Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Our first Easter egg hunt

Though the kids and I do Easter egg hunts at our house year round (literally), we'd never been to an organized one.  This year, we heard about one at Bauman Farm that sounded fun and inexpensive (hard to believe, since Bauman's pumpkin patch activities are quite spendy!).  We met the Fishers there for the morning and had a great time!  Of course it started raining as we got out of the car, but it didn't last.

For $4 a kid, they got to find twelve eggs.  They could have picked up twelve without moving their feet, but there was a catch.  There were some white eggs that were well hidden.  Each child could find one and redeem it for a bigger prize.  Both kids ended up with white eggs.

The rest of the eggs were used to pay for candies, small toys, and even an apple cider donut!  So fun!  Included with admission was unlimited jumping on a giant "pillow" and a bounce-house obstacle course.  Cooper was too small to really enjoy either, but Judson and the three Fisher boys could have bounced all day!

We ended our time decorating huge Easter cookies for a dollar each.  Hours of fun for $10!  Score!

My only picture with the Fishers in it








Scarfing down her apple cider donut

Bouncing.  Yes, the only kid in shorts is mine...

Cooper and Ezra were too little to really enjoy bouncing because the sideswere quite steep, so Nate and Chris bounced them on the edge (with permission).





Cooper decorated her cookie with Nate, while Judson was playing on the playground, so I didn't get any pictures of her.  She ate the entire cookie before I got to her.  :)



Enjoying her very own "coffee" (hot chocolate).


Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Tulip Festival 2014

The kids and I met my mom, Anna, and her kids at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn a week and a half ago.  The weather was gorgeous, as were the tulips.  I actually got quite warm with Porter strapped to me all day!

The only bummer was that I think I broke my toe that morning, when I was zooming around and accidentally kicked the bouncy seat.  It turned very purple very quickly and REALLY hurt all day.   Walking all over probably didn't help.  At this point, it doesn't hurt when I'm barefoot, but I can only wear Toms or other unstructured shoes, which don't protect my toe from certain children who always seem to be stepping on my feet.

We had a great time and got some fun pictures.  As usual, I'm including way too many.  :)










My mom did a nice job of hiding while holding Rowland on.  :)





Cooper's first pony ride was last year at the same place and she loved it.  She was all excited to do it again, and then she freaked out once she got on.  She cried even with my walking beside her, but didn't want off.  Silly girl.  Eventually she did okay.  Ultimately, I think she was just really hungry.

Macy's first pony ride


Rowland was SO excited to ride!  The only hold-out?  Judson.  There was no way we were going to get him on a pony!

Yes, she insisted I hold her hand.  Those ponies go in a tight circle and at a decent speed.  I got totally dizzy.  :)  (The guy running it was keeping track of how far he'd walked (in circles) since the festival had started.  He was at 49 miles!!)

Cautious Macy got to the top of the slide and wouldn't come down.  A bunch of kids passed her before Judson could get to her and help her down.  So sweet.

Rowland loved this puppy...


...until it started to attack his feet.




I didn't park in the area by the tulip fields, so was hauling a lot of stuff.











So tired and sweaty and dirty...