Saturday, April 13, 2013

It's Been A While: HAPPY SPRING!

Happy Spring Everyone! You cannot imagine how excited I am that temperatures are in the 60-70s, the flowers are blooming, and the trees are turning green! Dingy, gray, and cold winter has finally passed! So this means that we have been extraordinarily busy enjoying the climate outside of working and sleeping. We have spent at least 1 day of every weekend doing some sort of major hike (10+ miles) and  spending time with family and friends. We ventured to Johnstown for the annual Easter gathering and feast with family and had a wonderful time, we actually managed to catch up with everyone but Kara, who is enjoying her amazing study abroad in Ecuador (stalk her like I do HERE). I am definitely living vicariously through her right now, as her adventures look absolutely fantastic and memorable! We were hoping to be able to go down and see her but the timing just didn't work out right unfortunately.
Last weekend was the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which is one of my most favorite weekends in DC, it is SO beautiful! There are hundreds of cherry trees that were donated by Japan oh so many years ago that blossom along the banks of the Potomac River and it is such a breathtaking site....I absolutely LOVE it! For this reason, Adam tolerates trekking down with the literally millions of other people who enjoy and do the exact same thing. We are at least smart about it and Metro in versus fighting the traffic, if you ever venture down for it, make sure that you do the same. If not, you will waste time sitting in traffic jams trying not to run over pedestrians who don't pay attention to traffic signals and avoid crosswalks, not be able to find parking, or if you do, pay a ridiculous amount for the spot. Unfortunately, we were about 4 days too early....there were some blossoms out but it definitely wasn't it's full splendor. Despite that, we had a great time walking around the mall and National Monuments, and even got some new ones in! We finally visited the Jefferson Memorial and the Roosevelt Memorial (my absolute favorite one now, by the way!), and logged about 5-6 miles.
I FREAKIN' LOVE SPRING!!!!!

Inside the Jefferson Memorial

Adam wants to play! Goose does not!

Outside the Jefferson Memorial

So beautiful, perfect day!

Hi Wife, you are not paying enough attention to me!

Dogwood tree


Love and cherry blossoms

Jefferson Memorial across the Potomac River

Cool aluminum tree in the Smithsonian Sculpture Garden

Inside the Jefferson Memorial

Blue skies and pink cherry blossoms