A Day in the Daffodils

We were heading out to the Cherry Blossom Festival today when I had a change of heart. It was pretty windy out and the Cherry Blossoms are around the Tidal Basin in DC. Wind over water at the Cherry Blossoms? Lucy and I did that last year and froze our keesters off so I decided not to subject Harper or Lucy to that misery. We will see Cherry Blosssoms, just not today.

So, what to do? We decided to go to the Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington. I've been wanting to check it out but hadn't had the opportunity until today. The nature center was closed, but we decided to picnic lunch and take a look at the gardens which were starting to sprout and watch the black squirrels that were feeding from the feeders on the property. Then we took a "hike" along the creek, looking for fish and swimming bugs. Those were Lucy's favorite. The bugs looked like little frogs swimming freestyle in the water and she thought that was hilarious. She also liked all the big rocks and trees to climb on.

Harper tried to do some crawling and walking, but just kept heading toward the water so we had to nix that idea- she's just too quick these days! Both girls seemed to like listening to the water rushing over the rocks and to the woodpecker that was very busy up in the trees.

Lucy topped off the day by "going potty in the car". Well, in her little port-a-pot in the car, an act that she hasn't done in a long time and now she finds this completely hilarious. She laughed and screamed "going potty in the car? that's crazy!" about a million times. Harper laughed,too, which just fueled the giggles.

After naps we headed to BV's town center to take our annual photos in the daffodils. Harper was not excited about the headband, she didn't cry, she just wouldn't keep it on. Then, when I finally got it on her and took photos for a minute, Lucy ripped it off of her head for laughs. Then that was the game the rest of the time. Harper loves flowers and says "Pretty" a lot when we see them. Then she will crush them if given the opportunity.

We headed to the playground afterwards to swing and enjoy the last bits of the day before we went to a good-bye party for our friends the Gassers, who are moving to Ohio at the end of the week. At the party, Lucy ran with her friends Owen and Parish in the fields next to the marsh and Harper looked on wishing she could run with them.
Overall, it was a day that hinted at the warmer days ahead and we were so happy for it that even their mom making them wear flower petals or bunny ears on their heads couldn't ruin it for Lucy and Harper.