Kids Garden in US Botanic Garden

We finally made it to the kid's garden in the US Botanic Garden and though it was small and our time spent there was short, it was quite sweet.  The kids had a blast watering, planting, and digging (no photos of that one).  Dagny also had a blast cleaning... meanwhile Jordan and Bubba kept refilling their pails again and again.  I think they are going to have a lot of fun with all that water stuff in Orlando.  ....

Zoo With Our Crew

Even though we're not in DC for vacation, we do so much and don't have many commitments (like school or extracurricular activities), so our photos might indicate that we are just on an extended vacation.  

After overcoming my initial fear of going anywhere on my own with three kids, we are truly taking advantage of all that DC offers, and it's not just amazing history and architecture, but also cool parks and of course... the zoo!

We took my dad, Ike, Jan, and Jeffrey with us to the zoo while Andy was in Chicago for his conference.  It was a rainy morning that allowed Dagny a nap before we took off for the zoo via Metro.  The sun came out and it was perfect weather.  Just cold enough to make the walk over light, just hot enough that we were all pretty comfortable.

Spring is so beautiful here.  I'm not sure if it's cuz I walk everywhere that I can't help but stop and notice, or if it's because it looks so beautiful set against the colorful row homes everywhere on the Hill.. whatever the case, I seem to have a newfound appreciation for horticulture than ever before.  

Sunday is a Good Day

I was nervous about walking to Church with three kids and then surviving Sacrament on my own.  I've been pretty spoiled since Andy switched from radiology to occupational medicine (and no longer having working weekends of call... EVER again...) and I still am...

Luckily, my Dad was able to make it to Church with me while the rest of the gang (Jan, Ike, Jeffrey) waited around to meet up with Edmond, one of Andy's uncles who lives in Philly, to drive down with his wife.

We started Sunday morning by tasting all the fun snacks po-po sent with gong gong.  This also meant playing with the cool Arcadia visors I asked my dad to bring me.

 Once dressed, the kids spent some more time on the ipads.  They are quite spoiled when our family visit because they get free time to use any of their ipads for games for as long as they want.

 My dad snuck some photos of Jordan and Bubba at Church.  Jordan has grown so much since being a Sunbeam.  He now sits by himself which is huge for him (this for a kid who sat on his teacher all last year during sharing time), sings, and I even saw him praying intently with his eyes closed during his class).

We had a leftover Blue Apron meal that I didn't get the chance to cook earlier in the week and waited for the rest of the gang to come back from Chinatown DC.

When they got back, they brought expensive DC Chinese food (apparently not that good either but still, we enjoyed it nevertheless!

 After we said good-bye to Edmond and Anna, we headed off for the new park (Sherwood Rec Center), a park I've often told the boys I cannot take them on my own (because it is huge and hard to keep track of all of them at the same time).  Jordan explained, "There's lots of adults here now!  Let's go to the new park!"

But not before playing around in our cement parking spot backyard first.

 

 Sherwood Recreation Center is one of our favorite parks.  Mostly because it's so new and so close!

 There's also a track right by the playground that the boys like to scooter or run around on.

For dinner, we enjoyed the Chinese food from DC Chinatown.  Sunday is always a good day, but it was especially fun to have family visiting us.