At Least the Government Can't Shut Down the Cherry Blossoms

With the threat of a total government shutdown, our little family went to take in the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. And boy are we glad that they reached a budget deal. We heard that the last time they shut the government down (for 24 days during the Clinton administration) the National Zoo was closed. By closed, they mean they shut the gates and didn't clean the animals' cages. Can you imagine the smell that would have wafted over the river from the gorillas, elephants, lions, and pandas? Perish the thought.

The weather hasn't been ideal for the past few years, this year was no exception. So when the sun peeked through the clouds on a Tuesday morning, we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Nate rescheduled one of his meetings and we spent the morning walking around the tidal basin. But first, Miss Bryn fit in a little game of peek-a-boo. She's overflowing with personality - now if there was only a way that we could bottle it up and sell it.... We'd be rich!

Spring in D.C. is spectacular. The snow has been gone for months, and the humidity doesn't really kick in until June. The cherry trees are the first to flower, which covers the area in white blossoms. We are privy to a variety of colors in the spring. When the white petals of the cherry trees fall, the red and yellow tulips peek through the soil. The tulips then give way to the many pink blossomed trees, which in turn cedes to the green leaves. It really is amazing!

This picture really shows the curious side of Brynlee's personality. She is always observing the world around her. She'll never sit still for more than a minute - which just gets exhausting at the end of the day. But we take our walks, read our books, build towers out of blocks - and knock them down. Most recently she's been our little repeating monkey. Bryn has now added Jesus, cheese, bye, hi, and uh-oh to her vocabulary. 

No, she's not just sitting in a tree by herself! We're not that bad of parents. Although from all the dirty looks women were giving Nate while he held her in the tree, you might think that we were!! Anyway, our little girl is almost a year old. She's already sent out her invitations to her party - "Some bunny is turning one!" We'll be sure to document the entire fiasco. Stay tuned for the madness...