Spring Blooms

Here is a collection of photos I snapped as flowers bloomed this Spring. Some are from early April and some are from earlier this afternoon. :) A few little flying creatures snuck in here and there too.

Vibernum

Grape Hyacinth

Volunteer snap dragons from last year. All three plants survived the winter and it was a pleasant surprise as I didn't expect them to come up again this year.

A wasp on my Lily of the Valley bush.

Dogwood Blooms

This is a spectacular year for Dogwood. Usually my tree gets 15-20 blooms, but this year I'm not even going to bother counting. I've seen more blooms this year than any else, and it's not just my tree. There's pink and white everywhere right now. On Lord's day I saw a white dogwood that was at least 25 feet tall and it was positively covered in blooms and so beautiful.

Zinnias. I love these because they have petals three layers deep, and what looks like miniature blooms along the center "button" of the flower.

My first rosebud of the season. This rose plant always blooms well but the leaves get black spots and fall off. The rose was planted by the builders of our home, but this type of rose is not meant for a wet climate and likes to have dry leaves. I always feel so sorry for it! Does anyone have any suggestions other than to replace it?

California Lilac

Bumblebee

Dianthus - Maiden Pinks. These flowers are about the size of a quarter.

Irises

I also have purple wave petunias blooming, hostas sprouting their flower stalks, dahlia plants about 3" high and gerbera daisies about 1" high. I need to get some fertilizer I think, because I've seen gerbera daisies blooming already, and mine are so far behind. I just love gardening, it feels so good to dig in the dirt and help things grow. I think that it comes from growing up on a farm and seeing my Mom's beautiful garden and flowerbeds. Now that I know how much work it is to take care of my small flowerbeds, I am so blown away by how hard she used to work in the ones back on the farm! So, if you are still reading this... :) tell me what you have blooming and what your favorite plants are so I get some new ideas!

Nate and LeAnne's Wedding

LeAnne collected vases and spray painted them black and it looked really sharp. The flowers were picked up locally and a few of the girls arranged them into the vases. At the rehearsal, there were flowers everywhere and amazing amounts of work being done. Almost everything about this wedding was do-it-yourself and it was all wonderful.

Exchanging rings.

The Wedding Party

Bible Talk

Husband and Wife! Congratulations you two, we are so happy for you.

There was a grand piano!

Family picture. This is my family and it now includes LeAnne, since she married my cousin. I couldn't be happier. Well, I guess I could be, if she lived closer!

The dessert buffet was completely hand made. There were white and pink chocolate mints, sugar cookies with pink lemonade icing, three different types of miniature cupcakes, a red velvet wedding cake with cream cheese icing, pink French macarons, lemon tarts, cake pops, almond roca, Mexican tea cookies, nanaimo bars, the list goes on and on as you can see.

Red Velvet Cake

Mini Cupcakes

LeAnne's dress was so beautiful and included this beading one one side of her waist.

A not so innocent look from the new hubby towards his wife. The cutting of the cake is always interesting to watch.

After this photo, there was a lot of icing smearing and cake stuffing that went on. Then Nate cleaned LeAnne's face with a napkin. (Everyone say "awww....")

On each table in the room there were antique tarnished silver pieces holding even more flowers. It was beautiful and I wish I would have got a good shot of the room. My sis did though!

The getaway speech was very good! We will all miss LeAnne and really appreciated what Nate had to say.

The pillow boxes held jellybeans and the miniature brown paper bags held chocolate covered coffee beans. I thought it was cute, because Nate seems like a jelly bean type of guy and LeAnne is definitely a coffee type of girl.

Deception Pass and Fort Casey

It is so fun to eat out for breakfast, and Kitten agrees. Here she is a little in shock at the plate set in front of her. Finishing those hash browns off looked like an impossible feat.

LOOK AT HER GO! Look at that sheer determination and intensity.

Ta da! Almost done! And her daddy had added some meat to her plate throughout the course of the meal as well ha ha! Crazy girl. She loves potatoes just like her Great Grandma.

Our first glimpse over the edge of the bridge at Deception Pass. If you have some time, follow that link and read the history of the area, it's fairly interesting and includes human smuggling, which is so sad.

From a path below the bridge. It is an impressive structure.

Yes, they took the stroller down the walking path.... if any of my readers have travelled on this path, you will know that it is STEEP and that there is a road and a parking lot at the bottom of it. We didn't know that ha ha, so later the guys walked back up the long steep path to get the van and bring it to the bottom.

The waters here are turbulent with currents.

I think Kitten is thinking "Don't let go daddy!"

Looking as high as possible, and...

...looking as low as possible. Tiny sprouts and moss.

The Mr. and the bridge.

Throwing rocks.

"I'll get a biggest one!"

See the rock in mid air?

Salal

Salmon Berry

Penny sized blooms in the lawn of the state park.

Fort Casey

Mid flight....

...and a safe landing.

Later in this post there is a photo of the view from the lookout tower. There were several lookout towers along the length of the fort and one of them was left open for exploring.

Checking out one of the big disappearing guns. According to Wikipedia, Several of these became active at Fort Casey in 1901, but then the airplane was invented in 1903 and the guns became obsolete. In the visitors center, we watched a video of these guns going off. Things were so different back then! To get a picture of what life was like in 1903, below are a few snapshots of a reproduction Sears catalog from 1908 that was in the visitors center.

Now if you are interested in the past at all, these next few photos are for you. Part of the lighthouse building displays antiques and this Sears catalog was fun to look through.

Men's pants for 60 cents, or at the most, just under $3.

Human hair switches, pompadours or wigs made available to all. 28 inches of hair was just $3.48.

One for the guys.

Fancy hats in 2010 sell for a couple hundred dollars at fancy department stores, in 1908 they were around $4!

What you see from the lookout tower.

Aww! The Mr. and Kitten.

Bald Eagle

Queen Anne's Lace or "wild carrot."

Weeds taller than Kitten and wind so strong that I had to rescue Kitten as it started blowing her and forcing her little legs to make running motions just to keep her from toppling over!

The closest I have ever been to a wild Bald Eagle.

See Jolly? See the eagle at the very top of the tree closest to her? That is pretty close for a wild eagle.

Admiralty Head Lighthouse

The view from the top of the lighthouse.

The stairs to get back down.

Tickle time before we get back in the van for the drive home.