Tulips! Tulips! Tulips!

It's tulip time again in the Skagit Valley. Since it was a beautiful, warm day Brad was able to get the afternoon off from work for our little family to head to the Tulip Festival. We packed our picnic lunch and as soon as Declan woke up from his morning nap we jumped in the car to sit in traffic! Everyone else also thought it was a great day to visit the tulip fields. Eventually we arrived, parked and headed into the beautiful Roozengaarde gardens. Each year I am totally amazed at the variety of colors and styles of tulips.

Declan was feeling a bit grumpy because he's teething so we stopped to give him part of his picnic lunch before continuing to visit the gardens. 

We decided to see the rest of the gardens later and headed out into the fields of tulips. We had the stroller with us and at one point the stroller and Brad almost went down in the mud! Of course we managed to find the only patch of mud in the fields. 

Notice Declan blatantly ignored the sign! 

The ground was very squishy and soft. Declan enjoyed bouncing on it. 

Can you find Declan? 

Baby down! 

Time to smell the tulips

Finally we see that sweet little smile! 

Oh yes, there are more pictures. Here we are in the yellow tulips. Declan did NOT want to have his picture taken with Brad or me. He only wanted to walk up and down the rows himself. He finally managed to escape from me. 

Here is a very happy little boy and happy mommy.... (sarcasm) 

Declan had another first at the tulip fields. I was holding his hand trying to get him to walk with us and he threw himself into the dirt and laid there. He didn't cry or anything. He just looked up at me and let me know that he wasn't going to go in the direction I had asked. Much to his surprise, it didn't work! When he realized that he wasn't winning, he trotted off into the tulips, in the direction I had asked! Ha! 

Now Brad is trying to work his magic to get a picture with Declan. It's not working! 

We decided to head back to the other fields. They were a bit more crowded but still beautiful. 

 Declan decided to do a little flying:

 Then he did a little more flying:

We left the fields and walked back to the gardens to see more beautiful beds of tulips. They were truly amazing. 

This is Declan's "I'm all done with pictures" face.

Here are a few pictures of the last garden we visited at Roozengaarde. The lighting was absolutely incredible. I didn't photoshop any of these pictures. The color is so beautiful it almost looks fake.

Have you ever see such a beautiful garden? 

We left Roozengarde and went driving to the other fields. Did I mention we had Mr. RJ with us? Of course he came along and patiently waited in the car for us. We stopped along the side of the road and let him out so he could stop and smell the tulips too. 

My big boy! 

This 10 minute stop was a good reminder for us that RJ is getting old and doesn't love new places. It's not easy being a blind dog! He was eager to get back in the car. Are you wondering where Declan is? He was watching us! Remember the "I don't want any more pictures taken" face? Well, we followed his wishes. 

After a great day in the tulips we headed for home with two tired boys.