Monthly Archives: April 2018

Cherry Blossoms

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Justin and I had intended to take the girls to see the Cherry Blossoms during their week of Spring Break. However, a cold front that swiped the East Coast shifted the peak bloom a few weeks later. Not wanting to take the girls out of school, Saturday April 7 was the only day that we could go during the short peak window. As we approached April 7, the forecast was not looking good. There was a wide range of forecasts but they all had very cold tempurates and some amounts of snow. Thankfully, the snow amounted to a few flurries at best. The temperatures though….very cold! I think the high was around 40 but with the clouds, no sight of the sun, and being close to the water, it was downright cold! We bundled up though and while we decided to forgo our picnic on the Tidal Basin, we still went.

We opted for lunch in Vienna at Pot Belly’s before we drove into the city. We parked in a garage on K Street and walked down 18th towards the mall. When we approached Pennsylvania, we decided to walk by The White House.

We then walked by The Washington Monument.

And finally we made our way to The Tidal Basin.

With the bitter cold, my goal was really to have made it there to see The Cherry Blossoms. I wasn’t trying to get “extra credit” and walk the entire path of The Tidal Basin to The Lincoln Memorial.

We let the girls take turns and take pictures of Justin and myself. It was so funny as each of them had a turn because they would mimic as Justin and I do when we take pictures. Emerson had a turn with Justin’s camera. She looked so small holding such a big camera that I couldn’t help but to smile with pure joy.

Avery had the next turn. Her little hands couldn’t find the click button so Justin attempted to go show her.  She kept snapping away hysterically as he moved closer to try to help her.

Just as Harper was about to have her turn, a spot along the water opened up and I felt like we had to quickly take advantage. I sat down and told the girls to join me. Avery and Emerson came, and Harper became upset because she thought she wasn’t going to have the opportunity to take our picture and she started crying.I got her to join us finally…her expression is hilarious!

Then a nice lady offered to take a family picture!

And afterwards Harper had her turn to take a picture of me and Justin.Her sisters were trying to help her out. Emerson was trying to guide Harper how to use the camera, although she already knew. Emerson thought Harper had her hand covering the camera so Emerson was saying “seriously”!  And Avery was standing next to her telling Justin and I, “look at me, look at me….I have a monkey on my head.” It was so funny!!

Finally after pictures, the girls “earned” their Cherry Blossom Dunkin Donut that we had bought right after we parked. We wanted to use a bathroom so we popped into a Dunkin Donuts and I realized having the treat would be a great way to get them to keep from whining until we got there. It worked pretty well….oh, bribery….yes, there is sometimes and time and place for it!

And a few last picture before we turned around.

We decided to see if we could explore one of the history muesuems on the way back….largely in part to warm up as well! Apparently, everyone had the same idea and the lines to get in were very long. Standing outside in the cold for any longer when we already had number fingers and toes didn’t seem like the right thing when the muesuems were closing in an hour anyway. We ended up walking more and then sought some warmth (as well as a bathroom break) in Nordstrom’s Rack before heading back to the car. On the way home, we stopped at Mad Fox Brewing in Falls Church. We got there a few mintutes before 6:00 and didn’t have to wait. It was pretty good….would definitely try it again in the future…especially if in the mood to sample a few different beers! The night ended with some grocery shopping at Whole Foods, which I was able to convince Justin to do, by allowing him to order a beer at the bar, while I shopped! It was a cold but fun day and I’m glad that we were able to experience the Cherry Blossoms this year, even if it felt like winter.

 

Easter 2018

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The girls woke early and nicely played in their rooms until a few minutes after 8:00 when Justin and I were finally ready to get out of bed. The Easter Bunny didn’t disappoint! I love the girls excitement as they rush to see what the Easter Bunny brought them!

Easter fell on April Fools Day this year….the Easter Bunny must have played a trick on these girls because the girls had carrots in one of their Easter Eggs!

These happy girls played outside with their jump ropes, bubbles, and climbed trees before breakfast.

We went to the 11:00 church service.

So grown up!  And look at that bow!  My Eme:)

After lunch, we took more some more obligatory Easter pictures.

Justin tried to recreate a picture from last year with the girls. It worked very well and now he wants to do this same picture annually.

Staged pictures were followed by the traditional Easter egg hunt in our backyard. And they are off! This year the girls had designated color eggs with some extras that were a free for all.  Avery was green/yellows; Emerson was blues; and Harper was pinks/purples.

