Delaplane Strawberry Festival

So Nate has a thing with finding us new, never-been-done-before activities (by us) each weekend we have free.  With it being strawberry picking season, he stumbled upon the Delaplane Strawberry Festival advertisements, and he knew what we were going to do this weekend.  So we jumped in the car about 9AM, and a little over an hour later we were navigating the rolling hills of Delaplane, VA, being traffic-controlled to our "parking spot" out in the middle of a field on a slightly descending hillside.  It was beautiful. 

 

And even more beautiful in that the car-ride up wasn't a train-wreck, minus Lauren asking, "Where are we going Daddy?", literally every three minutes.  You just have to stop answering after a while, right??? 
So in that hour we went from the warm, densely populated city of Alexandria, to the sweeping views and rolling green hills of rural NOVA.  But it seemed that we went through not only a culture warp, but a weather warp as well.  People were not rushing at 100 MPH, nor did they give you the impression they felt that they themselves were more important than you (oh East Coast, don't get me started)... 
At any rate, at this slightly higher elevation on an unseasonably mild day, it was a bit chilly and the wind was definitely cooling it down that much more.  But it was completely tolerable with a jacket, which unfortunately Nate forgot to bring. *insert goose bumps here*  So he wore his goose bumps with pride and toughed it out Colorado-boy style.  He was not about to let the wind and chill get in the way of the girls' fun-day. 
So we went straight to the hay bale maze!  It was a one-way maze, so of course sweet, energizer bunny Lauren tore through it like it was on fire.

Then she had to be redirected by the staff not to go in the exit a couple times, in her attempts to go find Olivia.  Olivia, she who knows and goes a normal toddler speed, verses Lauren's full-throttle, full-time.

Next we went to the potato sack race area.  Olivia was content in daddy's arms, while Lauren wanted to get inside a sack and jump with the other kids.  Once the lady said, "Go!", it was like a herd of cats were being released into the wild, going every which way.  Lauren made it about halfway down to the turn-around, before she took a spill and flailed like a turtle on her back for a minute or so.  She then saw an older girl on her way back to the finish line, decided to get up and follow her across the finish line.  So it looked like she finished in 2nd place, but was technically the 1st place finisher in the disqualified bracket!  That's our competitive sweet girl!  All the while Olivia is hollering from Nate's arms for Lauren to, "Mere 'Livia"! (translated to "Come Here, Olivia").  Yes, that's right. Olivia calls Lauren by the name Olivia.  Even after we ask her to repeat the name Lauren back to us while pointing at her sister, Olivia will still call Lauren by Olivia. Every. Single. Time.  I just hope Lauren doesn't begin to think her name is 'Livia!

We then ran over to the cake-walk area, and walked from red square to red square with the rest of the kids at the festival.  We went about 13 rounds before Olivia was lucky enough to have her number called (#25).  It was perfect timing really, because the girls were losing interest and asking for a treat by this time.  So they split the mini-cupcake, much to Olivia's disliking.

Then off to the face-painting booth where the girls chose what they wanted on their cheeks.  Lauren chose a strawberry (probably because pictures of them were all around us, and it was the first thing she saw/thought of), and Olivia chose a flower.  They both sat extremely still and didn't even smudge their face-paint before it was dry.  Yeah for non-ruined clothing!

 

We then headed towards the festival's craft tents, which had quite the assortment of craftiness.  Everything from giant marbles, to animal figurines made out of pots and pans, to knit owl hats--which were adorable!  They even had them in Denver Bronco colors!  But since we already have owl hats for the girls, Mr. Nate wasn't feeling it...so we walked on...mostly just to keep him warm. :0)

 

The infamous owl hats! Who could have too many of these?!

 

We then stumbled upon the self-titled Virginia Jelly Bean Queen, whom does not sell jelly beans, but instead makes balloon animals/shapes.  So we stood in the barn to keep out of the wind, and waited for the girls to get their 3 foot long flowers.  They loved them, but had a hard time keeping ahold of them in the wind.  And when they were holding them they were swatting things with them; therefore causing petals of their flowers to pop/"fall off". 

 

We then got to see a small hand-held monkey (not sure of the breed), whom took quarters from people gathering around to see the spectacle.  But the kettle corn smelled too good and was apparently calling the girls' names, so we headed to the food booths for some fresh-out-the-kettle popcorn.  It really was delicious!  From there we walked and munched on popcorn.  We saw cows, horses and ponies, and even raced tractor-like tricycles.  The crowd was really beginning to swell by this time, so we decided to call it a day and head for our car.  The girls were content because they had their popcorn and a nice car-ride/nap time coming their way.  What a day!