Flowers Everywhere!

Sunshine! Flowers! Baby birds! Fireflies! Green grass! More flowers!

Oh my goodness. I love this time of year. {insert sight of contentment}

I wait all spring for when the local peonies are start to bloom, because it means I can go out to the peony farm and wander around the loveliness in a daze of bliss and flowers. Ever since my first time out there, I don't want to miss a season.

Last year (just after the bloom season ended! danggit!), I was tipped off to an iris farm not too far from town. What!? I live in Midwest flower farm heaven, and I didn't even know it?!

Of course, I wanted more: information, locations and all that. I hunted it down and waited for iris season. My inner girlie-girl (inner girlie-girl? oh yes, she is real) couldn't wait to go see all the pretty flowers (squeal!).

This season, I decided to drag other people into it with me, so I organized a homeschool field trip. We made it at the very tail end of the iris season (next year, one week earlier!) but the weather was perfect for traipsing around fields and smelling flowers. 

We went to the iris farm first, and then the peony farm, and spent the morning in sun drenched loveliness.

[OK, this has nothing to do with anything, but every time I type "peony farm," my brain sees pony farm. Maybe it should be a peony ranch. Uhm, anyway.]

 Here is what it looked like:

This iris was HUGE and so white. Just beautiful.

George's comfort object of the day:  racquetball equipment.

Lucy smelling and adoring and enjoying

 Me, my shadow and my fashion accessory

Yellow! Even though blue is my favorite color, I have an insatiable love for yellow flowers.

 Gabriella was the one who loved the iris farm the most, the other children lost interest after the first bit.

This flower is called "Jessie's Song." It was Gabba's favorite, and she wants to go back in August (when they are digging and packing and shipping) and buy some for our yard.


And then we drove to the Peony Ranch Farm:

I don't know how many acres they have in blooming peonies, but it is truly a sight to behold.

They have their office in the very big, very old, very cool barn. George liked the hay bales, the girls were enamored with the pheasants (yup, they had some wild pheasants), I was geeking out about the massive, rough-hewn timbers holding the whole thing up. For some of the children, the flowers were nice and all, but the barn was awesome.

 Yvette tagged along behind Mim and Eliza as they went from one flower plot to the next.

 George didn't want to leave the barn, but I coaxed him out to see the flowers. He ended up being much more enthusiastic than I had expected, extolling the beauty and wonder of each flower he walked by. How can I not adore him?

I was trying to get a shot of the yellow peonies, but George ran up and posed in front, saying "Mommy, take a picture of this!"

For the first hundred bushes - or so - George had to stop and smell every single flower and exclaim about it's nummy-ness. I am so easily charmed by this little guy.

Gabriella wandered about on her own; I'm sure she had any number of make-believe scenarios running through her head.

 A massive peony, with George in for size reference. I love peonies! They're so big and bold and dramatic! Plus, they are hard to kill, which is a big bonus for me.

 Funky pink ones with a "Muppet hair" middle.

 And, just to reassure me that he is still two, George stopped smelling flowers at regular intervals and took dirt-chucking breaks. It didn't work, however, because I was still charmed.  

I don't know why, but the peony farm had long swaths of wheat growing among the flower plots. It was very pretty, in its own way, with the wind blowing it in waves. Wheat makes a cool noise when the wind blows through it.

It had rained recently, so there was a veritable carpet of peony petals to be found. Miriam and Eliza scooped up as many as they could and stuffed their pockets with every color available. It was like watching people pick up gold coins. Fun girls.

Hello, again, George.

Flowers everywhere! Pictures just don't do it justice. I would seriously camp out here all during the blooming season if they would let me. I'm such a sap.

There was a man there, painting the landscape in watercolors the entire time we were wandering around. I want his job.

As a reward for humoring me and my flower obsession, I took the whole gang out for ice cream cones. We drove to to a park to eat them. (Of course) Aurora didn't get one. And (of course) George ran off to catapult himself from playground equipment repeatedly, leaving his to melt in the sunshine.