Eat, Drink and be Cherry!

The Cherry Blossom Festival is kind of a big deal for the Washingtonians, it not only brings in a lot of tourists (which means good business of course) but is also the official trumpet call announcing that, "Spring has sprung at last"! 

The Washington Monument, standing tall amidst the pastel bloom

The opening ceremony was held at the National Building Museum. The ongoing Family Day festivities had a lot of activities to keep the little guys busy with. My Mom learnt how to make paper cherry blossoms and the kids  played with clay. They were having so much fun but I finally had to take it away because they mistook the brown clay for chocolate and were ready to gobble it down.

The entire place was abuzz with people buying festival memorabilia, learning origami, creating crafts and getting their faces painted with exquisite designs. The colorful Japanese parasols hung high up in the main hall filtering the bright, March afternoon sun. there was a band playing too but we stayed away from the loud music (and it was really loud) for the sake of the kids.

Nael and Ryad stayed busy coloring with crayons. I believe it was their first time using crayons and they got a kick out of it. I showed them what to do and they got it in an instant! Such geniuses. Well, that doesn't mean they didn't try tasting the colorful sticks once in a while. Toddlers will after all remain toddlers. Sigh.

Nael loved using crayons, he and his brother were probably the youngest on the table. But that didn't stop them from creating there art work.

Ryad simply loved the canopy of flowers that cascaded down the Cherry Trees.

Nael, the explorer, loved running around the splendidly green grass and discovering new things. He spotted a newly married couple sharing a moment for a photograph under an old Cherry Tree. He was captivated by the brides pristine white dress. I was pleasantly surprised to notice that he didn't go chasing after it, instead he stood at a respectful distance and watched.

Ryad is our very own nature lover. Plants and animals simply intrigue him. He was more than pleased to spend time with the ducks at the George Mason Memorial, which BTW is nice but very low key and a scantily crowded place (I thought he was more of a big deal than that, since we have a University and several roads named after him here). I hadn't even known this place existed prior to seeing it.

The sun was out, the flowers in bloom, the kites were in the sky and the brides were out getting pictures taken. Perfect day for a family's day out.