tromping through the tulips

We've been trying to make it to the tulip fields for the last two weeks and the stars finally aligned to make it so today.  Can I just say that it was the perfect day for enjoying the tulip fields?  The sun was shining, the wind was slight and it was a Thursday, which means that the crowd was mainly sweet grandparents and preschoolers.  (this vs. every child in the Portland area that has just about every Friday off of school!)  Beautiful.  As a mother, I couldn't have asked for a better day.  We spent a good three hours there just enjoying the scenery, playing on the bumpy slides, riding the traditional cow train (what?  you've never been on the cow train before?) and picnicking in their gardens while the girls attempted a game of badminton.  As a mother, it was 100% successful.  As a mother, I wouldn't change a thing minus giving us a few more hours there instead of rushing back for soccer.  This brings us to the *other* reason that we tromp through the tulips every April.  Pictures, of course!  The photographer in me knows that a slightly overcast day acts as the perfect diffuser for Mr. Sun, although the mother in me knows that that doesn't lend to the hours of unhurried enjoyment that a sunny day provides.  And the mother in me also doesn't allow the photographer in me to tote around a diffuser, knowing that it will only lead to chaos and one more thing to carry around for those hours of unhurried enjoyment.  So.  We had a beautiful day that my children will always remember (or they dang well better, right?) but not such a beautiful day for pictures.  I just thought of the good part of this whole thing.  No matter overcast or sunny, we can still enjoy it, eh? (or at least I can still enjoy it!)

One of the highlights?  Opting for the drive through the country instead of the highway, driving with our windows down while Rachel read us The Brownie and the Princess.  Love the cool air blowing in our car.  Love the rolling hills.  Love hearing Hannah excitely point out *every* single horse that we drove by.  Love my daughter being anxious to share a story that she loved by one of my favorite authors.  I would have been content to turn around as soon as we got there just to enjoy another drive like that through the countryside.

*this is for the folks that might, for some crazy reason, think my kids fight.  Nope.  It always looks just like this.  hugs and kisses and sweet acts of sisterly love.*  (which, I actually do think that for the amount of time they spend together, fighting takes up a very small percentage of the total time spent together but there is definitely fighting.  Oh, yes.)