Tulip Festival 2013

 Hooray, it's Tulip Festival time!  

This year we brought an extra friend along - Flat Stanley!

 Some of the tulips were still hiding away in their buds.

 But there were plenty of other flowers to make up for it.

 We found a giant hill for rolling down.

 And a nice spot at the bottom of the water falls for eating lunch.

 (happy kids!)

 This year we made sure to hit the Children's Garden early on, so we wouldn't be too worn out for it.

 She actually made the jump across that gap.

 We love this crazy climbing ball.

 The kids pretended it was a bee-hive.  

May was the Queen Bee, of course.

 On to the "Lift and Roll" area.

 How strong is James?  This strong!

 My little angels.

 We of course stopped to feed the koi.

 And we even saw a beaver!

 Flat Stanley really liked this sign.  (He's kind of an odd duck.)

 Here's a garter snake.  Flat Stanley will point to him for you.

 I adore these white/fucshia tulips, so pretty.

 And of course my favorites have always been the daffodils.

The kids were even total troopers for the long ride home.  

Hooray for the 2013 Tulip Festival!

Punch Balloon!

 I loved these as a kid!  Check out that game face.

Take Apart #2

This time we found a dual tape deck.  It was really exciting because there were so many buttons involved.

 I love how they are intently working away together.

Make Believe

Welcome to May's rocket ship.  She's reading her instruction manual.  In front of her are her various controls, and the black paper with white lines is her map of space.  Pretty awesome, huh?

May Loves to Sew

May received a kids' cross-stitch kit from a very special friend for her birthday.

She has been working diligently away at it with some guidance from me.  Either we will finish it, or one of us will surrender . . . .

May's 4th

 The day begins with some present opening.

From Daddy, some new shoes.

From Mommy, an Ursula doll.  (Poor Daddy and his allergies.)

Then, it was party time.  Our guests started off with some games, including Hullaballoo.

 Then it was pinata time!

Our string quickly broke off, leaving Chad to bravely hold the pinata in his hand.

 Time to grab the candy as fast as you can!

Fortunately, May thought to provide these little candy bags for easier collecting.

Time for lunch - fruit kabobs, veggies and hummus, potato chips and cheese quesadillas.

 It's fun to have a kids' table.

 Then, back outside for the egg hunt.

Each kid had a different colored egg to find, making it a bit more fair.

Yes, those are basketball eggs in May's basket.  She chose them herself.

And of course we needed a little down time to check out our loot.

I love how pleased May is, despite the fact that she helped fill the eggs and knows EXACTLY what they hold.

Cake time!

 Back to the kids' table to chow down.

Finally, time to unwrap the presents.  May got a little (ok, a lot) of help from her friends.

May's first friend party went off without a hitch!  What a great way to turn four!