What happens after April 15th

Like every year during tax season, I start compiling a list of things that I want to do, but that have to wait until after the April 15th deadline. And every year, the list grows until I feel more busy after April 15th than during. (I also swear that every busy season is my last, and this time I mean it!) The list usually includes things like: go to the dentist, clean out closets, get haircuts, update my blog, lose the 15 pounds I gained from 3 months of continual sitting, re-introduce myself to Savannah and Vivian, and finally watch one of those dusty Netflix movies that I ordered back in early January.

One item that has been on the list since I moved here 6 years ago is to visit the Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon. According to the website and everyone who's been there, visitors are treated to endless rows of colorful tulips as far as the eye can see. I served my mission in Holland, and tulips are my favorite flower, so naturally, I have been very anxious to visit. But every year, the other items on the list preclude us from making the journey. There was NO WAY that we were not going to make it there this year!

The anxiety built through the first couple weeks in April as numerous friends on Facebook posted beautiful pictures of themselves and their families all squatting besides gorgeous tulips. I could imagine myself there too - struggling to get at least one good picture of everyone smiling.

We decided to go on Monday, April 26th, because it was supposed to be the only day that week with good weather. Additionally, the website said tulips would only be there through the month of April, so we had to hustle. We got everyone dressed, packed and ready for the journey. Last thing we needed to do was to print off driving directions. Yay!! We were really going!!!

I checked the website for current conditions. What? "Long rows of tulips are now gone." Ahhh!!! Nooooo!!!!! How could they do this? They said the tulips would be there through April. Unbelievable.

Since we were all ready for a day outside, we decided to go to the zoo instead. Viv has been obsessed with Signing Time - The Zoo Train, so we thought she might really enjoy it. Turns out to be a great choice! The weather was perfect and hardly anyone was there.

Instead of trying to get pictures with everyone smiling in front of pretty flowers, I spent the day trying to get everyone to smile in front of various animals. I swear they were excited to see giraffes, but you would never know from this picture.

Elephants!

We got to see an array of beautiful owls, hawks and eagles.

Viv's favorite - the bears




She's trying so hard to say "bears".

Savannah's favorite - the carousel

This peacock really liked Viv. She got nervous with it so close. I had to shoo him away.

He was a little offended that I tried to get rid of him, so he showed us his finery. Then, a guy waked between him and Viv, and the peacock honked and chased him. The guy screamed and ran. It was pretty funny.

The penguins put on quite a show for Savannah.

The gorillas were the most memorable of the day. We were really excited to see the first one until we saw that he was busily eating a handful of his poop. He just tasted it at first, then he wolfed down the rest. Savannah was completely aghast, so we had to move along. We were all relieved to see that this one was feeding her baby milk and not poop.

Last stop was the petting zoo. The kids loved being so close to the farm animals. Just as we were packing up to go, it started to rain, and we made it just in time to the car.

Overall, a perfect day. We decided the kids probably had a much better time at the zoo than seeing the tulips. But we are DEFINITELY going to see them next year!