It Only Took 18 Years...

Well, it only took 18 years, but I finally checked "Tulip Time" off my "Places to Go/Things to Do in West Michigan List." However, based on how our trip went, it may be another 18 years before I get the nerve to go back.

We started off the day early by heading to one of the large tulip farms and gift shops. I was going to try to honor my girls' Dutch heritage and get each of them a pair of wooden shoes but I was too cheap to do so. I couldn't fork over almost $70 for two pairs of shoes! Instead, I was going to compromise and buy a little souvenir pair of shoes for $7 each; however, Brian convinced me that it would be just one more piece of clutter in their rooms. I figured if my husband, who is 100% Dutch, wasn't concerned about his daughters having souvenir wooden shoes, and the girls didn't show any interest whatsoever in them, then I didn't need to feel any guilt about the girls going without a Dutch costume or pair of shoes. We skipped the tulip farm since it would have been over $30 for us to go in; coupled with my passing up the authentic wooden shoes due to the price, my husband commented that I tend to act "more Dutch" than he sometimes does.

Instead, we headed to downtown Holland where we went to one of the parks in the center of town to look at the tulips. Despite me repeatedly telling Amelia that this wasn't a park with a playground, upon our arrival, she immediately demanded to know where the playground equipment was located. When reminded that there was no playground equipment, Amelia whined and moaned the entire time we were there. We made the mistake of having a slumber party in our living room the night before and we stayed up way too late so she was super grouchy. Allison,on the other hand, was just fine and kept finding flowers we should take pictures of and was a good sport.

After about ten minutes, I realized this "fun trip" was going nowhere pretty fast, so I called uncle and gave up. I suggested we find the candy shop to get a treat for the ride home. I made a wrong turn and realized the candy shop with the fun, retro candy was on the other end of main street. Luckily, the drug store had some candy, so we picked up a box of candy for each of the girls. We then quickly headed back to the car.  So no parades, klompen dancing, or street cleaning for us. However, we did make it out alive, which is all I can ask for. Maybe next year, I will bring just one of the girls back for the parade or dancing demonstration...or maybe not.