so many tulips

As part of my birthday present, Jonathan took all of us to the Tulip Festival in Woodburn! This is somewhere I've wanted to go ever since before we moved here. Jonathan's mom is from Holland and he has Dutch ancestry so he of course loves tulips, and I think they are pretty much the most astounding flower- so big and bright!
The festival did not disappoint. It seemed like there were miles of beautiful tulips in full bloom! And so much variety, too. Who knew there are more than 50 types of tulips?

These ones are my favorite ^ They are called "Leen Van Der Mark" tulips.

 I love the above picture of Charlotte and I. She is holding her head up pretty well these days!

 Talmage is my little model, I can't help but take lots of pictures of him :]

 the boys at the windmill!

They had this kids play area that was all free to play on, but we didn't really have time so we may have to go back (its only 30 min from our apt!). As a birthday bonus, we bought FOUR bouquets from the tulip market! As soon as we got home I put them in a vase and they certainly do brighten up the place :]

One thing I didn't expect was all the MUD. So much mud- everywhere. I looked like such an out-of-towner with my Chaco flip-flops, sliding left & right in the guck. Luckily our stroller is built for that kind of thing, so it did just fine! We hosed ourselves off at the doggie station when we were done and there was no damage :]

We had such a good time seeing all the gorgeous tulips, but there was still lots of day left so we headed over to the Outlet mall (of course...). The whole mall is outside but its covered so you don't get rained on. I really need to take some pictures of it...how touristy am I? haha..

Last night (my official birthday), while waiting for J to come home from work I made frog-eye salad and turkey spaghetti for dinner- nothing fancy but still really yummy! Charlotte likes to sit in her bouncer and watch me in the kitchen, but sometimes she'll fuss and I have to stir and sway at the same time.

Dinner was followed by the traditional cherry cheesecake, my favorite!

I think I'll be helping myself to some leftover cheesecake now...yeah, these pounds are going no where fast.