Donuts with Dad

Last Thursday was Donuts with Dad Day at Amelia's preschool. All the dads were invited to come to school for a few minutes in the morning and have donuts with the kids, help them with their daily journals, and hear the kids perform a few songs. Amelia was beyond excited about this. Having a special morning with dad meant so much to her.

All the kids had filled out these questions about their dads in advance. Not sure where the hockey answer came from...although I don't think she's ever seen Ben watching any sports on TV so she probably borrowed that answer.




(Amelia's drawing of Ben...check out that stubble.)

Cooking Class

Some friends put together a great little cooking class to show a group of us how to make some different Asian dishes. It was so fun. They put so much work into doing all the prep work and we just got to do the fun parts of assembling everything. And eating.

Aren't they pretty?


We learned how to make California rolls and Korean sushi called kimbap.




Minsun shows us how to make Korean noodles.


(Korean noodles...so yummy.)


Pauline shows us how to make potstickers. I finished wrapping up 50 at home and I can't wait to eat them.

Spring Obsession

If it's not already obvious, I'm a little obsessed with Spring. Here are some things happening around our yard that make me very happy:


Our daffodils have mostly faded, but our tulips are still going strong.


This lilac tree is right outside our living room window. I love to open up the window and let the smell blow into the house.


Azaleas!

Bluebells

Yesterday we went to Bull Run Park for a picnic and a walk through the woods to see the bluebells. I had heard that there was a huge amount of bluebells there (it's said to be the largest concentration outside of Texas, although I can't confirm that). We walked to the river and discovered both sides of it to be lined with a sea of blue. It was so beautiful. The girls had fun running down the trail and looking for butterflies. I even let them get muddy and wander through the river a bit. I'm always amazed that we can find so many places with so few people, considering that we're usually stuck in traffic to get anywhere.




(White wildflowers along the way.)




It's really hard to tell in the photos, but the ground appeared to be blue everywhere.)






(Amelia discovered a LOT of fairy houses along the way.)

Franciscan Monastery: Tulip Edition

Our Sunday evening outing was to the Franciscan Monastery in D.C. (I am convinced we will never run out of things to do here.) We wandered around the beautiful gardens and ended up hitting it just right for tulip season. There were SO many tulips. It was incredible. The gardens are lovely, as well as the arched walkways, and there were plenty of other blossoming trees as well.
















(The sun was hitting these tulips just right and they looked like they were on fire.)




(Blossoms were growing right on the trunk of this tree.)

The beach in April? Okay.

Thursday was the last day of the heat wave so on a whim I decided to take the girls to the beach. Amelia was so excited when I picked her up from school and had the car loaded with beach gear and announced we were heading straight to the beach. "Now?! Today?!" We had a lovely afternoon and enjoyed the lack of crowds.

We got to finish up the day with a yummy birthday celebration for Courtney at The Burger Joint with lots of friends.


(Sandy Point State Park on the Chesapeake Bay)