldn't be charging.  Craig was immediately in good spirits!  So we gathered baskets for picking, tried on some wooden shoes, and enjoyed a lovely hour tulip gazing.

What a perfect way to lift your spirits!

Ryder was a fan of the wooden shoes-- look at my son getting back to his Dutch roots!

And I think I looked smashing in these red beauties!

Not Skagit Valley.  But absolutely beautiful, nonetheless.

Ryder was getting very sleepy, which led to this adorable picture of him leaning against me.  Love it.

And just because Colton wasn't really featured in any of the other pictures, here's what he's looking like these days

And while we're talking about flowers, my irises bloomed this year, too!  Aren't they lovely?

We bought a few tulip bulbs in Haymarket and Craig planted them for me as soon as we were home.  I seem to be getting better with flowers (thanks to my new tactic of threatening them), so hopefully these will be pretty for me next spring!

I love it when things work out so well and you find yourself spending a perfect spring day enjoying beautiful flowers with your family.  What more could you ask for?