Tulips, Tulips...EVERYWHERE!

Yesterday, we had nicer weather than had been forecast (it was supposed to be raining, surprisingly it wasn't!) and since Adam got home on Monday, we made the 40 minute drive to Mt. Vernon to enjoy the end of Tulip Festival.  It runs for the entire month of April, so it is winding down now but there were still plenty of flowers to enjoy.  On the way there, Lucas kept saying "Where are we going?  Where are we going?"  I told him we were going on an adventure to see some flowers.  Then he started saying "Where are the flowers?  Where are the flowers?  Wanna plant some!"  He was a little confused that we were just going to look at flowers and not plant them.  When we finally got to Mt. Vernon, we saw some huge kites flying and followed them to find Tulip Town, a very fitting name for such a pretty place!  We spent four hours there, and I took almost 200 pictures.  Yes, I know that is a lot, and I am very thankful for digital cameras!  Can you imagine how much that would cost if I took that many pictures on film!?  No, thank you!  Here are some of my favorites from our trip to Tulip Town.  It was so hard to choose, but I figured I had to cut myself off somewhere!

This sign was prominently displayed as we entered the field of tulips.  We kind of ignored it...oops!

Lucas and Poppy in some of my favorite tulips (I think these are the Judith Leyster variety).  Before yesterday, I had no favorites, but now I think I have a few.

Face plant!  Poppy bounced right back up and kept on walking down the dirt road.

See?  She didn't let it get her down for long!

I'm not sure what was so funny, but something cracked her up!

Me with my little darlings.  Lucas was checking out the puddles to see what he could jump in when I let go of his hand.  Poppy would not let go of her sunglasses for the longest time.  She didn't want to wear them, but she didn't want to give them up, either!

All four of us.  No, I haven't shrunk.  I had to bend over to hold Poppy in place.  She had been walking and I figured it was safer to let her stand rather than try to pick her up and make her mad.  She's been known to bite in anger.

Where's Poppy?  Lost in the field of tulips...

I thought this would be the highlight of the day; a tractor ride through the tulips!  Lucas is a tractor fanatic.  He loves all of them.  So I was sure he'd love this.  Wrong.  We had only been on the ride for about four minutes (it lasted for about 15 minutes) when he started crying hysterically while yelling "Wanna get down!  Wanna go back!  Wanna get in Mommy's Saturn!"  It took a few minutes to calm him down, but he did eventually stop crying and he had a little bit of fun waving to the people walking through the flowers.

The four of us on the tractor ride. 

The view from our tractor ride.  You can see the giant kites flying off in the distance.

Lucas found a ladybug while we were walking along the dirt road.  He was several feet ahead of me and he stopped, bent over and started excitedly saying "I see a ladybug!"  I don't know why I didn't believe him, but I was sure he was making it up.  He was right, though.  There was a teeny, tiny ladybug walking on the ground.  Lucas does not like bugs.  At all.  He screams when he sees gnats.  There was a fly on the outside of the rain cover when he and Poppy were in the stroller one day and he cried like he was being attacked.  So for him to stop and look at the ladybug was a very big deal.  And then when he bent over to check it out even more, it was an even bigger deal.  He might not be coming around to liking all bugs, but I am glad that he wasn't scared of the ladybug.

He tried to get the ladybug to crawl on his finger, but it just kept walking in the dirt.

Lucas and Poppy both loved the giant kites.  There wasn't a whole lot of wind, so they had kind of a hard time staying up in the sky and every time they'd fall down, Lucas would get really excited.

We were just about to head to the car at the end of our visit to Tulip Town when I went back to try and take a better picture of Poppy in the pretty pink tulips.  The sun was shining, and my tendency to hoard came in handy when I found a hairclip in my coat pocket.  I was able to keep her hair out of her eyes and take some of the cutest pictures of the day!

These flowers were amazing.  They were so pretty and they smelled like Jasmine Tea!  Really!  I kept getting whiffs of it while we were walking around and it reminded me of being in Hong Kong.  If I knew what they were called, I'd buy some bulbs and plant them so I could enjoy them at home next year!

Pretty Poppy in the pretty tulips.  She was breaking both the "do not pick the flowers" and the "stay out of the rows" rules in this picture.

