This is our fifth year going to the tulip festival.  We started this family tradition before Oliver was even born on Marie’s first birthday.  We ended up going later in the month than normal and we had a beautiful sunny day to enjoy the scenery.  The garden we go to was out in full splendor and Shane wanted to get some good shots this year with our newer camera.  The kids were less interested in the flowers and more interested in the mud and dirt, so after smelling as many tulips as they could stand we headed off to the fields.  It would seem that we prepared for this event.  Boots were on the kids feet and the boys had on rain gear of sorts. The puddles were in abundance and every child ended up falling in.  Peter fell in face first and had to be retrieved and wiped down with tons of wet wipes.  Marie splashed mud up to her knees and then fell on her butt.  Oliver was the cleanest of the bunch and only got a boot full of water, which unfortunately disgruntled him since I didn’t have extra socks in my purse.  Mothers are supposed to be prepared for everything right?  After everyone had fallen in Shane and I held their hands through all of the puddles while they slipped and slopped to their delight.  We garnered quite a few laughs about the state of the children, but I think it was really just jealousy that they were too old to do that anymore.  When we got back to the car we pulled out the 72 hour kit to redress the kids in dry clothes (Mothers really are prepared for everything) and then ate a fun lunch out.  Click here to see our pictures.