Oh the crazy weather!

 About 30 minutes northeast of us, a lovely drive in the countryside is a tulip farm.  Wooden shoe tulips is such a glorious place to visit.  The vibrant colors, set out in row after row can make even the grumpiest person smile.

Lucy and I set out yesterday with the two boys for a photo shoot in the tulips.  Oh, I had such high hopes of darling photos of the brothers...maybe even one that would be mother's day worthy.

The weather God was not on my side.  As we approached the fields, it was cloudy, but I like cloudy day photography. The colors are more vibrant, no squinting of the eyes, no shadows to deal with.  I was itching with anticipation.  As we started our trek out to the fields, Lucy announced that Teak had blessed us with a blowout...Quickly the garbage bag came out and we made a makeshift changing station.  It was cold, and the poor boy didn't know what hit him.  Wipes, and pants and diapers were flying.  Two sets of hands were quickly trying to clean up the disastrous mess he had made.  When we got his pants back on, the sprinkles began, and then quickly the sprinkles turned to bigger drops, then a pelting rain with wind....onward we trekked. 

Plastic bag down, Ty sitting on it, Teak plopped in his lap, and I quickly tried to shoot some photos..It was not a good shoot, but as I look at the photos it makes me laugh out loud.  The wind and rain and how miserable it was is quite evident on their faces. Too funny.  Lucy grabbed Teak, and announced they were going to the car.  Ty and I headed for a nearby tent to sit out the cloudburst.

Ty and I were only in the tent three to four minutes when he announced, "it's not raining any more Tutu, let's go have some fun!"  Off we went to explore the flowers before we headed for the kid themed area.

Each year Wooden shoe Tulip Farm's rotates the bulbs and where they are planted.  It's fun to look back at previous year's photos and see Mt. Hood poking out.  Not this year.  The sky was almost black as we looked off. Knowing that the rain would soon be back to us again, we went as quickly as we could without slipping in the mud..We gathered Lucy and Teak and went to the Kid area.  Ty enjoyed it, but Teak had his little legs just pumping up and down.  He loved all the colors and the kids in action.

We did a few group shots, and once again, the shot of Tutu and the boys is laughing material.  Ty is losing his boots, trying to get them on, smile for the camera when all the while, he KNOWS we are getting ice cream when we leave this area of the farm.

We got our ice cream at an outrageous price, and loved every bit of it, right down to the tip of the cone. As we drove home, that big black cloud we had noticed in the distance was right over us.  HUGE drops of rain started beating down on the windshield, and visibility was horrific.  Lucy slowed it down, and we made our way down the road, then viola! The rain stopped.  Gotta love this crazy Willamette Valley we live in.  When the sun comes out, "you've gotta make hay", as my mama used to say, or on this day take time to smell the flowers.