Tulip time

Hoi (that's a Dutch word for hi) everyone,

This was my first year of visiting the Tulip Festival in Orange City and I do believe there will be many more in the years to come. It was wonderful weather and there was just so much to see and do and so many people to wave at. My friend Gena made me a Dutch costume for the event and it matched both my grandparents costumes as well as Gena, Todd's and Koen's costume.

Here I am in my Dutch costume. I actually did not pull on my hat or necklace.

Koen's hat is very cool. It's the tops.

Sitting near the Tulips.

I also got to see my buddy Trey at one of the parades.

Max and some of my other cousins were part of the festivities and did some Dutch dancing.

Here are a couple of cute Dutch girls. Maddie and Maggie were also in the Dutch dancing and games.

My dad helped my grandpa carry the kaas (cheese) in the last parade. I did not recognize him at first and then once I did I wanted to grab his big red hat.

My other friend Gina who lives in Sioux Center gave me my first hair cut. It was quite an event.

On a more sad note my great grandmother Annette passed away on Monday May 17th. We were all very saddened to hear this new but she was a great lady that lived a long and full life although we would of all loved it if it could have been longer. On Thursday we went to her funeral in Kanawha, IA at her home church of Wright CRC. She will be missed and remembered fondly.

Here we are at the front of the church. I wanted to give a big smile for my great grandma.

We are getting ready to head back home to Colorado. I cannot believe that we are only a couple of weeks from me being 2 years old. My how the time just goes by so fast (my dad told me to put that).

Thanks for reading my blog.

Love,
Lydia

NYC trip

Hello family and friends,

Are you all ready for the loads of pictures I am about to throw at you? My mom and dad took me to New York city to visit our friends Ryan and Lisa and have a look at their town. They do have quite the town and we spent a fun filled four days of seeing all that NY had to offer.

This is not my first time on a plane but the last time I was I was only 11 months old so I was not as mobile. I like to stretch my legs these days so trying to keep my attention for 4 hours was not as easy but mom and dad told me that I was a good girl.

Lots to see out such a little window. It did not take me long to figure out how to move the shade up and down.

Here are us girls ready for a fun filled day in New York. We had bagels for breakfast and then headed into midtown. I got to have my first subway experience and it was fun to smile and wave at all of the people. There are lots of people to make friends with in NYC.

We took a trip to the top of the "rock" in Rockefeller center. Here we are in the nice flower garden and I am taking one of my naps in the stroller.
This is the view to the south into lower Manhattan from the top of the rock. The empire state building sure makes it's presence known in town.
A view to the north looking into Central Park. We were 67 floors up at the top of the rock.

Us at the top of the rock!

This is the kind of old meets new that is all around the city. Okay, my dad told me to write that.

We then ventured further into Manhattan to see time square. That place is very busy. Lots and lots of sights and sounds to take in.

We then headed back to Lisa and Ryan's place for lunch and then met up with Lisa's friends Jenn and Melanie. They joined us for a trip to Brooklyn to see the beautiful botanic gardens.

Here we are waiting for the train to come and take us to our next adventure.

Mom and dad under a blossoming cherry tree.

We had dinner in Brooklyn and then headed home for some games and a good night's sleep. I was worn out and slept very well.

The next day was a bit cool and rainy so mom and Lisa went to see if there were any tickets on sale for a Broadway show. After waiting in a long line mom was able to get tickets to West Side Story and so she and dad went and saw that while I got to play with Ryan and Lisa. They sure are fun to hang out with.

The day after that mom, dad and I went to see the Brooklyn bridge and the Statue of Liberty. We also took a walk through the Wall street area.

It was a bit cool and rainy but we had a fun time seeing lower Manhattan.

We took a boat ride out to Liberty island and then to Ellis island. I sure am glad that I know how to sign boat. I showed some of the other passengers how to sign boat and they thought it was cute.

Here is Lady Liberty in all of her glory and the big statue behind her, ha ha.

We had tickets to go into the museum and up on to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty but unfortunately the tickets were all sold out for going to the top of the crown. It looked like it would have been a really good work out for mom and dad to carry me to the top so it was probably better this way.

This was the old torch that was used and is now on display in the museum.

Here we are on the pedestal just beneath Lady Liberty.

This shows what the weather was like looking from Ellis island back at lower Manhattan.
We headed back for dinner with Lisa and Ryan after they got off of work.

Needless to say that I was again worn out from another busy and fun day.

The next day we headed down to China town, Little Italy and Soho.

Can you believe there is a Hagen Daus in China town? China town was busy and there was so much that I wanted to buy but dad just kept saying no. I did end up getting a cute shirt.
We stopped for lunch in Little Italy at this little place. Dad saw the sign for lunch specials and he was sold.
Here I am telling some stories over our lunch.

We then made our way back up town to Central park. There are so many paths and trails to go on in the park. We saw a castle, lots of lakes, baseball fields, and of course my favorite thing a playground.

Any Ghostbusters fans out their?

We finished off our day with a trip to the Metropolitan museum of art and the the Guggenheim art museum. Art is pretty cool if you ask me.

At the top of the Met there is a cool exhibit where they are building a bamboo structure with 5000 parts. It was wild and the view of the city from here was a great way to end our trip.

Thanks for reading about my trip. We are going to be in Iowa for Tulip festival in a couple of weeks so I should have more fun vacation pictures to share with you.

We sure have a lot to be thankful for in this great nation and the beautiful things that are all around us.

Love you all,
Lydia

Easter and More Fun!

So, here it is about two and a half weeks later, and I'm finally taking some time to fill you all in on my Easter activities. As you can see above, Denver weather cooperated quite well for the big day. We had lots of sunshine and nice temperatures - God's blessings were evident in that as well as so many other things - Grandma likes to take advantage of good light and snapped a few shots of me and Daddy as well. Following that photo shoot, we headed to church where I felt like a princess in my pretty dress and shoes (thanks, Erin)!

After church we came home and started finding all these brightly colored eggs. I was intrigued and began leading Daddy around to each one I saw.

Here's one... here's another!

I was so excited that I forgot that I'm not completely capable of walking long distances and went for it anyway!

Later, when we ventured inside, I found my new chair. Can you believe that even it had eggs in as well as a basket which contained a bunny at one time.

I tell you what, I was beginning to tire of all this... I needed to rest my head on my comfy chair.

Once I changed into my "comfies," I was able to see if those eggs were all they were cracked up to be.

Both of my sets of Grandparents were able to celebrate Easter with us.
Here I am with Daddy's parents.

And here are Mommy's parents.

Everyday life:

Once the hoopla of the holiday was over, it was back to the normal grind. Here's how it goes:
Owen comes over and takes Mom's attention everyday (I'm getting more used to it) and then we all play.

This particular photo seems to insinuate that I've been caught doing something that I should feel guilty about... that's for me to know and you to speculate about!

Daddy had to go out of town for work last week. When he returned home, we spent some family time at the park near our house. Daddy helped me go down the slide - it was soo fun!

I went down the tube slide all by myself.

I already knew I loved to swing with Mom, but by myself is pretty fun too.

Well there you have it folks, another update from the Lyd-kid (as I'm commonly called).
I hope you're all doing well and keep looking for my updates... we're heading to New York city at the end of the week - we should have some pretty great stories to share about that!!
Love,
Lydia