tulips

the weekend before gavin's birthday we drove up north to check out the tulip festival.  it's pretty legendary around here and only happens during april of each year.  i'm so glad we went.  quaint little towns were sprinkled amidst beautiful farmland with fields and fields of beautiful tulips, daffodils and iris. just driving around was experience enough, but we stopped at tulip town for the full tulip festival experience.  i had heard that rain boots are a must, which gave me the perfect excuse to go buy brooke and gavin hunter rain boots the night before.  boy am i glad i did!  not only are they way too cute, but they also kept the kids' feet completely dry. both kids were covered in mud by the time we left, and i was really glad i thought to bring a change of clothes.  i think the kids liked playing in the mud more than they liked the pretty flowers :)

as we drove home, kevin and i marveled at just how much is within a driving distance from us.  it's really quite amazing.  within 3 hours or less by car we have:
- canada
- oregon
- the pacific ocean
- the san juan islands
- lake chelan
- wine country
- mountains
- desert
- orchards
- several national parks

... not to mention what seattle itself has to offer.  we feel quite lucky to be living in such a great part of this country.