Tulips

We went to the Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley on Saturday with our friends the Graybills. Dale and Jules were in 60-mile bike ride called the Tulip Pedal (Dale's first event!), and Jessica and I decided to take the kids up to the same zone. I've never been. The weather was incredible, sun like we haven't felt in many months, and being surrounded by giant blasts of color is pretty awesome.

Jordan was interested to observe the inside parts of the flower (the closeup photo is his). He recently had a field trip to a research greenhouse where the kids assisted with pollination; he taught his techniques to the others.

We entertained ourselves looking for the occasional red tulip in a sea of yellow, or sometimes just a single petal of a different color. Do these not seem like brave individualists? Probably an American sensibility.

One of the (many) really enjoyable parts of the day was watching Jordan and Ian together. They have always hit it off - Ian was the one last summer about whom Jordan said, at camp, "He's my Pokemon buddy, my bus buddy, and my chicken-dance buddy." They were tight all day.

Actually we all got along famously. 

Here are the bikers, who I hear got along well too and are looking forward to future events.

After enjoying the tulips, we took ourselves over to Padilla Bay, a state park just up the road from the tulip zone. We discovered an astonishingly well-appointed interpretive center and went on a pleasant hike along the shore.  

Ian and Jordan had their own thing going.

The bikers were nearby... they got to the interpretive center shortly after we left, and then their route turned away from the shoreline trail, but we hooted at them on the highway.

The trip ended as it should, with ice cream, followed by naps in the back. Awesome day everyone! Thanks!