At one point, Emerson had found all three of the large special eggs that she thought were free for all.  They weren’t but before we realized she had taken ownership of them, Harper thought she hadn’t found any of those particular special eggs. 

After the hunt was over, the girls enjoyed the contents of 10 of their eggs!

Later on in the afternoon we rode bikes and Avery and Emerson took turns using their roller skates for the first time.

Oh yeah, and I did make Avery and Emerson practice some sight words too…even on Easter.

Happy Easter!!

Spring Break 2018

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While we didn’t travel anywhere during spring break (as has been the case to date for all other spring breaks), we still wanted the girls to experience some non-routine events.

Sunday: We took a ride towards Frederick, Maryland. Our first stop was to a small town Walkersville, where we took a scenic train ride on Walkersville Southern Railroad through town.

We had a special guest appearance by the Easter Bunny. The train ride was only somewhat scenic and definitely overpriced, but the girls enjoyed it and loved the Easter Bunny. In fact, this is as close to the Easter Bunny that our girls have ever been; it was pretty cool to see their excitement, even Emerson was excited!

After the train ride, we drove to downtown Frederick where we ate a yummy lunch at JoJo’s Restaurant and Tap House followed by a little shopping!

The town was cute and the employees of the stores were incredibly nice. It was a cold day but we had fun…and despite the cold we still ate ice cream outside from the Pop Shop!

Monday: Monday was routine mixed with some non-routine. Jana had all three girls for the entire day. The day started with homework in the morning followed by a picnic lunch at Meadownlane, where the girls played for awhile afterwards.   Jana treated the girls to a donut from Safeway after the park.

Tuesday: Jana took the girls to see Sherlock Gnomes at Reston Town Center. Tuesdays at that theatre is “Super Tuesday” so movie tickets all day long are $7. There is a service charge too so in actuality the ticket price is closer to $8 a ticket, but still much cheaper than a normal ticket price! After the movie, the girls went to lunch at Ted’s Bulletin. They had a fun day!

Wednesday: My parents had given the girls a coupon to the Baltimore Aquarium for Christmas. Wednesday they cashed in on that prize! My parents picked them up at 9:15 in the morning and they spent the day at the Aquarium followed by dinner at Tequila Grande and shaved ice and custard at Rita’s. The girl’s favorite part of the aquarium was the dolphin show.

Thursday: We had intended to see The Cherry Blossoms; however, some really cold weather the last few weeks delayed the peek blossom date several weeks. The delay of the bloomed trees, coupled with the ground being so wet from the rain Wednesday, we didn’t think our picnic along the Tidal Basin was the right thing to do for the day. We decided it would be Mt. Vernon for the day! Emerson and Avery were ecstatic about going. They have been learning about George Washington and some of the other U.S. Presidents in school so they were thrilled to be able to make the visit.

I was pretty impressed at how captivated they were the entire visit. Harper had a full-blown temper tantrum at one point, but besides that, the girls were really well behaved. The whole ride home they sang together and Avery and Emerson even quizzed one another on the spelling of words. I told Justin I would definitely be interested in purchasing an annual membership if it was something the girls stayed interested. There was so much to do and see there!

After visiting Mt. Vernon, we decided to head back towards home…we went out for an early dinner at Cooper Hawk Winery followed by a little shopping and dessert in Reston Town Center.

Friday: The girls had a fairly normal day with Jana. They did homework in the morning followed by a trip to the library in the afternoon and Jana treated them to another donut from Safeway after the library.

In the evening, we went to my parents to celebrate the first night of Passover. Avery and Emerson even helped with reading the four questions. It was really cool to have them be able to read. And as always, they love to find the matzoh….one for each girl that my dad hides in the living room. Upon finding the hidden matzoh, my dad gives each girl five dollars.

Saturday: We met Mila and here parents, who were visiting from Brazil, at Matchbox in Mosiac District for a late lunch. The only other time we met Mila’s parents in person was in December 2015, almost two and a half years ago! Monday is also Mila’s birthday (her 29th) so we celebrated early with her and her parents. The girls always LOVE visiting with Mila. It was a fun and gorgeous afternoon!

Saturday evening we dyed Easter Eggs. It was my first time ever making them….I bought brown eggs! NOT the best for dying…haha. To be fair, the stock in Target was low and I just grabbed what was left…thinking more about the fact that I didn’t need cage free and organic for egg dying but that they would suffice. It was still fun and now I feel a little smarter about the process for next year!

Sunday: EASTER! Since there are so many great pictures of our Easter, Easter is getting it’s own blog entry!

All in all, it was a really great spring break!