Winthrop, Memorial Weekend 09.

Our annual Memorial Day weekend began with our usual trip to the Farmer's Market and onto our much loved Twisp River park. It all starts with the red door.
My little ones are not so little. Camille starts Kindergarten this Fall. We keep telling them to stop growing. There seems to be a malfunction in that area though.
Waterguns! Thanks Grandpa. The trees at this park are my favorite background for photos. This is the response I am receiving to my plea for some pictures.
What an expression. Love it.
Brett is perfecting his pose.
River rock throwing. The river is too high still, but next time we should be able to cross and swim.


Gabe does not like the COLD! Even though it was 80 or so he still refused to get in the pool. At home the other day, when it was 89, he slipped into his wool hat and winter jacket.

Camille took up frisbee and she is so good. She really likes it.
Dad in action.
The process of filling a hole and creating a dam to make a pool.

Okay, so not so much a pool, but a mud hole. Preferred by far.

Sister and Brother! Love these truly happy moments.
Okay, here I am.The end of the day! Every Memorial Weekend at the Farmer's Market, they have this huge used book sale. We hit the mother load and found our year's supply. Every night we would melt those mallows and chocolate, then the kiddos were off to bed, and we would break out our books and read under the endless starry sky. I would never leave these nights, but morning always comes.

Happy Mom's Day!

Gabe has been sick this past month and he just wasn't overcoming his respitory issues. Days of round the clock nebulizer treatments aren't good and can't sustain you when you continue to grasp for breathe. I knew this was leading us to the hospital. His O2 sats were 85%, which screams hosptital here we come. He needed O2 help, stronger doses of albuterol, and steroids. He was slammed with all of the above.





He looks sleepy here, comforting himself with his much used blanky. This display would have been nice when my goal was getting him to take a nap so the nurse could test his O2 sats. Oxygen drops while asleep and they wanted to make sure he could hold it. Well, after adult sized portions of albuterol and steroids, he was a firecracker and I was standing there hoping my hand didn't get blown off. It was like he was on speed and a 2 year old in a caged room is hard enough, let alone one going bonkers. I tried calming books, singing his favorite songs, lying in his bed with him, lying in the guest pullout with him, following him anywhere he would like to attempt to sleep. They even carried over a rocking chair from the Family Birth Center for a good rock. No luck. Every time Dr. Levine would peek his head in, he would laugh at Gabe bobbing around. A nap we did not take. I would have loved to have taken a nap instead of being the one to manage this wild-thing muppet.

Gabe got to use this really cool or should I say scary dragon mask for his neb. treatments. They didn't use these last year when he was hospitalized. Well, he has grown since then and this was a little too big, so I guess now he is just bigger. My 2 and a half year old 22 pounder.

He is so brave and endlessly sweet. This happened just in time for Mother's Day. He made me appreciate the privilege of being a mom, of being his mom. I am thankful for this blessing.

Our Tulip Run, but in a Car.

We didn't get a chance to visit the tulips this year and I, along with all people, love tulip pics. They are beginning to top them, so the kids and I make lunch and jump in the car in search of tulips.

We head out in that direction but decide to take back routes from Sedro to Mt.Vernon/Laconner. We find daffodil fields and pull over for a photo opp.

Instead of standing in front of the daffodils, Camille leads the way up a small, weedy hill to be remembered by the camera.

It is the perfect background for the picture with the "Wizard of Ooze" port-o-potty between Camille and Gabe. There is a sign that says, "Powell Trucking," and apparently this is a trucker's bathroom stop. Nice!

After this magical stop, we are on the road again. I see some tulips and look for some way to reach them, but I soon realize that it is someone's personal property. Wow, their very own tulip dream. I took a picture on the way by, hence the blurred vision.

Camille is making a funny face because she thinks I am a bit looney in our quest. I am not so sure about that since she is the one who found the first photo stop.

As we drive, I randomly take unknown side roads and then all of sudden we are driving alongside the mecca of topped off tulip fields. Our destination.






I think there is great beauty in these pictures where petals blanket the ground. It is a reminder that their simple beauty existed, if only for springtime moments.


As we continued to drive and hit the main roads, we did find tulips with their blooming heads, but as we peered over we saw caged spaces full of cars and kept on driving, satisfied with our quiet ceremony.