Tulips, Ponies, and Zipper Pulls....Oh My!

On Saturday we decided to go and do something....rather spontaneously. So I got on the computer and looked up the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival, I have always wanted to go but have never gotten out there, this year we did! We drove about 45 minutes to get there and the kids were pretty patient on the drive. Upon arriving and getting out of the car we were blasted with a strong chilling wind....but NO RAIN! So off we plowed straight for the gift shop to warm up. We warmed up and browsed a little, then decided to head on out to the wind and tulip fields. We walked over and admired the flowers that were in bloom, they were beautiful, I was snapping pictures left and right, no flower I believe was left un-photographed!

After browsing the flowers for a bit we decided to go look at the ponies, the kids loved them thought they were so cute, they were miniature you see. Next as we started to make our way back up the the buildings to warm up again we passed a hay stack with a huge pipe stuck on it....it was a slide!

So we spent a little bit playing. Then after a bit we met up with Poppa Mike, Grandma Jo, and Uncle Eric. My parents had made a stop in the gift shop, and had a "little something special" for the kids. They had gotten them zipper pulls with their names on them! Dylan wanted to play on the pipe slide for a bit, and Ally wanted to swing.

So then Darrin took Dylan down to see the ponies again and I took Ally up to see some rescue birds, and to warm up. After a bit Uncle Eric came up and said I thought you might want to know Dylan is going to ride the pony. Now you see my brother is not too into details so we thought that Dylan was already riding, so we ran like crazy people, Grandma Jo with Ally tucked under her arm....which Ally was NOT happy about. We get down the bumpy hill out of breath and see that Darrin and Dylan are patiently standing in line waiting their turn....ARRGH! Oh well it was good exercise. So now it is Dylan's turn to ride the pony! Oh my, am I ready for this??? My baby is about to ride a PONY! So Darrin lifts him up onto the pony and waits for the "cowboy" to come over, the cowboy takes over and buckles Dylan to the horse.

Darrin starts to walk out and I ask him, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" He says, "He will be fine." Ok so he is doing this on his own....a little worried he might freak! Never happens!

He has such an amazing time, we tried to get him to wave at one point though to no avail, no way was he letting go of that saddle! So after that we play on the horse swing and the pipe slide a little longer, then its time for lunch. We split up from my parents because we had packed our lunch, so off to the van we go to warm up and have a "picnic" lunch. PB&J's never tasted so good! After lunch we decided to take one more trip down and around to look at things then go over to the other side of the field where there were an assortment of old wood burning tractors. So this is where THE SLIDE comes in. Ok this slide is approximately 20 feet in the air....tall SKINNY ladder to climb up. I get the bright idea to take Ally down, so we climb up slowly so we don't fall, get to the top and I load Ally into my lap, scoot to the edge, and push off.

I HAVE NEVER GONE DOWN SUCH AN UNCOMFORTABLE SLIDE!

And the slide itself wasn't sooo bad it was the hard stop at the end.

Dylan would not stop though he would get to the bottom jump off and run around climb up and go again,

I could only take it about 3 times then got Ally to stop by telling her she could swing again, luckily that held more appeal for her, phew! We looked around at a few more flowers, got our pictures taken in the BIG wooden shoes,

then headed off to the van to drive to the other side of the field where the old tractors were. Ok a two minute drive later we unload on the other side. The first thing we see is a very old threshing machine.

It was pretty cool. So then we proceeded over to the old tractors. Just as we get next to one of the tractors it blows its steam whistle,

Grandma Jo jumped, I jumped, and I looked at Ally she jumped and she was standing there trembling on the verge of tears so I scoop her up and cuddle her close. We look at the tractors for a minute or so longer and Ally is done, so while Daddy and Dylan continue to admire the tractors

Ally and I go over and look at more flowers

and let her walk around on the big windmill.

After being over there for about 10 minutes it starts to sprinkle and that is our signal, it is time to pack up and head out! For the first 10 minutes or so of the ride all the kids could talk about was the tractor whistle, Ally kept saying that 'train' scared me! Just south of Salem the car got really quiet, the babies were asleep.