Kite Festival

On Saturday we headed downtown to the annual Smithsonian Kite Festival. It had rained all night so everything was nice and muddy, but it was warmer than last year and the wind turned out to be perfect for flying kites. I'm pretty sure the solution to any bad day is flying a kite.

Our very own Secret Garden

We had some beautiful weather on Friday and luckily Ben had the day off so we headed to my favorite spot, River Farm Garden, to enjoy a picnic and see what was starting to grow. There are never many people there and the views of the Potomac are great. It is the headquarters for the American Horticultural Society so they have a lot of different plants and information about gardening. It reminded me that I really need to start working on my garden.




Amelia explores the children's maze.




Digging for worms.








I don't know what everyone was looking at, but this was the only picture I had of Elsa.

First Spring Outing

We headed to the Tidal Basin for our Sunday evening stroll. It's so nice to have more daylight in the evening. We wandered through the FDR Memorial and saw the first buds of the blossoming cherry trees. I'm sure we'll be back in a few weeks for the peak bloom, but so will thousands of others so it was nice to enjoy a peaceful evening.














Amelia attempts to coax a smile out of Elsa.



Amelia took the opportunity to perform a dance for us. I cannot explain her dance moves, but if you watch long enough, you'll see Elsa's reaction to Amelia's singing.

Vacation Part 4: Chihuly in the desert

A HUGE thank you to my parents for providing such an awesome vacation, and especially to my mom for planning it all. Can't wait for the next one.

On our last day in Arizona, almost everyone had left and we had a morning free before our flight. I thought the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix would be a fun place to go and we lucked out because there was this amazing exhibit going on, Chihuly: The Nature of Glass. I remember seeing some of his work during the Olympics in Salt Lake. The desert setting was a remarkable place for the contrasting glass sculptures. It was beautiful.

Vacation Part 3: Arizona adventures

The best part of the vacation, other than wearing flip flops every day, was being able to spend time with my entire family. It had been several years since we had all been together. It was fun to be back in Arizona (Tempe and Mesa) and go to some of our favorite spots. It was also fun for Amelia and Elsa to spend so much time with their cousins and get lots of attention from people other than us. Ben took me out for my birthday one night. After a little shopping spree at one of my old favorite spots (Buffalo Exchange) we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a Greek restaurant on Mill Avenue, which is near ASU. We were able to dine outdoors and watch the crazy weekend crowds that you find there. After dinner we stopped at a frozen yogurt place for a refreshing treat.

Other adventures...


The cousins enjoy some swimming.


A walk around Tempe Town Lake.





More swimming!





Amelia and Naomi hanging out.


Playing at the park.


Enjoying some ice cream (thanks again for the hat, Steph)



I enjoyed a relaxing paddle boat ride with Amelia and Grandpa. Amelia was a little upset that she couldn't reach the pedals.


Amelia and Grandma make fresh lemonade.


Another trip to the park and feeding the ducks.