I'm so glad I went back to take "one more" picture.  If I hadn't, I wouldn't have captured this: Lucas running through a field of yellow tulips while yelling "It smells like Play-Doh!"  Priceless.

Someone is turning 33 today...

Happy 33rd Birthday, Adam!  Wherever you are! 

Here are your little darlings to wish you a very, very happy birthday!   I would have made a sign...but what's the point?  They would have just ripped (Lucas) or chewed (Poppy) it up.

Here are some of the more comical attempts at getting a good birthday picture...even though in my "good" picture there are clothes laying on the floor...man, why didn't I see that when I was snapping away on the camera!?

Totally unimpressed with having to pose for me.

I'm not real sure what either of them were thinking right here, but it looks like Lucas is practicing his whistling skills and Poppy doesn't like it!

A glimpse at what their mugshots will look like in a few years.

This is Lucas's "Grandpa" face.  I think he learned to smile with his eyes closed because that is the way that Grandpa always does it!

So different, so alike

Most of the time, I only notice all of the ways that Lucas and Poppy are different.  Lucas was so much faster at reaching milestones than Poppy, so it is hard not to compare.  He crawled at 8.5 months, she waited until she was 10 months old.  He walked just after 11 months, but Poppy was 14 months old when she took her first steps.  Lucas had a LOT of words by the time he was the age Poppy is now (15.5 months old), but Poppy is just now starting to really try out talking. 

They are different in other ways, too.  Lucas is kind of timid at times, but Poppy is the fearless one.  Lucas doesn't like to get his hands dirty or sticky, while Poppy would probably eat dirt (or something worse...use your imagination...ewww...) if she had half a chance.  Lucas was a pretty easy going baby.  Poppy hasn't been terrible, but she definitely has some diva tendencies. 

Here are a few recent pictures.  This post has been a work in progress since the day that they were taken (March 31), but here they are.  In a minute, you'll see one of the ways that Lucas and Poppy are VERY similar...

Poppy is my princess.  No, really.  She is wearing a shirt with a sash printed on it, and on the sash it says "PRINCESS."  And of course she has a crown! 

"What?  You like my crown?  I'm so fancy!"

A little chair-dancing before breakfast...

"Oh, my crown is so wonderful!  I feel so fabulous!"

And then it is time for her to eat.  Not wanting to get her crown dirty, I take it away. 

And all Hell breaks loose.  She goes into complete hysterics.  This is also what she does every night when it is time to get out of the bathtub.  Every night.  Same thing.  Back arched, screaming, trying to bite anything that gets near her.  Is it too early for anger management?

Yep, still freaking out...

"OMG, this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me!  My mom took my crown!  AHHHHHHH!"  I'm pretty sure that was what was going through her head right here.

Here's my favorite boy.  It is hard to believe he'll be THREE years old next month! 

I had been putting laundry in the dryer while he colored at the table.  When I got back and saw his face, this is the conversation we had...

Me: "Lucas, did you eat the marker?"

Lucas: "No, Mama.  It's not a food."

Me: "Are you sure you didn't eat the marker?  I think you have some on your face."

Lucas: "Lucas didn't eat a marker.  That's disgusting."

Lucas is one cool dude.  These are his new shades.  And in case you were wondering, no, he didn't write his name on the paper.  I did that. 

I asked Lucas to show me his big smile, and he did this.  No teeth, just blue and green lips.

Poppy heard me asking Lucas for a big smile and she wanted in on the action.  Cheese!

Caught in the act.  Want to know how our conversation went this time?

Me: "Lucas, what are you doing?"

Lucas: "Gonna wear lipstick.  Like Grandma.  Grandma gives me lipstick."

Uh, oh.  See what you started, Mom?! :-)

When it was time to clean up and put away all of the markers, Lucas wasn't quite ready to stop coloring.  Doesn't this face look familiar?  I think he was thinking something along the same lines as Poppy when I took her crown away...

"OMG, this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me!  My mom took my markers away!  NOOOOO!"

"If you're going to take my markers, I'll retaliate by ripping the heck out of my drawing!  That'll show you!"

"Take that, paper!  You can't win against my rage!"

Later, after they had recovered from their respective meltdowns (I suppose they both have diva tendencies, one of the major ways that they are alike), I was able to get a good picture of both kids.

My favorite boy and my favorite girl.  I love these two.  Drama and all.