National Arboretum

On September 8, a group of us got the kiddos together and met up at the National Arboretum. I hadn't been there before (it's in North East DC, so not in the best neighborhood), but I'd heard it's really beautiful. And man, was it ever! It was still quite warm the day we were there (of course, the next day cooled off about 15 degrees, but we couldn't make that happen with our schedules), but I think we all still had a great time.

We started off with about a 30 minute trip around the Arboretum on their tram. It kept us cooler, as there was a breeze while driving around, and we learned about the various parts of the Arboretum so I highly recommend it if you go. Here we are setting off.

 I took a ton of photos of what we saw on our ride, and will be posting those on the photography blog soon they are available on the photography blog HERE. I did want to share here one of my favorites. We saw these columns from far away, and later from much closer up. Turns out that these used to be at the Capital building, and after renovations were put into storage, and then eventually moved out here. I think it's a beautiful setting!

 The highlight of the trip for the kids (well, at least for Henry) was the koi pond. We stopped here to enjoy our picnic lunch and to feed the fish. Henry made me a bit nervous, getting so close to the edge, but my friend Will was right behind him, ready to grab if necessary (which it wasn't - Henry was very good about not tipping forward).

 Think these guys are used to getting fed? They were super pushy once we started with the fish food!

 Right next to our picnic area was the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum (as you can see in the sign below). There were beautiful bonsai works there! The kids were of course more interested in touching the water than anything else, but they did consent to pose for a few pictures (these two with me in them were taken by Will).

 You'll probably recognize this one - it was my Facebook profile picture until just yesterday.

 I then grabbed these two of Natalie and Henry. I absolutely LOVE this one of Natalie - the light and expression on her face are just beautiful.

 And here's my handsome little guy "cheesing" for the camera!

All in all, a really fun day, and if we had a spare weekend I'd be taking the kids back this fall to see the leaves changing - unfortunately we just don't have any spare time! Hopefully next spring when everything is flowering we can go again.