Blossoms: Cherry and otherwise

Last Wednesday we headed to the Tidal Basin for a mid-day walk. The blossoms weren't at peak yet, but were beautiful. It was SO NICE to be nearly the only ones walking around the Tidal Basin. Although it was a bit cold and the gray skies made for some drearier photos, it was still gorgeous. We ended up there on a Saturday at peak last year and it was a disaster. I'm still hoping to make it back one morning for another sunrise photo shoot this year, but our crazy spring weather hasn't been cooperating.




















(Elsa + Eleanor)




(We walked past the construction on the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial)




(Elsa had so much fun chasing these ducks. I was afraid she was going to end up right in the water with them.)





After walking around the tidal basin, we headed to our favorite spring spot, the Haupt Gardens. We love the magnolia trees here.










(Can you spot Elsa?)













We were sad that Amelia was stuck at school and missed out on the fun because she would have loved to see all the blossoms. But it was fun to have Ben with us thanks to his flexible job. All the extra time at home with him makes up for all his time away traveling (New York this week, Texas next week).

Philadelphia Zoo

Our second day in Philadelphia was spent at the Philadelphia Zoo, the oldest zoo in America! It was a fantastic zoo and we picked a great day to go. The weather was nice and there were very few people there. We even got in for half price with our national zoo membership. Ben got out of surgery early that day so he was able to join us for the afternoon. They had so many fun animals there and lots of really nice exhibits.

















Elsa loves goats:




She REALLY loves goats:

Please Touch

Our first day in Philadelphia was spent at the Please Touch Museum. I took the kids there while Ben was at the hospital. We had been a few years ago and really love this children's museum. The girls had so much fun and we spent at least four hours there. Oliver slept through most of the excitement.







































Elsa never stopped running and moving in the museum so the minute we got in the car, she crashed. Ben met us at the museum and we drove around the city a bit. I did some quick shopping at the Buffalo Exchange and we admired some of the fun architecture downtown.



Yummy cheesesteaks at Tony Luke's for dinner: