Tulip Festival

It was a perfect day for tulips! I had to laugh to myself as I went through these pictures. There were a TON and I still wish I could go back for the "Perfect" picture! I did get some good ones, but notice that in even some of my favorites my sweet little subjects are looking at something other than me:)

Sunny day at the park

We LOVE LOVE LOVE the sunshine!!! Luke was thrown off this thing about 15 times, but every time just brushed himself off and jumped back on. He did find a different strategy though....After he'd been thrown off about 10 times, he started laying on it on his belly and holding on underneath. This worked better for him, but he still couldn't hold on tight enough when it really got going.

The Circus

On Saturday we took the kids to see the circus:) It was pretty cool. Maren was really into it, but Luke was much more into the popcorn:)

The problem with Easter Egg Hunts

Here is the problem with easter egg hunts...You have to be quick, have no agenda and be willing to push others away to get to your prize. Neither of my kids are willing to do any of those things. At the beginning of both of their hunts they both spotted eggs way off in the distance to get and by the time they got there they had already been snatched up....Life's little lessons.

Maren got her first one, then stopped to turn around and show us and by the time she got back to hunting, the swarm of children had already picked up most of the others...This is a hard one...Take time to stop and smell the roses? or just do whatever it takes to take more than anyone else...Again, another little lesson.

So, we made our own and had our own hunt in the back yard...This was MUCH more fun:)

Pony Party

A friend of Maren's had the most amazing birthday party yesterday. A party where everyone got to ride, feed and brush ponies! Here are just a couple of the pictures.

Week at the Beach

At kind of the last minute (usually we are big planners, so a few nights before is big time last minute for us) Brian decided to take the week off and spend spring break with us!! We were very excited and decided to go to the beach. Our day at the beach turned into 6....We lived like real travelers and without much of a plan our trip became an adventure. Our journey started in Newport with stops in Yachats, Florence, Bandon and Brookings. It was amazing seeing so much of the Oregon Coast (to say the least;) most was beautiful, but we did encounter the strange and unusual as well). What a great week though! We got to spend so much time together and we still wish we could have another week!!!

Meeting up with the cousins and Mandi and Pete was one of the highlights for us!!!

OK, one of the weird things....Ever been to http://gameparksafari.com/ ? Well I for one hadn't and was in awe the moment we stepped in. They gave us cups of food and immediately rams, goats, deer, etc. came up to us and nudging our sides and hips. Of course Maren and I completely freaked out, but Luke and Brian seemed to be ok;)

What was even more surprising was how close and what little barricades the animals had. We saw more animals than there are at the zoo with a fraction of the security..Lion, Camel, black bear, tiger, leopard, leopard babies that Maren got to pet, buffalo, emu, etc. Seriously, we were inches from these animals.

Like I said, Luke loved it! He even tried to rile them up by smacking one on the bum!

Brian was mostly with me....What in the he!! is this place and are we safe here!!!

It was a great experience and I am sure that none of us will ever forget it!!

Florence.. The beautiful Dunes. We have a great video of Maren and Brian doing some pretty good (and athletic if I might add) jumps off the dunes but I can't seem to upload it. This is one of the most beautiful stops of our trip!

Lighthouses...One of our new found interests on this trip was to see all of the lighthouses along the coast. Who knew there were so many! This is the Hacenda Lighthouse which required just a short hike up to, and it was such a beautiful day that it didn't matter that we had to carry both kids on our backs;) In total we visited five lighthouses on our trip!

Beautiful and quiet Yachats.....

Cassie's Beach. We'll be visiting there again for sure.

Flying the kite.....A few weeks ago I bought a kite at Freddies not even realizing that we'd get to use it at the beach!!! After Brian fixed my hasty construction it flew right up.

When Luke got a turn he would laugh like crazy and then let it fly...I think I ran after that kite at least five miles in all;)

Can't wait for summer....