Faith and Mom Day
I took a vacation day from work today and Faith and I spent the day together, just she and me. I gave her some choices of activities, and she wanted to go down to DC to see the cherry blossoms, which are at this very moment in full bloom. We took the Metro downtown. It was a beautiful day in the Nation's Capitol... sunny and warm enough after noon that a sweater was not entirely necessary.
After a walk through the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, we browsed through the Museum of Natural History. Faith posed beside this bushpig. You think they might be related?
We rested on the National Mall for a while, soaked in the sun. Both Faith and I ended up with minor sunburn -- did not expect that in March.
We walked through the recently renovated Museum of American History; we saw the First Ladies exhibit, part of a talk about the Star-Spangled Banner, and Faith played in a hands-on exhibit about invention. Afterwards we ate hot dogs we got at a smartkart outside the museum.
Re-energized, we headed for the Tidal Basin, the most popular cherry blossom viewing location. Along the way Faith climbed on a gnarly old tree near the Washington Monument.
We sat for a long time on the edge of the Tidal Basin, watching people paddle-boating and planes flying over the Potomac River to land at the airport. This was the view back towards the Monument.
And this was us at the Tidal Basin.
Faith picked these fallen cherry blossoms off the ground. At first we thought they smelled kind of fruity, but then we realized that the smell was deodorizer from some nearby port-a-potties.
We left the Tidal Basin and walked back towards the Smithsonian Metro station. We had some extra time, so we walked behind the Smithsonian Castle and through the Haupt Garden, which, although it is at ground level, actually covers the rooftops of several art museums.
The magnolia trees were especially pretty.
We headed back on the Metro, and we stopped at 7-11 for a Slurpee before going to get Holly. Then we went and had dinner at the restaurant where their dad works. It was Kids Eat Free night.