Our Daycation!!

To celebrate Brian's freedom from school (for a few days anyway) we decided to take a "Daycation" to Holland (Holland, Michigan that is) to see the tulips - which are one of my favorite flowers. We've been meaning to get there the past two springs but didn't make it. This year we were determined to go - and we did! It was a seriously perfect day!

First we stopped at the city park where they had these beautiful gardens of tulips!

Our three crazy kids! So cute!
The kids were in heaven running around the fields and smelling the flowers

Sophie was walking on top of these rocks and knocked one loose and it rolled down the hill. She scraped up her shin but was too embarrassed to say anything so she quickly rolled the rock back into place and carried on...

We found this snow lying underneath a tree and Sophie thought we should definitely have a picture of it!

Nora and mama enjoying the tulips - they were so pretty!

Cute girls in the bright sun...

There was this big cement platform with these two statues on it and the girls thought it would be the perfect place to play some hide-n-seek.....

Cute Sophie the nature girl

Nora smelling the tulips

So pretty and spring-y and fresh! I just love 'em!

Next we went to a tulip farm called Veldheer's (or something like that...) It was a cute dutch place where you could buy wooden shoes and the like. Much to Sophie's dismay we were not purchasing the wooden shoes (they ranged from 19-30 bucks a pair!). We let the girls pick a little ceramic rabbit out and when we got up to the counter there were two ladies helping me and Sophie laid her head down on the counter and sighed, rather dramatically, of course, "I sure wish we had enough money to buy some of those wooden shoes." It was great.
The shoes were pretty cool!

Unfortunately the tulilp farm cost 8.00 per adult and 4.00 per kid to go in.... needless to say we stopped at the gift shop, peeked through the fences and left! Pay 24.00 to walk through a garden, or head to the beach that's free?? We left for the beach and it was AWESOME!

We went to a place called Tunnel Park (you locals HAVE to go there ASAP!!) There was a cute old-school style park and up over a hill that was right behind the park was.... THE BEACH!!

Brian took these fun pictures of us four on the swings.

Just over the hill behind the park was this gorgeous view - with only a few other people around! Those two specks are Sophie and Nora running crazily down to the water. Both of them face planted in the sand before getting there!

Brian and Miles bringing down the beach gear...

Miles had a blast - one giant sandbox!

My handsome husband and cute kids - geez I'm lucky!!

Nora thought she'd died and gone to heaven! She kept saying, "This is the best vacation EVER!" You can totally see her enthusiasm for the beach in this picture!

We decided to bury Nora and we were teasing her that when she got out of the sand she would be a mermaid.... Sophie decided Nora needed "seashells" drawn on...

Nora wasn't thrilled about them...

This picture makes me laugh because they are both doing the same things with their hands.

The boys

Just before leaving... SO beautiful - I felt like I was in California!

Here is the entrance/exit to the beach and park (if you don't want to climb the hill or stairs). It was such a perfect and relaxing day!

Of course the perfect day has to include ice cream! We stopped at a fun place called Mooville's in a small town on the way home. It's a dairy farm where they make their own ice cream. They also had a sandbox and petting zoo outside that the kids loved.

Here is Brian teaching the kids all about baby calves...

I think Miles looks like a giant in this picture - about to terrorize a small town of helpless people... really it was a cute little "town" for ducks and bunnies - so cute!

Nora thoroughly enjoying her ice cream cone!

Whew. That is a loooong post but I had to document every part of it because we had a great time just hanging out together as a family and escaping the daily grind - just for a day!