National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade

Last week Don was in San Antonio, Texas for work for a few days and returned Friday evening. Even though he was only gone for three days, we were all so glad to have him home again.

Saturday morning was the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in D.C. It was only in the low 40s outside so we bundled up and headed towards the District. We took the Metro in with thousands of other people but got there about an hour before the parade started and found a good spot along the parade route on Constitution Avenue (just down the street from the White House). It was cool and windy but not too miserable. The boys jumped around and played a bit before the start of the parade then we all nestled up together ont he street curb and took in the parade. It started at 10 a.m. and lasted until about noon. By then it had warmed up quite a bit.

We saw lots of fun things and the boys rarely took their eyes off the parade. Lots of Ford Mustangs which Daddy and the boys are, of course, big fans of so they enjoyed seeing those. But there were also parade floats, marching bands from all over the country, people on roller skates, clowns, unicyclists, and, Alex Trebek (of Jeapordy fame) was the Grand Marshal. We spent a good two hours enjoying the parade and all the while looking in the direction of the sun. It warmed up a bit and we shed some coats and hats. We had a pretty good time.

Then we joined THOUSANDS, yes, THOUSANDS, of other parade goes on the Metro back home. We took our time leaving the parade... ate lunch, used the bathrooms, strolled back to our Metro stop... and still we waited about a half hour just to get an elavator down to the Metro level we needed to be on. (We had the stroller so the escalator was not an option).

Somehow we survived the massive crowd and made our way back home. We were all tuckered out and the boys both fell asleep on the way home.

Once we got home we noticed that we all started to be turning pink faced. ugh. We all had sunburned faces. As we watched the boys faces turn several shades of pink then Samuel's turn bright red, we felt like horrible parents.

By Sunday morning Samuel had a blister on his cheek from his sunburn and now, on Thursday, the blister has burst, scabbed and fallen off. He's on the road to recovery! Soon there may be no physical evidence of us not thinking about sunscreen but as for now his cute lil chubby scarred face is a constant reminder of how damaging the sun can be.

Also posting a couple photos taken this past Sunday... the day after the parade. Samuel really wanted to wear a tie to church! He looked so handsome... sunburned and all. And the tree in our front yard was in full bloom this weekend. Love those cherry blossoms!