Tip-Toe Through The Tulips

HE has made everything beautiful in HIS time...Eccl. 3:11

Gramma and the boys and I, had the privilege of visiting the Wooden Shoe Bulb Co. in Woodburn, OR, about a week ago. The tulips are mostly in peak season and we were amazed by the diversity of God's colors! It coincided with week T so it worked out quite nicely. :)

We haven't given up on the alphabet, just had a small break while we figure out how to work out U and V. Anyway so Tulips came in time for week T but they are soo beautiful I couldn't pick favorites so they need a post of their own. Enjoy!

I'd love to have some of these ones.

We thought of you Ruth when we saw this lovely shade. :)

The mix of colors is amazing!

Wooden shoes make an ideal spot to rest.

Smile!

Love this melon color too.

Three little tulips.

"Huh?"

Curious things, these tulips are.

"they have black things in there"

My favorite!

They have several old tractors around the fields which make great props and play things!

Interesting mix.

Then amongst all this loveliness, the little men found some dirt.

And since we've had record rain fall in the last two weeks, it was some lovely, sloppy, squishy mud!

The sloppier and squishier the better for this little man. He would get in the deepest spots and be giggling away.

So should you ever find yourself near Woodburn, OR from April to May it's definitely worth a stop, the tulips that is not the mud!

Week P

Week P was Plenty busy as they all are. We started the week with a breakfast of Puff Pancake and a Party that evening.

With Presents.

We got some Pistachios, which the little men love.

And then did lots of Packing for a trip with Mr. Tech for work.
Here's Jeffy Parking the van.

We found a P on this sign.

And when work was done got to go visit this Punkin,

(who doesn't appear to like Pictures or Picture takers, I'm not sure which)

and his family. His Mommy had posted a great P Post for us that week.

We Played,

and Played

and Played

and yeah, you get the idea...

These are all at a interesting Childrens' Museum in Ellenburg.

We also Pretended to be Bumpa cutting trees.

And firemen.

At this point my camera was out of batteries, the story of my life, who'd a thunk it would do that. Some how it seems to happen every time we go somewhere. I always leave home telling myself it's got plenty of juice left. The problem is if I bother to remember the recharger it never runs out of batteries cause I will inevitably forget to use the camera the whole time or some thing of the like.
Anyway so the remainder of the time we took a walk to the Park, we being women and children, the gentlemen half of the party took the van and met us there. This was just Peachy with us, the Plus size, I mean side, was the guys got their "cave time" and we ladies got extra chatting in. We also had Pizza for lunch before heading home Saturday afternoon to be home in time for our Sunday school treat on Sunday.

The one Part I wish I had a Picture of was Deb and I taking the 5 kiddos shopping at Safeway while the guys were checking out Mr. Wise Guys work. Safeway had a cart the was a double seater up top and then also had a little car attached to the front with room for two as well as grocery room in between. We got all 5 kids in that thing and just an FYI if you are in a hurry to get your shopping done that is not the recommended way. It seemed that the whole store had to stop and comment. And then when I was off getting something they would assume they were all Deb's. "WOW, two sets of twins?!?" upon being told they are cousins they must then know who goes with whom, and so on. So yes, not conducive to a quick shopping trip contrary to our first thought.

Our verse for the week was: Pray without ceasing. 1 Thes. 5:17

And read a bit more of the life of Peter.

We had lots of Practicing to do as Phi was to say a verse this year for his SS class but ended up chickening out and not saying any verses. Maybe next year...

So were on Q this week and just sort a taking it easy as it's a hard one to think up any activities for. But maybe we'll focus on counting Quarters or something.

The 2009 Pear Family Togetherness Vacation :)

This is what it looked like on our side of the mountain, fresh snow, the boys were delighted.

And here's either Mt. Bachelor or Jefferson not sure which but it's on the dry side of things.

We took a snack break for Jeffy along the Descutes River in Warm Springs.

We made it to the resort early evening after a stop in Bend at Costco to pick up some supplies, and were joined for dinner by Kate and Family. These two little cousins are almost the same size inspite of a 3 month age gap.
Jeffy's got that little foot cocked and ready for somethin'?! "Come a little closer with that camera Momma and I'll give it the boot!"

Leroy telling Mr. Elliott "Boo"

Bumpa, Amma, and Aunt Tete arrived a bit after dinner and that was every one who could come this year.
Phi snitched Bumpa's hat that's been around since U. Dave was Phi's size. He loves hats.

Miss Kate helping her Mommy prep for their breakfast.

We tried out the High Desert Museum that first day and it was pretty interesting. As a bonus it was not too crowded since we were mid week. It even had some toddler friendly exhibits.

Leroy being a turtle.

A skunk and an otter climbing rocks together. There was a slide at the top of the rocks that started in a eagles nest. It kept them busy for a few minutes anyway.

Some kind of toad, the place was sort of like a zoo with many live and some stuffed animals all natives to the high desert side of OR.

Don't be alarmed this was the stuffed side of the zoo.

Elliott leading the way.

Indoors was a neat interactive time line that you walked through starting with explorers and trappers and ending with a settlement town. Outdoors was a replica settlers claim with all the amenities, i.e. root celler, corral, barn , gardens , and livestock.

Leroy having a chat with the hens.

For some reason this held great fascination to these three...probably largely because the seat was nailed down and it lacked the typical odor. Not sure what they're thinking here?! :) I think the door was closed and we just reopened it.

That was the way they wanted it "close da door", their own private little fort!

There was also an old fashioned saw mill run by steam (I think it was) and a bit of old logging equip.

Trying to help out the logging tractor.

Mr. Ellieo all cozy.

It was far past nap time by this point and who knew what these two would think of next.

There were a lot of bronze statues through out the museum.

This mare and foal were cleverly made from barbed wire and were realistic enough from a distance to scare Phi.

There was also a birds of prey house with a few different raptors.

Golden Eagle

Bald Eagle

and tons of these little guys running around collecting bits of this and that.

And then there was this manly display out front.... oh yeah and the elk were cool too. :)

One of the upsides to vacationing with Bumpa and Amma, we actual spend some kidless time together.

And one of the little wild things himself.

The grandkids harassing Bumpa back at the resort.

Friday AM we all took a hike along the Descutes River which runs by down in the canyon below the resort. We are very glad for double strollers and trails wide enough to use them on!

The diverse scenery is so amazing.

The lovely Aunt Tete whom we can't do with out!

Love the mix of colors!

Phi and Bumpa exploring.

More uniqueness.

Amma and Bumpa

The last leaf has almost fallen.

Rather random, we came around a bend to find these to swans feeding in the water.

And what looks to be a Painted Lady butterfly.

That evening we got to visit U. Jon and A. Ruth who live in town. I missed getting any good pix of the evening but this pretty much sums up Phi's favorite part anyway. Aside from all the exciting new and different toys they had A. Ruth had *SUCKERS* the absolute best kind of sugar in his mind.

The resort had a very cool gym that all us "kids" tried out while Bumpa and Amma watched the real kids.
Saturday morning some friendly resident deer came over to see what we had to offer for a snack. As you'll see if you watch the video at the end the kids and Bumpa had a blast feeding them.
The deer looks a bit skeptical about all this noise.

Elliott snuggling with Jeffy.

Jeffy being touchy. Poor Ellieo

Looks like he survived and with the way he's growing will be holding his own quite well.

We stopped to see the Cove Palisades Park on the way home. It was very different as you were driving through flat farm fields and all the sudden the road dropped down and next thing you knew you appear to have driven out on one of the hills at the top of the Columbia Gorge. Very interesting place.

So ended another fun vacation.

Deer, Deer.