My brother is in town from San Fran for a quick weekend visit before heading back to his lovely wife, Janine. So it was a great chance to head onto the WO&D trail for a nice run with him before we started our day. We managed to do about 5 miles in the crisp early spring weather.

Then we got ready to head to the first weekend of the Annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in Wash, DC.  The city was super crowded and it was also the kite festival so that was really cool. We walked from the National History Museum all the way down to the Washington Monument, and the headed to the Jefferson Memorial. My brother had never see it, and with the cherry blossoms in full bloom – it was a gorgeous walk.   We saw lots of families, bikes, kites and dogs. Nate kept asking to see a weiner dog — and finally we ran into one that was super friendly. We also stopped and met the cutest basset hound. I love when the city is in full swing – people are friendly and the weather is great.

Heading into the city is a great way to get the family out and exercise. We brought along a football so we stopped a lot along the way to throw around the ball and run around. The National Mall has a ton of open space — and the kids love it. Nate calls Washington Monument a big pencil and Hannah likes to rattle of random facts she has learned from school.

I am glad we got to see the Cherry Blossoms at the beginning of the season. It’s so beautiful to see the thousands of trees lining the city. The kids spent a lot of time climbing the trees – we snapped a ton of pictures. All in all a perfect family day!