The Cherry Blossom Festival
Every year, Washington D.C. has a HUGE celebration of spring. The biggest attraction is the blooming of the Cherry Blossom trees around the tidal basin. Along with the GORGEOUS blossoms, the city has multiple events. We decided to visit two of them.

The opening ceremonies of the Cherry Blossom Festival took place at the National Building Museum - beautiful architecture with a LARGE main hall. There was so much to see and do. Here's a snapshot of all the things we were able to do and see.

Performances from local dance groups

Lillie got to dress up as well. After dressing up, she tells me, "I want to dance on the stage!" That took a bit of work convincing her it wasn't her time yet.

Look how long her hair is!!! Sorry, random comment, but I was able to make two pigtail braids in her hair that was SO cute!!

Not quite sure what she was doing here. Maybe mistaking herself for a samurai!

Mommy and Lillie in front of the HUGE cherry blossom balloons.

Lillie and Daddy making some wood block prints. Can you tell by Lillie's headband who sponsored the event??? Target!! Oops, sorry, no Target in Hawaii right?!?!

Lillie also got to dress up in everyday Japanese wear. I wanted her to put on that yellow hat on the table and they had these heavy duty leather backpacks, but no chance!

Lillie is always up for a little chopstick practice.

Here's some of the decorations in the museum. Little lanterns hanging from an artificial tree,

Large origami cranes hanging from the ceiling,

Large Cherry Blossom balloons.

There were fans for Lillie to color.

Here's a giant origami giraffe that someone made and had displayed.

A short video to show a little Lillie.

Another BIG event they have every year is the Kite Festival on the Mall. Hundreds of people come out to show off their kites.

I couldn't get a great shot, but here's the clue, EVERY little speck you see in the sky is someone's kite flying!

We had SO much fun today. We wish you were all here! Maybe next year some of you can visit during the Cherry Blossom Festival!! HINT HINT!!

EASTER!!!
Lillie had a great EASTER, as you can imagine. Gifts came from Aunty Bertha...

Such a cute dress and hat!!!

And Nana...
Some goodies (which Daddy and Mommy enjoyed as well!!)

a camera

An Easter outfit

Along with headband and barretts

Happy Easter everyone!!

Random postings of Lillie and things we've been up to.

One day, Lillie decided to scoot her step stool up to the hearth, stand her Nemo book up on the pillows, and this is what happened.

After playing some "piano", we thought we would show some of Lillie's emotions. Attached to this video is a QUICK view of the elephants. Barnum and Bailey's circus comes to town every year, and some of their animals take a walk through the city. Lillie wasn't exactly thrilled with the elephants, but she did love the miniature ponies.

Photography by Lillian
Nana sent two boxes to Lillie tonight for Girl's Day. One of the gifts was a Fisher Price digital camera!! Lillie absolutely LOVES it!! So, after a month and a half, I figured, why post pictures from me, when Lillie does just as well. So, enjoy the
"Photography by Lillian".

Here's Daddy in the kitchen making ice cream treats after Family Home Evening.

Another gift from Nana...Hello Kitty in a kimono.

Our Piano

Mommy's knitting bag

Our Lamp

On the top shelf, a small stack of Lillie's DVD's.

On the top, to the left, are Lillie's books.

Our rocking chair, which by the way, Lillie topped over the other night when she sat backwards on the chair and rocked too hard.

A few of all our shoes.

Our star pillow.

And last but not least, my absolute FAVORITE of all of Lillie's pictures. After taking pictures most of the evening, we sort of stopped paying attention to Lillie's "camera shoots". After being somewhat quiet and hearing the camera continuing to click, Lillie tells us, "Look Mommy, I took a picture of me". When I looked, sure enough, she had put the camera down on the couch and took two pictures of herself. I can tell we are going to have MANY, MANY HOURS of camera fun!!
Thank You Nana!!!

3rd Birthday Celebration Part 2

Here's the second half of the birthday video. Enjoy!

I know, it's been a while, but we have had issues with our internet. So we are now trying to catch up from the last 3 weeks!

Well, Christmas time in Hawaii was so fun, we didn't even have time to post. Of course, that doesn't include the ENTIRE evening that Na'i and I discovered fun new things about how to manage the blog. Besides that, we totally skipped the remainder of our trip and now I'm playing catch up.

Here are a few pictures of Lillie on Christmas morning. She didn't quite get the whole event yet, but she sure enjoyed giving everyone else their gifts and watching what we got (especially Grandma's foot massager!!).

For the entire month we were in Hawaii, Na'i BUGGED me about taking Lillie to the beach. I finally gave in. Lillie was a little more than hesistant about the sand disappearing under her feet, but once in the ocean, she seemed to enjoy the warm water.

Notice Lillie is nowhere NEAR the water. Everytime the water crashed on the shore, Lillie would motion for Na'i to move further away from the water. It was kind of funny. She loved digging holes and building castles.

Easing her way toward the water.
Finally in the water!!! Looks of concern, but Lillie really did enjoy being in the ocean.
p.s. Notice the death grip on Na'i's neck!!

Here's Lillie taking a moment to take a picture before looking at the helicopter in the sky.

Thanks for a little time at the beach, Na'i.

Lillie turned 3!!
On January 14th, we celebrated Lillie's 3rd birthday. We decided to do the quiet family thing. With lots of presents and an ice cream cake, Lillie enjoyed all her gifts!! Thank you everyone!!

What a cute 3 year old!! I am hoping to put up some videos of the exciting evening. Stay tuned.