Hanging Out With Mr. Jefferson...

The past couple of weeks have been pretty gloomy around here. Seriously. They even had to postpone the National Kite Festival last weekend--which we had really been looking forward to--b/c of chances of SNOW! (We only saw a few flurries, btw.) And it's been raining here since mid-week...which meant yet another weekend of cooler-than-usual temperatures and cloudy wetness. Not the optimum time for Cherry Blossom Viewing!

But, then suddenly, it cleared up! And today was a beautiful day
with near-perfect 60-degree weather.

Still a little cool...but sunny and perfect for a trip to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms!


So that's what we did!...along with about a million other people! The Metro was massively crowded! Here we are waiting at West Falls Church station.


When we made it downtown, it was pretty much wall-to-wall people...but not quite as crowded as last year when it was about 80-85 degrees! In fact, we really had no issues moving around and making our way to the Tidal Basin. We even managed to score some food from a vendor without waiting in line! And we picked a perfect spot just across the water from the Jefferson Memorial to have a picnic beneath the Cherry Blossoms!And the girls had fun running around from tree to tree, playing on the grass, and climbing on Daddy!
Here, Ashley is engaged in a game of Peek-a-Boo from behind a tree.

Sssssshhh! Don't tell her she was wider than the tree trunk! ;-)
Then we posed for a picture in front of the Jefferson Memorial...

(Well...at least we thought that's what we were doing! Ummm...Note to Guy Who So Kindly Offered to Take Our Family Photo: I don't wanna be picky, but there's this thing across the water behind us called the Jefferson Memorial! It's a little hard to miss...and it's kind of a big deal.
Maybe you could get it in the photo next time?? Ugh!])

At least I got one of Peter with the girls!...(Well..sort of. They were watching the ducks and paddle boats!)

And he got one of us...

(Thanks for making the sweet little sourpuss face, Elizabeth!)

The girls had a fun game of "Ashley!...come here, Sister!!!" wherein Ashley pretended to run away (from one tree to another) and Elizabeth would mock-scold her and run after her as they both giggled.


Once she caught up, the game would start all over again. It's hard to say who enjoyed the game more.
But on the Metro ride home, Elizabeth suddenly exclaimed, "Mommy...Did you see when Ashley was playing with me? She really IS starting to be my friend!" XO