Cherry Blossom Festival

I've discovered that the best way to keep myself and my kids sane when Jon is gone is to get out of the house as much as possible. Luckily for us, the Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C. coincided perfectly with Jon's latest week-long trip to Dugway. I wasn't brave enough to do it by myself, but add in my friend Nicole and her three kids and we had a plan!  

We decided to park and ride the Metro into D.C. My kids were ecstatic to have a chance to ride the 'submarine' (for some reason the word 'subway' just wouldn't stick).

Waiting for the submarine to come

Riding the Metro with 6 small kids and two strollers was quite an adventure. People were wonderfully kind and helped us corral children and get strollers out the doors before they closed. Our biggest problem was the inaccessibility of the Metro stations. The only elevators they had were hidden way out of the way, were too tiny for all of us to fit in (we made two trips every time), and moved at approximately the speed of a sloth. We spent more time navigating the stupid station than we did enjoying the blossoms. Never again.

But we did eventually make it back out into the sunlight! We picked the perfect day--sunny and warm. Aaron is still getting used to this thing called 'sunlight'--his entire life has been a miserable, cold winter: 

Seth and some blossoms: 

Catherine, being offended in the stroller: 

Catherine's offended story: 

We were all eating lunch along the lake/pond by the Jefferson Memorial. And since little kids are drawn to water like moths to a porchlight, we spent a decent amount of time making sure they didn't fall through the railings into the water. Catherine decided it would be a great idea to climb under the railing and sit on the ledge above the water. I was busy with Aaron so Nicole ran and grabbed her. This was highly offensive. Catherine didn't forgive Nicole for the rest of the day.

Two baby boys in a stroller: 

Our kids had a great time playing musical chairs with our strollers. I almost always had Taylor, Nicole's oldest, with me, and Nicole almost always had Seth. By the end I just starting claiming Taylor as my own rather than trying to explain to the people in the elevator how I had simultaneously lost and acquired a child.

The following is a series of pictures of our children breaking all the Cherry Blossom Festival Rules.

Please note that we were unaware of said rules, despite all the signs posted around.

When you're herding six children through a crowd you tend to miss details like that.

And so I present "Our Children, Ruining The Cherry Trees For Future Generations":

At least we were considerate enough to leave a few trees unscathed: 

We got lots of side comments and nasty looks as we were leaving the mall with our kids triumphantly holding their cherry blossoms. I promise the offense will not be repeated.

On our way back to the Metro we stopped for a bit outside the Department of Homeland Security and let the kids play by the fountain. It ended up being their favorite part of the day (other than the subway): 

It didn't last long, though. We were shooed away by a security guard who informed us that "they wouldn't like" us hanging out by the fountain. Not sure who "they" were or why they installed a water feature if they didn't want people to look at it, but off we went. 

I made the day even crazier by promising Seth we'd eat dinner at a restaurant. By the time we were driving home and Aaron was screaming (this kid does NOT NAP outside his crib) I regretted my promise. But Seth was having none of it. At least I talked him into eating at a local farm restaurant instead of Chick-fil-a. Their crab soup almost made me forget how crazy I was for doing all this alone with three kids...

I went to bed that night with a headache and sunburned hands from stroller-pushing, but I kind of felt like Superwoman for pulling off this stunt. Only problem is now I know what I'm getting myself into and I will never do it again!