Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon, WA

We have not been as good about getting out to see things like we did before Curran was born---I love the little guy but boy, he can curb spontaneity. I mean now we think about taking a day trip or doing some activity and then its worrying about nap time, will the drive be too long for him, making sure there's enough bottles and diapers, what if he's cranky from teething....and soon enough its not hard to say "eh, its just too much, its probably best if we stay home". And honestly I know its being built up to be more trouble or effort than it might actually be, but I know its kept us from other outings. 

But last week we said, "we need to explore, darn it!" We don't know how much longer we'll be in Washington and if we keep saying we'll do it next year, that opportunity might never come. So we carpe-d that diem and planned out a day trip to Mt. Vernon to see the beautiful Tulip Festival.

There are two farms that participate but we decided to visit Roozengaarde. They have a cool history of being tulip growers in the US and Holland since the 1700s--and they did not disappoint.

 This is how Curran likes to give kisses these days. He's so cute, I'll take 'em.

 Curran loved trying to grab the big tulip petals

 After just walking around the garden Curran fell asleep, which was actually kinda mind blowing--we can't remember the last time he fell asleep in the wrap while we've been out an about. If you know Curran you know that he is a very busy, attentive boy and is always watching everything around him, so we were quite surprised.

 One lone red tulip got lost! And man, those storm clouds were crazy, but luckily they didn't get too close and we were dry the whole visit.

 Love love love when the little guy wakes up and gives those sleepy, cheesy smiles.

 Those giant tulips were as big as he was!

Curran's been working on his walking and getting better every day! After seeing the fields we let Curran crawl around on the grass. Between the car and ferry rides and being held at the farm he needed some time to get his wiggles out.

Big heart eyes.

Boy, I'm so glad we decided to take a trip north to see the famous tulip fields. The flowers were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the trip was wonderful. Watching Curran grow older and show excitement for new things brings us so much joy as well. Love that baby boy of ours!

Blow Your Own Glass Date.

Two months ago we went on one of the funnest dates we've ever done! Over the summer we snagged a Living Social deal for a blow your own glass activity at Rainier Glass Studio and amidst being sick, Joey standing watch, scouts, and general business, we finally found a free day in December to cash in our vouchers. So we hopped on a ferry to Seattle for a fun day!

The glass studio is at the Old Rainier Brewery, a site that's been brewing beer since 1878. The Rainier Brewing Company stopped brewing beer there in 1999 but since then the building has been used by various businesses like Tully's for coffee roasting, Emerald City Brewery, recording studios, and other art studios. Its quite a neat building and a fun place to explore.

First we picked out what we wanted to make (both of us chose decorative bowls) and then chose our colors from trays of colored glass bits. The colored pieces were spread on a table while our instructor, Owen, grabbed clear melted glass from a large container. We rolled the melted glass in the colored pieces and then placed it in the furnace, slowly rolling it to melt and incorporate the colors. 

Once the colors were added the glass was rolled in to a ball shape. Then we each slowly blew air into our pieces with a long hose connected to the other end of the pole. This enlarged the glass ball.

Curran was such a trooper the whole time! He was very flirty with the staff (as usual) and quite content to hang out in the ring sling. And Rainier Glass was so wonderful about having him there. Definitely a family friendly business which we really appreciated.

After the glass expanded to the right size, Owen used a blow torch to pop a hole in the top of the globe and then used tongs to slowly stretch the opening, creating the lip of the bowl. At this point Joey also had dark green glass added to the top to create a lip wrap.

Next the piece was alternately spun and placed in the furnace to create just the right size before being spun quickly to add the fluted lip. The bowl was clipped off the metal rod and placed in a round of melted glass to create the stand, and was finally put in another, slightly cooler kiln to cool for four days. 

We loved, loved, loved our time at Rainier Glass! Everyone was so nice, and extra sweet to Curran. It was fun to help create special pieces of artwork for our home and we hope to go to some of their actual glass art classes to learn more. 

After our activity we walked around the brewery to take a look at some of the other creative businesses before heading back home.

While already in Seattle last month, we stopped by to pick up our pieces and were so pleased with the results! Joey is already using his to hold some of his wooden yo-yos and mine is sitting pretty on our bookshelf. We'd love to make more glass pieces!

[Joey's]

[mine]

Here's a little video I put together of Joey and me making our one of a kind glass bowls. Hands down one of our favorite, more creative dates we've ever been on.

Golden Birthday Breakfast

Not only was yesterday Joey's birthday, but it was also his Golden Birthday! I always thought a Golden Birthday was a fun idea and a wonderful way to shower someone with a little extra birthday love, so I was very excited to add some oomph to Joey's 25th. 

  Since his birthday fell on a Sunday and we had church in the afternoon I decided to make Joey a golden birthday breakfast. The weeks before, I spent Curran's naps making gold and glitter birthday signs and a tissue paper garland, stashing supplies in various forgotten corners around the house, and the week of his birthday I blew up a couple dozen balloons, strung them on some yarn and hid them in our spare bathroom with a sign forbidding Joey from entering. Then the morning of his birthday I snuck down stairs after feeding Curran his 5:30am bottle to hang the decorations and fix up Joey's special breakfast.

  As I planned his birthday surprise I looked for anything gold to use, including gold cupcake liners for mini mushroom and spinach quiches. I also decided that since a golden birthday only happens once in a lifetime, it was ok if we had some treats for breakfast, like gold-wrapped candies (25 of each, of course), golden cream soda, and donuts jazzed up with gold food paint. 

[More on that blue piano later!]

Curran loved looking at the sparkly decorations and playing with the balloons, and I loved surprising the greatest guy I know. Ya only get one Golden Birthday and I'm so glad I got to celebrate it with Joey and give him a special, gold and glitter filled day. Hooray for Golden Birthdays!