Family Adventure: Cherry Blossom Festival

(Photo found on google images)

Last weekend was the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. The blossoms only last about a week so it is always hard to gauge when it will happen. This year - peak bloom was on Friday March 26th. We spontaneously decided to check it out on Easter Sunday! It was kind of gloomy weather - but it turned out to be wonderful for the adventure we had!

Family selfie

Bennett wanted to keep walking

Washington Monument 

Jefferson Monument

Inside: Chris with Jefferson

Selfie with the boy

The view

Bennett needed to stretch his legs after being carried awhile

Roosevelt Memorial

This is how most of the pathways were - covered in blossoms!!!

Tuckered out! 

Spring at Frying Pan Farm Park

We have been to Frying Pan before - but this time was completely different because it was sooooo busy! We had to park on a far away field. We went thinking it would be good to get out of the house - but I guess it is spring break for a lot of the schools here - and those parents were thinking the same thing!

Bennett was off - and just left me to chase him! Not a care in the world!

We saw baby goats

A ton of baby pigs!

A peacock (that kind of scared him)

He was sad the carousel was closed and under construction 

Played on some tractors

Check out how to milk a cow

We took a break and ate some apples and walked along this flower bed

Pretended to pump out own water

More baby goats

Bennett 12/52

Bennett new thing is always pretending to be an animal (of some sort - not sure what kind) and roars or meows and crawls in the ground or under/behind furniture. He can now walk up with stairs by himself while holding onto the wall. He says phrases like "i see it" "I did it". He can also say his version of "please" "more" "bless you" (when you sneeze). He gives real kisses (Chris complains they are too wet!) shares his meals/food with family and pets. 

 

It's pretty great having a two year old most*of the time!

Bennett 11/52

Bennett still loves to draw with sidewalk chalk! I drew a dinosaur and every time we went on a walk he would have to walk by it and "roar"

Loves playing with the neighbor's water meter

We went to a library kids class that was basically singing the words to the books. Bennett wasn't a huge fan. Turns out he is kinda shy. He much preferred walking around the library and this statue.

One of the things Bennett loves to do is crawl around on the ground pretending he is a dinosaur or lion/tiger... Not sure what he is pretending but he roars a lot. 

Bennett 10/52

This week my little boy turned 2!!! He had 2 birthday celebrations. 

We had a small celebration on Wednesday (his actual birthday) and had cake. Mimi, Auntie Katie and the twins came to partake! 

We went shopping and Bennett used Mimi as a jungle gym!

We had fun in our neighborhood park!

I couldn't be more thrilled with my little boy and all the people that celebrated with us (near and far! He loved all the cards so much and still reads them like books!)

Family adventures: Natural History Museum

We had all benne curious to venture down to DC by ourselves. I had been a few times with Cindy before we moved up to NOVA and once with my parents and Katie - but never just our little family. We drove to the Metro station and rode it into the city. 

We made sure to bring entertainment for Bennett as well as snacks and he did great!

 

By the time we got to DC we were all kind of hungry. Good thing they had lots of food trucks nearby. Bennett enjoyed a hot pretzel and had a blast pointing at all the pigeons! 

He went to chase some too... But they got away 

For those of you that have been to our new place in Chantilly, you would know Bennett is obsessed with the "night at the museum" moves so when we walked into the museum and se this guy we had to take a picture! 

Dumb Dumb!!!

And a T-Rex in the lobby!!! Bennett was happy to be here!!!

We went straight towards the dinosaurs since we assumed that's what Bennett would have wanted to see most

Walking toward the other animals exhibits

Daddy and Bennett looking at a huge turtle

Guess what we saw...

An elephant!!!

 

This turned into being Bennett's favorite part of the day!!!  He LOVED it so much!

We went down to take a closer look!

Headed towards the other animals and he was also drawn to the giraffes (again - no surprise) 

Since all the Smithsonian museums are free we didn't feel the need to stay all day so we decided to walk along the mall. Unfortunately a lot of the grassy area is under construction so we ended up walking down to take a closer look at the Washington Monument. (Also the weather was beautiful so we wanted to take advantage of the warmer temperature!)

Bennett was wearing the Capitals shirt Frank had gotten him at one of the games!

And we can't go anywhere without his Dino!!!

The metro ride home was a bit more rough...  Bennett cried most of the way home... But it was close to 4pm and he hasn't napped. 

Overall it was a wonderful day and I look forward to doing nothing more sight seeing no before the weather gets too warm!