DC's Cherry Blossoms Festival

One of my favorite things right now about being a stay-at-home-mom is the freedom in my schedule.

Right now, I'm the director of the calendar, so if I want to sweep a few days free to go on a trip I can, and if I decide last minute to leave 4 days early than I was planning...well I can do that too.

And that's exactly what I did last Monday.

At 5am Monday morning, I talked to Matt about going early, and by 3PM we were pulling into Matt's grandparent's home in DC.

After relaxing Monday night, Madeleine and I got up bright and early for a jammed pack day on the National Mall. 

We first went and saw the cherry blossoms around the Jefferson Memorial. There was almost no one there at 8am. It was so peaceful and beautiful...minus the fact there were no fences! 

The stroller is a toy that you only take naps in...not to ride in.

I was on edge the whole time that Madeleine was going to fall into the water, or she was screaming in the stroller. So we left for a bit. We visited some museums before heading back to look at the blossoms again.

I found a small patch between two incredibly busy streets that was fenced in. There were a lot of little kids in it, since it was safer and the branches were low enough for them to touch. Madeleine was tickled pink over the flowers. She would point at them squeal and then point at them again. She was so happy that a few people stopped on the sidewalk to watch her. One couple told me that they weren't trying to be creepy, just that you don't see joy like that every day.

I'll blog soon about the rest of the trip. We did a lot. But this was the whole reason we drove down...and it was so worth it. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The weather was perfect and Madeleine and I both loved it. We sipped chocolate milk together under the canopy of flowers and ate a cupcake, and let me tell you it doesn't get much better than that.