tulip festival

A park/events center/museum/gardens place near our house has a tulip festival every spring.

My mom came down on Wednesday to help my sister Sarah move back home for the summer.

That afternoon they joined us at the tulip festival.

 Nicholas was pretty excited to go.
But mostly I think he was just excited to be with Sarah, Grandma, Josh and Josh's girlfriend.
For him, the highlight of the trip was seeing a chip on the ground in the parking lot and playing tag with the adults.

Oh, and the flower stamp they put on his hand when we paid to get in. 
He wanted to keep the stamp there forever.  I finally convinced him that he would need to wash his hands sometime.

 The flowers, so gorgeous!  It was a perfect Spring day.

 Ellie's favorite part? 
Walking on her own so she could smell the flowers.
Every.single.flower.  She was shaking her fists and laughing in excitement---flowers everywhere!

She was determined to be independent and walk the whole way all by herself.  She even climbed up the giant hill in the amphitheater, giving herself a victory cheer after each ledge she climbed. 

Nicholas, of course, decided his shoes hurt.  So he ended up in the stroller while Ellie walked.

See?  So beautiful!

 Ellie-girl, just playing third wheel with Josh and his darling girlfriend. (we really really like her, by the way.)

After all that walking, we came home and all three of us crashed for a nap before dinner.  Delightful.