Cherry Blossoms

Today's weather was absolutely perfect for going to the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. It was sunny, there was a light wind, and the temperature got up to 70 degrees. As I'm sure you can imagine, we weren't the only ones who thought it was a great day for sight-seeing . . . It was a little crowded (okay, big-time crowded) on the Metro, and walking around the Tidal Basin got tricky at times, but we managed.

Last year we visited the cherry blossoms as a family of three, and Troy and I had a pretty good idea of where to go within a preschooler's range of walking. Adding Julia to the mix only meant trying not to bump into people with her stroller. Evelyn can walk a lot farther than most kids her age, so we knew we would be fine with wandering around for several hours.

We rode the Metro to the Smithsonian stop, where we fought our way through a throng of runners who had just finished a race. We managed to find Kat and Ross amid the chaos, and off we went. The six of us meandered over to the Tidal Basin by way of the Washington Monument. We just took our time walking around the water, taking in the sights. Thankfully Julia fell asleep in the stroller for her morning nap. Once we got to the Jefferson Memorial, we had to go inside to see the president's statue. Well, not all of us went - Troy continued to push Julia in the stroller to help keep her asleep.

Next we headed back to the north side of the basin, where all the food vendors were. We brought our big picnic blanket along, and we all ate our lunch in the shade of the Japanese cherry trees. I think we spent close to two hours there, resting and eating. As I'm sure you would guess, after Evelyn ate, she ran around like a crazy nut, and Ross joined in. Julia played and ate, played and ate. She also explored an ice pop, but not for long - it was too cold!

The weather (and scenery!) was so nice, we could've stayed forever. But, after having some ice cream treats, it was time to head back. Hopefully we'll get picture-perfect weather when we come back next year.