Cherry Blossoms And A "Little Surprise" For MOM Too!!!

While I had been planning a "little surprise" for Elle,she had also been planning one for me.  I was coming to D.C. during April because I knew the Cherry Blossom Festival would be going on and I had always wanted to see those beautiful trees in bloom.  The Cherry Blossom Parade was also to be that weekend and HEY!...who doesn't like a parade?!  However, the "unexpected surprise" that Elle had for me was pretty GRAND!

Remember, now, she didn't know I was bringing her dad along on the trip, so she was sending him text messages all day with ideas she had for us to do while I was visiting D.C.  One "little surprise" was that she had gotten tickets for us to tour the White House Gardens!  Of course, he told me this as we were walking to our next gate at the airport, saying that he guessed he would just have to sit outside and wait for us..oh well, YOU didn't want to tell her you were coming; I'M going to see the White House Gardens!  When we arrived and Caitlin saw that her dad had come too, she quickly called her office and they were happy to provide her with another ticket so Robby could go with us.  And I must admit...it was VERY impressive.  Although I have been to D.C. many times over the years, I have never gotten to take a tour of the White House...I was excited!

Saturday was a BIG day.  We would attend the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade first, then head over to the Jefferson Memorial, where all of the Cherry Blossom trees could be found and then we would finish up with a tour of the White House Gardens.  Needless to say, my camera was working overtime that day.  I hope you all enjoy some of the snapshots I took!




Caitlin and Me waiting for the Cherry Blossom Parade to begin!

Caitlin and Robby waiting for the parade.

Japanese Lanterns

Japanese Dancers

More Oriental Dancers

And NOW for the BEAUTIFUL Cherry Blossoms Trees!

The Cherry Blossom Trees can be found on the path leading to the Jefferson Memorial.

Braving the cool temperature was worth every minute once I laid my eyes on these gorgeous Cherry Blossom Trees!







Now, for the "little surprise" that Caitlin had planned for me...a trip to the White House grounds to see the gardens there.  As I said before, I had never toured the White House or grounds at all, so I was pretty excited about this.  I wasn't really how sure how close we would actually get to the White House, itself, so when we were allowed to walk right up to the back, I was THRILLED!  Robby and Caitlin could NOT control my picture taking, so please bear with me...there are LOTS to share with y'all!

I TOLD you we got REALLY close!

Gorgeous tulips can be found blooming all over D.C. at this time of year.

The tree here is a Pink Magnolia...They are also in full bloom all over the city.

Sadly, it was still too cool for the roses to be blooming in the White House Rose Garden.



Of course Robby had to have a picture in front of the putting green on the White House lawn!



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This is the play area for the "1st Children"...Caitlin and I thought it looked untouched...OR perhaps they are just very "neat" kids!

THIS is a portion of the FAMOUS "White House Vegetable Garden"...Hmmm...Maybe I'm just used to seeing much more impressive gardens here in the south, but I'm not sure a family of bunny rabbits could get full on this little garden...

Well, the day was very full, but we enjoyed every minute of it.  The sights and flavors of D.C. sure are nice...the sounds???  Not so much...but THAT topic is for another day!