DC Part IV: Evelyn Admires the Cherry Blossoms (last DC post)

After our White House garden tour we did make it to the street festival which was interesting, but not a highlight. Evie liked watching the people and the food was good, but it was pretty crowded and the entertainment a teensy bit funny.

So instead of hanging around longer, Rachel, Amy, Joshua and us Mortiers headed to the tidal basin to enjoy what was left of the blossoms (sadly we missed the peak by a week or two). Despite missing the peak, it was still beautiful.

(We thought it a little too cold to go out on the water, but a good number of people disagreed :))
It was a super fun day trip and we are so glad that we were able to go! Thanks, Laura and Daniel, for organizing it!!

DC Part III: Evelyn Visits Sasha and Malia

A highlight of our DC trip was the spontaneous tour of the White House gardens!

We *thought* that this was as close as we'd be able to get to the White House....
However, while we were on our way to the Japanese street festival and a lady outside the White House asked if I'd like to tour the White House Gardens. Apparently once or twice a year they open the gardens up to the public and you can tour them for free as long as you have a ticket. Our whole group decided that we'd go for it! It was so fun to be able to get so close, look at the gardens and enjoy the live music courtesy of the Marine Corps jazz band and brass band.
As you can see, Evie especially was thrilled.
Evelyn loved hanging out with Miss Laura, Miss Rachel and Joshua.
Karen and I thought the tulip tree was beautiful. :) Behind us is where the famous Beer Summit took place as well. That's not why we took this picture here though. ;)
Nice views from the front porch area (you can see the Washington Monument, Jefferson Monument, and the White House fountain):

Down by the fountain:

The pictures of Evie with Sasha and Malia's swing set and the crazy well armed security guards are on Nathan's phone so I'll have to post them later. :)

DC Part II: Evelyn's First Parade

Our morning in DC was taken up mostly with the Cherry Blossom parade. I haven't been to a parade in a while and this one was actually really good! There were a lot of bands, gorgeous floats, and very few fancy cars with local politicians in them waving. Here are Evie and Nathan getting ready for the parade! So exciting!

We were trying to keep our baby girl warm while we waited for the start. Doesn't she look like she is in a pink baby snuggly?? :) Her hands were getting cold and she didn't want to keep them covered. We distracted her by giving her her pacifier. :)

The flags.

Lots of pink! Evie and I loved it. ;)

Evie was SO into everything. She loved the bands the most, but also found the floats and other things quite fascinating. She was so intense the whole time!
All the drill teams were in it, which was quite cool.

Yogi bear! The kids beside us went CRAZY of Yogi.

Japanese lanterns and dancers...

An example of the gorgeous floats

This was one of our favorite parts. The DC motorcycle police did all sorts of maneuvers and patterns on their motorcycles. It was fun! Boys and their toys... :)

We actually didn't stay for the whole parade though... about an hour is we saw a huge fire coming and thought it was some cool pyrotechnics. Well, apparently one of the SUVs pulling a float caught on fire!! (see here: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/04/11/video-dodge-durango-catches-fire-during-d-c-cherry-blossom-par/#continued) Once we started to notice a funny burning smell, more smoke and saw the fire truck come up, we realized it wasn't a planned part of the parade! Scary! Anyway, there was quite a long break while they put out and cleaned up the fire, and we left to get hot dogs from a street vendor and meet up with our friends.


It is so fun experiencing all these "firsts" with Evelyn. She is becoming such an alert, curious little girl!

DC Part I: Evelyn Discovers Tulips

This past Saturday we went up to DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was a bit grey and cool, but we dressed warmly and were fine. I think it helped keep the crowds done too, which was nice!
Evelyn was fascinated with the city. As you know, she likes exploring new things and she loves excitement. She may have been a bit over-stimulated at first, but she just didn't know where to look first. Here she is with her serious, intense look just taking in everything around her. This is her first real big city trip!

This fountain was right outside our parking garage. Evelyn LOVED it. As you can tell, she was not into getting her picture taken! She's craning her neck as far as she can trying to see the fountain again. :)
I love tulips, but only for about a 1 week period. Then I think they look spindly and not-so-beautiful. However, the tulips planted all over DC were all in their one week peak of gorgeousness! They were amazing. They looked so beautiful, their bright colors contrasting the the grey day.
Evie loved them too. :)

We loved watching her explore all the city sites and sounds as well as the brightly colored flowers! And all this was just in the first half our we were in the city! :)